September 13, 1996: Tupac Shakur dies, 6 days after being shot in Las Vegas. The rapper and actor was 25 years old, but had already built a career that, more than a quarter of a century later, has hip-hop fans hailing him as one of the best and most influential rappers of all time.
Lesane Parish Crooks was born on June 16, 1971 in East Harlem. His mother, Afeni Shakur, "wanted him to have the name of revolutionary, indigenous people in the world. I wanted him to know he was part of a world culture, and not just from a neighborhood." So, when he was one year old, she renamed him Tupac Amaru Shakur, after a Tupac Amaru II, a descendant of the last ruler of the Incas, executed in Peru in 1781, after his failed revolt against Spanish rule.
Both of his parents had been members of the Black Panther Party. His godmother, JoAnne Chesimard, a.k.a. Assata Shakur, was convicted for her role in the murder of a New Jersey State Trooper in 1973, escaped from prison, and fled to Cuba.
In 1984, Afeni and Tupac moved to Baltimore. At the Baltimore School for the Arts, he studied acting, poetry, jazz and ballet, and became friends with Jada Pinkett. Later to become an actress, Jada has called Tupac the love of her life. This became one of the complications in her marriage to rapper-actor Will Smith.
In 1988, the Shakurs moved to Marin City, California. Marin County, north of San Francisco, across the Golden Gate Bridge, is mostly wealthy. Marin City is at the other end of the economic spectrum. Tupac did not graduate from high school, although he later got his GED. But he "graduated" to stardom in the West Coast hip hop scene, with his 1991 album 2Pacalypse Now.
That would be the 1st of 4 albums released his lifetime, along with Strictly 4 My N.I.G.A.A.Z... in 1993, Me Against the World in 1995, and the 1st double-length album in hip-hop history, All Eyez on Me, in 1996. Like many other rappers, he got into acting, and had more success than most, including co-starring with Janet Jackson in the 1993 film Poetic Justice. Most of his roles were similar to his image, as an introspective but tough guy.
But Tupac was no saint. In 1993, he was arrested in Atlanta for shooting 2 off-duty police officers, who were charged with making false statements. All charges ended up being dropped. In 1994, he was convicted of 2 counts of first-degree sexual abuse, although he was acquitted of several other charges. He was sentenced to 18 months to 4 1/2 years in prison, and ended up serving 8 months at New York's Riker's Island.
In 1993, Tupac became friends with Christopher Wallace, the Brooklyn-based rapper who called himself The Notorious B.I.G. and Biggie Smalls. (Tupac also had multiple identities, including 2Pac and Makaveli.) It appears that Tupac was the man who told Biggie that Sean Combs -- at the time, known as Puff Daddy -- would make him a star. Which happened.
On November 30, 1994, while in New York recording verses for a mixtape of Ron G, was shot in the studio's lobby. He recovered at the home of actress Jasmie Guy, who became his friend after he appeared on the sitcom A Different World.
The relationship between Tupac and Biggie had deteriorated. Biggie recorded a song titled "Who Shot Ya?" As rappers frequently do, Tupac recorded an answer song, "Hit 'Em Up." Not only did it accuse Biggie and his people of knowing who the shooter was, but included the line, "You claim to be a player, but I fucked your wife!" It was an insinuation that Tupac had had sex with singer Faith Evans, whom Biggie had married. The video was devastating, as Tupac delivered the line to a Biggie lookalike, complete with "pimp cane," who just nodded his head at the accusation. Only 2 people have ever known whether it was true: Tupac, who said it, and never changed his story; and Faith, who has always denied it.
And so the feud -- really, a sub-feud within the East Coast vs. West Coast rap rivalry -- between Biggie and Tupac became the nastiest feud in music history. (Salieri didn't actually have anything to do with the death of Mozart.) If there were ever "peace talks," the general public wasn't aware of them.
On September 7, 1996, Tupac was in Las Vegas, with his boss, Death Row Records CEO Marion "Suge" Knight, to see the Heavyweight Championship fight between Mike Tyson, a longtime friend of Tupac's, and British boxer Bruce Seldon. It didn't last long: Seldon was the current champ, but former champ Tyson knocked him out in the 1st round.
This fight was at the MGM Grand Garden Arena, a new 17,000-seat arena at the MGM Grand Las Vegas casino-hotel. Afterward, in the hotel's lobby -- apparently, Tupac hadn't learned to stay out of lobbies -- someone in their group saw Orlando Anderson, a member of the Crips gang in Compton, California, known as "Baby Lane." That someone had a beef with Anderson, and assaulted him.
Tupac soon stopped by his hotel room, and then headed with Knight to his Death Row nightclub, Club 662, in a black BMW 750iL sedan, part of a larger convoy. At about 11:15 PM, at a traffic light on Las Vegas Boulevard, a white, 4-door, late-model Cadillac sedan pulled up to the passenger side, and an occupant rapidly fired into the car. Tupac was hit 4 times: Once in the arm, once in the thigh, and twice in the chest. Knight was not hit, but was cut by shards of glass.
