Words: Tom Ward
Rapper Tupac Amaru Shakur was just 25 years old when he was shot and killed after leaving a Las Vegas boxing match in 1996. Given his legacy, it’s startling to realise his first proper release had come just five years earlier, in 1991. In the intervening five years, Shakur had: released four seminal albums, including rap’s first double album; starred in films alongside actors like Dennis Quaid and Tim Roth; dated Jada Pinkett and Madonna; been shot five times in the lobby of a New York recording studio; served eight months in prison on sexual abuse charges; befriended then fell out with the Notorious B.I.G.; and become the socially conscious leading figure in West Coast hip hop that he is remembered as today.
Born in East Harlem to former Black Panthers in 1971, Shakur was as known for his social conscience as he was his gangster rap image. “I just wanted to rap about things that affected young black males,” he said.
“His wayward, conflicting expressions of pride, militancy and gangster-ism resonates in a world when black men and women celebrate their heritage,” wrote Rolling Stone journalist Mosi Reeves in a 2016 piece analysing the rapper’s legacy, calling Shakur one of hip-hop’s “most iconic figures" and its “most powerful enigma.”
Despite his celebrity he was no stranger to violence. In 1993 he was involved in the non-fatal shooting of two off-duty police officers. Then, in 1994 Shakur attended a recording session at a studio in New York three men robbed and beat him at gunpoint in the lobby. Shakur fought back and was shot. He survived and later accused Sean Combs (AKA P Diddy) and Notorious B.I.G as being among those who set him up – all of which fanned the flames of the infamous East Coast/ West Coast hip-hop rivalry.
On the night of September 7, 1996, Shakur was in the passenger seat of Death Row Records founder Suge Knight’s car, heading to a nightclub after the Tyson vs Seldon fight when, at 11.15pm on Las Vegas Boulevard, a four-door white Cadillac pulled up alongside. A muscular arm emerged from a window, holding a .40-caliber Glock pistol. Shots were fired into Knight’s car, ultimately killing Shakur.
Who pulled the trigger became one of the biggest true crime mysteries since the murder of JFK, especially so given Notorious B.I.G’s own murder the following year. Investigators pointed to a fight between Shakur’s entourage and Compton Crip Orlando "Baby Lane" Anderson in the hotel lobby shortly before Shakur and Knight left. Could his killing have been a gang retaliation? In 2002, journalist Chuck Philips reported in the Los Angeles Times that Anderson had fired the shots but had only been briefly interviewed by the police. Anderson had been killed in 1998 in an unrelated incident. Then, in 2011, the FBI released documents pertaining to its investigation of the Jewish Defense League, which included threats against Shakur. Again, a connection to his murder was ruled out.
Then, miraculously, in late September of this year, Vegas PD arrested a suspect, former Compton gang member Duane "Keffe D" Davis, 60. Most startling thing is that Davis had long admitted being in the car during the shooting, but insisted his nephew, Anderson, had pulled the trigger. He’d given interviews to this effect and when police searched his home this summer they found multiple proposals for Hollywood scripts telling his story. In fact, Davis had already written a 2019 memoir in which he claimed he had obtained a gun before setting out with Anderson to find Knight and Shakur following the MGM lobby brawl.
Davis had already spoken with police, notably in 2008 when he was threatened with drug charges. Then, he reportedly accepted a proffer agreement, in which he was free from prosecution on anything he could tell them about the deaths of Tupac and Biggie, as long as he didn’t lie. Fifteen years later, a grand jury in Clark County has indicted Mr. Davis on murder. According to a New York Times report, the indictment against Davis does not name him as the shooter, but says he passed the gun to Anderson or another associate Deandrae Smith, one of whom fired the shots and is thereby criminally liable.While it’s believed that Davis’ earlier deal with LA law enforcement meant he was immune from prosecution, it’s thought his subsequent statements – including his book and multiple TV appearances – are fair game. In other words, Davis has shot himself in the foot. Or, as NBC news put it: “It’s widely believed that Duane Keith Davis, also known as “Keefy D” or “Keffe D,” talked himself into his arrest on a murder charge.” The case continues and, like every analysis/film/book/podcast on Tupac Shakur’s murder, it looks set to be a drawn out, complicated affair. The difference is this time, we may finally have some answers.
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