Tupac Shakur: The Man, The Myth, The Legend

I REMEMBER on the evening of September 14, 1996 walking up to my friend George who lived next door and found him in the company of our friend Elisha. I also remember Elisha asking me whether I had heard about Tupac’s death. That’s how I got to find about Tupac.

Mobile phones had not reached this part of the world at the time and the Interne certainly wasn’t as popular as it is today. Also, a rap artist being killed hardly made it on the evening news in Zambia, so the good old word-of-mouth was how most people found out.

I can’t say the news hit me that hard. Of course I felt a little bit sad, but I wasn’t into Tupac let alone rap music back then. As a matter of fact I only came to learn about Tupac a year earlier when Elisha walked up to me one afternoon as I was listening to some Soukous music and handed me Tupac’s third studio album Me Against The World. I remember Elisha handing me a white cassette and urged me to put it in the cassette player. He said something to the effect “I want you to listen to this guy called Tupac. There is a song on this album called Dear Mama.”

I don’t know whether that was my first introduction to rap music, but I don’t remember listening to a rap song before that. Though Elisha wanted me to listen to “Dear Mama”, it was “So Many Tears” and “It Ain’t Easy” that I had an instant liking for. I felt the two songs really spoke to me in some way. So Many Tears remains to this day my all time favourite rap song.

I don’t think there is an artist dead or alive that has moved the way Tupac did. Though I rarely listen to rap music now, whenever I start to feel overwhelmed by the ugliness of the world I look to Tupac’s music and interviews. I really pity people who only remember this guy as a thug or gangster. They truly miss out on a brilliant intellectual individual.

In my opinion, there was nobody in the rap industry as good as Tupac. Tupac was all about his work which he did until he couldn’t. The man came from nothing. He created, stood on his two feet, fought, lost, picked himself up, all day every day. Every “Rap Star” after him owes him. He brought to the table rap music worth listening to.

On September 7, 1996, Tupac and his record label boss, Suge Knight left the Mike Tyson vs Bruce Seldon fight at MGM Grand Hotel in Las Vegas, Nevada. Tupac sat in the passenger’s seat of Suge’s BMW when a white Cadillac with four occupants pulled alongside at the intersection of Flamingo Road and Koval Lane.

According to one witness, two men got out of the Cadillac and fired 13 rounds at the BMW from less than 13 feet away. Tupac was hit three times, one in the hip, another in his right hand with the fatal one hitting him in the chest while Suge escaped with minor injuries. The shooting occurred at 11:15 p.m. local time. Tupac was rushed to the University Medical Center.

On Friday, September 13, 1996, Tupac died after 6 days in critical condition. Tupac Shakur was pronounced dead at 4.03 p.m. His body was later cremated. He was only 25.

 There are many theories to Tupac's death; however there is a suspicion that it could have been the rivalry between the Westcoast and Eastcoast rappers.