Tupac Amaru Shakur, also known by his stage names 2Pac and, briefly, as Makaveli, was an America rapper and actor. He was born in East Harlem, New York, in 1971 and died in Las Vegas, Nevada in 1996 at the age of 25.
How did Tupac die? Violently – and when you read his story you will understand why.
Tupac started out as a roadie, backup dancer, and MC for the alternative hip-hop group, Digital Underground. When he decided to continue as a solo artist, his songs reflected the violence and hardship in inner cities, racism and other social problems. His parents and family were members of the Black Panther Party, and Tupac embraced many of their philosophies in his songs
His material appealed to a large section of the public, resulting in sales of over 75 million albums worldwide by 2010. His double disc album All Eyez on Me is one of the best selling hip hop albums of all time.
During Tupac’s short life he had numerous issues involving the law and the police.
This is the Timeline:
In 1991, Tupac filed a $10 million civil suit against the Oakland Police Department, alleging they had brutally beaten him for jaywalking. Most of the $43,000 settlement money paid his lawyers fee.
On August 22, 1992, in Marin City, Tupac became involved in another dispute. The story goes that he drew a gun, but accidentally dropped it. It was picked up by a member of his entourage and, somehow, a bullet was discharged.
About 100 yards away a 6-year-old boy was playing in a school playground when a bullet struck him in the forehead and killed him. Although the fatal bullet was matched by police to a.38-caliber pistol legally registered to Tupac, charges were dropped when he agreed to pay a settlement to the parents – rumored to have been $300,000 – $500,000.
In 1995, the boy’s mother brought a wrongful death suit against Tupac. It transpired, following new ballistics tests, that the bullet which killed the boy was not, after all, from Tupac’s gun.
In 1993, in Atlanta, Tupac was involved in an altercation with two off-duty police officers – both of whom were drunk at the time. He was a passenger in a car which came too close to the officers, which then caused an argument with the driver, Tupac pulled a gun and shot at the policemen, injuring both of them. Although, initially, Tupac was charged with the shooting, the prosecutors eventually dropped the charges against all parties.
Tupac’s conflicts with the law continued. On April 5, 1993, he was charged with one count of felonious assault. He was accused of attempting to hit another rapper with a baseball bat at a concert at Michigan State University. Tupac pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor, and was sentenced to 30 days in jail, 20 of which were suspended.
Also in1993, in November, Tupac and others were charged with sexually assaulting a woman in a hotel room – which Tupac denied.
Whilst Tupac was found innocent of seven counts of sodomy, and other charges, he was found guilty of sexual abuse for the “unwanted touching of the buttocks”. The judge described the crime as “an act of brutal violence against a helpless woman.” and sentenced Tupac to up to four and a half years in prison.
After serving part of his sentence, Tupac was released on bail pending his appeal. But, in April 1996, a judge sentenced him to serve 120 days in jail for violating terms of his release on bail.
Tupac could not raise the the $1.4 million bail money to go to appeal, and served eleven months of his sentence. He was released due to the intervention of Suge Knight, the CEO of Death Row Records, who posted the $1.4 million bail, in exchange for a commitment from Tupac to release three albums under the Death Row label.
In early 1994, he was found guilty of assault on Menace II Society co-director Allen Hughes and served 15 days in jail.
On the night of November 30, 1994, the day before the verdict in his sexual abuse trial was to be announced, Tupac was robbed and shot five times by three men in the lobby of Quad Recording Studios in Manhattan.
Doctors at the Bellevue Hospital said Tupac had five bullet wounds; two in the head, two in the groin and one through the arm and thigh. No one was ever charged for the attack.
Tupac began serving his prison sentence at Clinton Correctional Facility on Valentine’s Day, February 14, 1995. A few weeks later he married his long-time girlfriend, Keisha Morris, but the couple divorced in 1996. Tupac said later that he married her “for the wrong reasons”.
The following year, on the night of September 7, 1996, Tupac attended the Mike Tyson–Bruce Seldon boxing match at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas, Nevada. In the hotel lobby he encountered Orlando “Baby Lane” Anderson, who belonged to a gang that had once robbed a member of Tupac’s entourage. A fight ensued, which was captured on the hotel’s video surveillance.
Tupac and his crew left too go to a club. On route, their car was pulled over on Las Vegas Boulevard by police for playing the car stereo too loudly, and not having license plates.
At approximately 11:15 pm, a Cadillac containing an unknown number of occupants, pulled up to the car’s right side, rolled down a window, and rapidly fired gunshots at Tupac. He was hit in the chest, pelvis, and his right hand and thigh.
Police and paramedics took the wounded Tupac to the University Medical Center of Southern Nevada.
Tupac was heavily sedated and placed on life support. Subsequently, he was put under a barbiturate-induced coma, after repeatedly trying to get out of the bed. On the afternoon of Friday, September 13, 1996, Tupac died of internal bleeding; doctors attempted to revive him but could not stop the hemorrhaging.
His mother, Afeni, told the doctors to stop their efforts. He was pronounced dead at 4:03 pm (PDT). The official cause of death was noted as respiratory failure and cardiopulmonary arrest in connection with multiple gunshot wounds.
Tupac’s body was cremated the next day, and some of his ashes were later mixed with marijuana and smoked by members of his group.
And it doesn’t get more bizarre than that!
Now you know the answer to the question: “How did Tupac die? Tupac died a violent death, which pretty much reflected how he lived.
Considering the events of the last five years of his life, it’s a miracle that he survived for so long.
