Re: Remembering 2Pac 15 Years After His Death
Sandrine Willert
Mayoral proclamations are usually forgotten after a few years. What's not likely to be forgotten is the Oakland Police Department's jaywalking stop of Tupac Shakur in October 1991, which resulted in Shakur allegedly slammed to the ground and arrested.
Today (September 13), fans all over the globe are remembering the late, great artist and songwriter, Tupac Shakur, who died on this day 25 years ago, after being shot 6 days prior in Las Vegas on September 7.
Tupac later moved to Baltimore after Afeni lost her job, and this next chapter of his life featured his most formative years. Tupac was exposed to theater, jazz, and ballet after auditioning for the Baltimore School of the Arts, and although poverty was a recurring issue throughout his adolescence, he found solace in an artistic hub that nurtured his creative side. It was a striking contrast to go back and forth between the two: no lights and broken windows on one side, and field trips to Broadway plays on the other. While most tend to be dismissive of the absence of a father figure in their life, naively allowing bravado to undermine vulnerability, Tupac was always vocal about how it affected him. His only male role models were drug dealers and pimps because they were the ones that showed him love.
Today, fans remember Pac's music and legacy as an outspoken activist against oppressive systems in the plight for black and brown people to achieve equality. In the years since his untimely death, Pac has been immortalized, becoming a larger-than-life figure and widely celebrated as one of the greatest, if not most prolific, artists hip-hop has birthed.
Shakur was taken to the University Medical Center of Southern Nevada where he was heavily sedated and put on life support.[10] In the intensive-care unit on the afternoon of September 13, 1996, Shakur died from internal bleeding.[10] He was pronounced dead at 4:03 pm.[10] The official causes of death are respiratory failure and cardiopulmonary arrest associated with multiple gunshot wounds.[10] Shakur's body was cremated the next day. Members of the Outlawz, recalling a line in his song "Black Jesus", (although uncertain of the artist's attempt at a literal meaning chose to interpret the request seriously) smoked some of his body's ashes after mixing them with marijuana.[214][215]
In 2002, investigative journalist Chuck Philips,[216][217] after a year of work, reported in the Los Angeles Times that Anderson, a Southside Compton Crip, having been attacked by Suge and Shakur's entourage at the MGM Hotel after the boxing match, had fired the fatal gunshots, but that Las Vegas police had interviewed him only once, briefly, before his death in an unrelated shooting. Philips's 2002 article also alleges the involvement of Christopher "Notorious B.I.G." Wallace and several within New York City's criminal underworld. Both Anderson and Wallace denied involvement, while Wallace offered a confirmed alibi.[218][unreliable source?] Music journalist John Leland, in The New York Times, called the evidence "inconclusive".[219]
In 2014, BET explained that "his confounding mixture of ladies' man, thug, revolutionary and poet has forever altered our perception of what a rapper should look like, sound like and act like. In 50 Cent, Ja Rule, Lil Wayne, newcomers like Freddie Gibbs and even his friend-turned-rival B.I.G., it's easy to see that Pac is the most copied MC of all time. There are murals bearing his likeness in New York, Brazil, Sierra Leone, Bulgaria and countless other places; he even has statues in Atlanta and Germany. Quite simply, no other rapper has captured the world's attention the way Tupac did and still does."[240] More simply, his writings, published after his death, inspired rapper YG to return to school and get his GED.[231] In 2020, former California Senator and current Vice-president Kamala Harris called Shakur the "best rapper alive", which she explained because "West Coast girls think 2Pac lives on".[241][242]
Even in death, Tupac Shakur and his music still reign supreme. This year marks the 20th since that fateful night in 1996, when the rapper was shot after a Mike Tyson fight in Las Vegas, losing his fight for life six days later on September 13, twenty years ago today.
17 years after his death, 2pac is still credited as a major influence for current hip-hop music, regularly immortalized in lyrics and tribute songs. To mark the anniversary of 2pac's death we've collected a sampling of tribute songs recorded in honor of the late rapper.
2 Def fizzled out after a couple of years, but Molina stillfinds himself writing rhymes. In addition to Shakur, who recordedunder the names 2Pac and Makaveli, Molina says he's inspired byMalcolm X, Jesus Christ and his family.
The event featured panelists Frederic, Public Enemy frontman Chuck D, Frederick Reynolds, a former police officer who assisted in investigating the many gang-related shootings and murders in Compton in the aftermath of Shakur's death, and rapper E.D.I. Mean, a childhood friend of Tupac who was in the Shakur-formed hip-hop group the Outlawz and who was traveling in the car behind Shakur's on the night of the shooting.
Fifteen years after his death, his fans and fellow rappers still recall Shakur's legacy. One of Shakur's former Death Row cohorts and closest friends, Calvin Cordozar Broadus Jr., better known by his rap name Snoop Dogg, said his legacy still lives on.
Shakur's solo debut, 2Pacalypse Now, initially got noticed for the wrong reasons after a young Texas man claimed the album inspired him to go out and shoot a cop, but now, years after the manufactured controversy has been forgotten, the album is hailed as one of Pac's rawest, most authentic works, and many modern rappers, including Eminem, Talib Kweli, and Nas all list 2Pacalypse Now as one of their biggest influences.
Shakur was gunned down in Las Vegas just months after finishing work on All Eyez On Me. He was 25 years old. His murder is still unsolved. While Pac was one of the most outspoken members of the East-West Coast rivalry of the 90's, reports are now surfacing that at the time of his death, Pac was trying to mend the rift between the two sides of the violent conflict, and had reached out to several other artists from both sides of the feud to work together on new music. While he left a large body of unfinished work that would eventually be released posthumously, any fan of hip hop has to wonder what other amazing work Tupac could've given to the world had he not been murdered at such a young age.
By Michael Lacerna for RAPstation.com
Notorious B.I.G., aka Biggie Smalls, was only 24 when his car was gunned down back in '97 ... just 6 months after Tupac had been shot to death. Both men's murders remain unsolved.
The development comes more than 26 years after Shakur was fatally wounded in a drive-by shooting at a Las Vegas intersection. On Sept. 7, 1996, the West Coast-based emcee was shot four times while riding in the front passenger seat of a BMW driven by Death Row Records founder Marion "Suge" Knight.
In that sense, Tupac and Jesus have a lot in common. Both of them grew up poor minorities who enjoyed a good party, had haters, were constantly under surveillance, betrayed by a confidant, and unjustly murdered in their prime because they were outspoken public figures. Moreover Tupac and Jesus are both resurrected in the hearts and minds of individuals who refuse to let them remain in the grave. Considering these connections, it is no wonder hip hop heads still consider Tupac a religious rapper. Here is an excerpt from Rap and Religion that breaks down their life after death connection.
Its hard to believe that its been 15 years since Tupac Shakur was killed on September 13th 1996. It seemed like it has only happened yesterday and ever since his murder, Tupac has remergered from a superstar to an international phenomenon after his death.
Shakur was taken to the University Medical Center of Southern Nevada where he was heavily sedated and put on life support. In the intensive-care unit on the afternoon of September 13, 1996, Shakur died from internal bleeding. He was pronounced dead at 4:03 pm. The official causes of death are respiratory failure and cardiopulmonary arrest associated with multiple gunshot wounds.
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