Rapper Tupac Shakur Tragic Dies Of Shots In History Today, September 7, 1996

JAKARTA - Today September 6, 25 years ago or in 1996, the phenomenal rapper Tupac Shakur was shot in Las Vegas, Nevada, United States (US). He was bombarded after watching a boxing match and drove a black BMW with Death Row Records founder Marion "Suge" Knight. A few days later, Tupac died at the age of 25.

Citing Biography, Tupac Shakur was a rapper who embodied the gangsta-rap aesthetic of the 1990s and his death became an icon that symbolizes the noble struggle. Tupac's album sales reached 75 million albums and made him one of the best-selling artists of all time.

Tupac himself had been involved in a series of violent cases prior to the Las Vegas shootings. In 1993, he was sentenced for assault. That same year, a limousine driver claimed that Tupac had beaten him viciously.

In 1995, while he was facing a sexual assault case against a young woman, Tupac was shot five times in an attempted robbery at a New York recording studio and later convicted of sexual assault. After a year, he was imprisoned for violating probation and his failure to complete community service.

Prior to his death, Tupac was also a defendant in several civil lawsuits. A man named Ronald Ray Howard shot a Texas police officer after listening to Tupac songs in 1993.

The police wife then filed a lawsuit against Tupac for producing and distributing music allegedly inciting "imminently dangerous acts." In October 1994, two 17-year-olds in Milwaukee killed a police officer in a shooting attack after claiming to have been "hypnotized" by Tupac's music.

Tupac began his musical career as a rebel with the aim of articulating the suffering and injustice experienced by many African Americans. Her expertise in voicing the rights of African Americans has made her a spokesperson not only for her own generation but for the next generation who continue to face the same struggle for equality.

Tupac's killer has never been identified. But some believe that Orlando Anderson, a member of the Crips gang in Los Angeles, was responsible for the shooting. The night before the Tupac shooting, Anderson was assaulted in the lobby of the MGM Grand Hotel by a group of people from Death Row Records, including Suge Knight.

When the video footage of the assault came to light, Knight, then on parole, returned to his prison cell to serve a nine-year sentence. Suspecting a revenge motive, Tupac's mother filed a lawsuit against Orlando Anderson for her son's death. But the case was never resolved because Anderson was killed in a shooting that occurred in May 1998.

The mystery of the perpetrator and the reason for Tupac's murder led to the birth of many conspiracy theories. The most famous and widely believed theory is that Tupac faked his death. Conspiracy theorists have rationalized it by pointing to Tupac's reverence for political philosopher Niccolò Machiavelli, whose treatise The Art of War, was misinterpreted as advocating faking one's death to manipulate enemies.

Citing USA Today, another conspiracy theory is that the mastermind of the shooting was Tupac's rival Biggie Smalls. The feud between the two of them has never disappeared from the history of hip-hop. An anonymous Los Angeles Times investigative article explains that rapper Notorious BIG offered the Crips a $1 million reward for killing Tupac. However, the story was withdrawn by the author of the article because there was a falsified FBI report.

Tupac's death became even more suspicious when the memorial service for the last time was called off. Tupac was quickly cremated the day after he died. In a private ceremony, it was reported that Suge Knight paid $3 million to keep the event out of the reach of the media. The crematorium said Tupac's body was 182 cm tall and weighed about 97.5 kg. While on his driver's license, Tupac is identified as having a height of about 177 cm and a weight of about 76 kg. The cremator then disappeared and has not been heard from since.

*Read other information about TODAY's HISTORY or read other interesting articles from Putri Ainur Islam.

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