Music, Murder, and Mysteries: Tupac Shakur

Murder Mysteries and Tupac Alive Rumors Surround the Life and Death of a Music Legend

Whether you like Hip Hop music or not, the life and death of Tupac Shakur is an interesting story.   His internet legacy lives on with endless speculation that he faked his death, perhaps due in part to the several platinum albums released after his death.

A Life of Legal Issues and Violence

Tupac Amaru Shakur was born in the East Harlem section of Manhattan, New York City on June 16, 1971. Throughout his life Tupac was associated with numerous criminal acts and legal issues.

In November 1994, the day before Tupac was to hear the verdict in a sexual abuse trial, he was shot five times and robbed after entering the lobby of a recording studio in Manhattan. Tupac accused rapper Biggie Smalls for having a part of the incident.

A day later Tupac was found guilty of three sexual crimes. He would eventually serve eleven months in prison for the crimes.

Much like the life he lived, he would die in an act of violence. On the night of September 7, 1996, Shakur attended a Mike Tyson boxing match in Las Vegas. Later in the night after the boxing match, another fight broke out between Tupac and his crew, and members of a rival gang. Later that same night a car that pulled up to Tupac's vehicle would fire a gun into the vehicle hitting Tupac four times.

Tupac died at University Medical Center in Las Vegas on the afternoon of September 13, 1996, from complications and internal bleeding from the gun shot wounds. Adding fuel to all the conspiracy theories surrounding his death is the report that Tupac's body was cremated within 24 hours of his death.

His Internet Legacy Lives On

Tupac's success in music is quite impressive, with four albums released before his death gone platinum, and eight more released after his death going platinum as well. The tremendous success of albums released after after his death, and endless speculation surrounding his death, has fueled countless websites and online conspiracy theories that Tupac faked his death.

Speculation of whether Tupac is still alive was preyed upon recently up by the group of hackers that calls themselves LulzSec, as they hacked the PBS website and claimed Tupac Shakur was not dead, but was actually alive and well and well living in New Zealand.

Mysteries in Life as in Death

On June 15, 2011, a day before what would have been Tupac's fortieth birthday, a prison inmate admitted to the 1994 shooting of Tupac.

The crime of Tupac's murder in 1996 has never been solved.

The person who Tupac implicated in his 1994 shooting, Biggie Smalls, would also die much the same way Tupac did. Biggie was shot dead, a victim of four gun shot wounds, March 9, 1997. His murder also remains a mystery.

 As with any artist that dies in the prime of their career, their status becomes more legendary over time. In the case of Tupac, his legendary status includes a variety of mysteries as well.