It’s been almost 21 years since Tupac Shakur was gunned down in front of hundreds of witnesses following a Mike Tyson fight in Las Vegas.
Astonishingly, to this day, no arrests have been made, and fans are forced to rely on increasingly bizarre Internet conspiracy theories to get an idea of who might have pulled the trigger that fateful day in 1996.
This weekend, a very poorly received biopic about the legendary rapper will hit theaters, and it seems the studio responsible for the film is participating in one of the most cynical marketing campaigns of all time.
This morning, several media outlets are claiming to have new information regarding Tupac’s murder, all of it coming from an “LAPD insider” who chose to remain silent for two decades for reasons that remain unclear.
We’re not questioning the accuracy of the source’s information, but the timing of its release seems more than a little suspicious.
In interviews, the insider confirms a key piece of information that was already widely assumed by fans:
Tupac was heavily indebted to Death Row Records mogul Suge Knight for reasons that went well beyond the music world:
“[Shakur] wanted to get out of jail and he basically signed his life away to Suge [Knight]. He didn’t want to do it, but when he does that they own him,” the source explains,
He adds that Tupac “immediately [became] enemies with the Crips” due to Suge’s association with LA gang Mob Piru, which was “built off of Death Row.”
Rumors about Suge’s involvement in the rapper’s death have been circulating for decades, with some going so far as to accuse Suge’s wife, Sharitha Golden, of murdering Tupac personally.
These days Suge is locked up in connection with a different violent death, and while he may spend the rest of his life behind bars, he’ll almost certainly never be forced to answer for his possible involvement in Shakur’s death.
But the LAPD source tells In Touch that while he believes it was Tupac’s involvement with Suge that got him killed, he does not believe Knight was personally responsible.
Instead, the source says, Tupac’s murder stemmed from a confrontation earlier in the day between Suge’s people and a prominent member of the LA Crips named Orlando Anderson.
“It was simple retaliation: you mess with one of ours, we will mess with one of yours. If Orlando had never been jumped in the hotel, they never would have killed Tupac that night.”
So it’s possible that for all the conspiracy theories, Shakur’s death was simply the result of retaliation by a humiliated gang member.
In a way, the randomness of it all makes the loss of such a beautiful soul and tremendous talent even more tragic.
