On the night of 7 September 1996, Tupac Shakur — the visionary rapper, actor, and activist who was, at twenty-five, one of the most influential artists in the world — was shot in a drive-by while riding through the Las Vegas Strip in a car driven by the Death Row Records boss Marion 'Suge' Knight. The two had just left the Mike Tyson boxing match at the MGM Grand, where, earlier that evening, Tupac and his entourage had been caught on casino cameras beating a man in the lobby. As their car waited at a red light near the Strip, a white Cadillac pulled alongside and someone opened fire, hitting Tupac four times. He was rushed to hospital and fought for his life for six days before dying on 13 September 1996. His murder stunned the music world and became one of the most infamous unsolved killings in American cultural history — bound up with the bitter East Coast–West Coast rivalry that then convulsed hip-hop, and followed six months later by the strikingly similar murder of his rival, The Notorious B.I.G. For twenty-seven years, despite widespread belief about who was responsible, no one was charged. Then, in September 2023, Las Vegas police arrested a former gang leader who had publicly admitted his role, and charged him with orchestrating the killing. This is the story of the murder of Tupac Shakur — the man, the rivalry, the long silence, and the arrest that came almost three decades too late.
Assassinations & Disappearances
1996