Tupac was taken to the University Medical Center of Southern Nevada, and was put on life support. He died 6 days later, at 4:03 PM on September 13. He was 25 years old. He was cremated the next day.
Did Anderson, or somebody working for him, do it? Las Vegas police interviewed him once, and did not arrest him. He later died in an unrelated shooting. Some of Tupac's associates have suggested that Biggie, Diddy, and their people were involved. Biggie had an airtight alibi, but that doesn't mean that someone didn't do it on his behalf -- or without his order. Still, it doesn't fit with Biggie's personality: Maybe someone working for him did it, but he wouldn't have sanctioned it.
Six months later, Biggie was shot and killed on a visit to Los Angeles. Tupac's people have been implicated, but, as with Tupac's own murder, there has never been enough evidence found to bring an indictment. Officially, both murders remain unsolved.
Like some other performers, including Jimi Hendrix, several albums of material have been released under Tupac's name since his death. Also like Hendrix, his fans have gobbled them up, only to realize that there was a reason why the performer didn't release the material while they lived: The performers, themselves, didn't think it was worthy, and it showed.
As with Elvis Presley and Doors lead singer Jim Morrison, there are people who believe that Tupac's death was faked, and that he is still alive. It gets weirder than that: I was listening to the radio late one night, around 2002 or so, and I heard a man calling up the station, saying, "Tupac is talking to me, man." The host assured the caller that Tupac was dead. The caller seemed to understand that, but said that Tupac was talking to him from beyond the grave.
In 2017, in his 1st year of eligibility, Tupac was elected to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.
UPDATE: On September 29, 2023, Duane "Keffe D" Davis, a member of the Compton Crips gang, was arrested for ordering Tupac's murder. He has also been linked to Biggie's murder.
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September 13, 1996 was a Friday. Jordan Terrell Carter was born. He grew up to become the rapper Playboi Carti. But that doesn't mean that rap "broke even" that day. He's no Tupac in terms of talent. He's also no Tupac in terms of trouble, but bad enough.
These baseball games were played:
* The New York Yankees beat the Toronto Blue Jays, 4-1 at the SkyDome (now the Rogers Centre) in Toronto. Andy Pettitte was the winning pitcher. Veterans Tim Raines and Mariano Duncan, neither of whom tends to get remembered as Yankees, each got 2 hits. So did rookie Derek Jeter, who does.
* The New York Mets beat the Atlanta Braves, 6-4 at Shea Stadium.
* The Montreal Expos beat the Florida Marlins, 3-2 at the Olympic Stadium in Montreal.
* The Boston Red Sox beat the Chicago White Sox, 9-5 at Fenway Park in Boston.
* The Baltimore Orioles beat the Detroit Tigers, 7-4 at Tiger Stadium in Detroit. Cal Ripken went 2-for-4.
* The Chicago Cubs beat the Philadelphia Phillies, 4-2 at Wrigley Field in Chicago.
* The Seattle Mariners beat the Minnesota Twins, 13-7 at the Metrodome in Minneapolis. Ken Griffey Jr. hit a home run.
* The Kansas City Royals beat the California Angels, 8-2 at Kauffman Stadium in Kansas City.
* The Milwaukee Brewers beat the Texas Rangers, 6-3 at The Ballpark (now Choctaw Stadium) in the Dallas suburb of Arlington, Texas.
* The Colorado Rockies beat the Houston Astros, 6-3 at Coors Field in Denver.
* The Cincinnati Reds beat the San Diego Padres, 3-1 at Jack Murphy Stadium in San Diego. Tony Gwynn went 1-for-4. Rickey Henderson appeared as a pinch-hitter for the Padres, but did not reach base.
* The St. Louis Cardinals beat the Los Angeles Dodgers, 2-0 at Dodger Stadium in Los Angeles. How many Cardinal pitchers does it take to pitch a 5-hit shutout? On this occasion, 5: Todd Stottlemyre, 5 1/3rd innings, 75 pitches; T. J. Mathews, 1 2/3rds; Tony Fossas, 1/3rd; Rich Batchelor, 2/3rds and the winning pitcher; and Dennis Eckersley, 2/3rds and the save.
* The Pittsburgh Pirates beat the San Francisco Giants, 9-0 at Candlestick Park (then named 3Com Park at Candlestick Point) in San Francisco. Esteban Loiaza pitched a 6-hit shutout. Barry Bonds went 0-for-2 with a walk, before being replaced in the field.
* And the Cleveland Indians and the Oakland Athletics were rained out at Jacobs Field (now Progressive Field) in Cleveland. The game was made up as part of a doubleheader the next day. The Indians swept, 9-2 and 9-8. Mark McGwire homered in each game, giving him 50 on the season. He finished with 52.
