Conspiracy Theories

     Tupac Shakur was pronounced dead after being shot four times in a vehicle that he was in. There have been many conspiracies surrounding his death. However, there are three main conspiracy theories about the mysterious death of Tupac Shakur. First, did Biggie Smalls (A.K.A. The Notorious B.I.G) kill him? Second is that there is a possibility that Shakur is still alive somewhere. Last, did Suge Knight (CEO of Death Row Records) kill Tupac? Let's discuss these theories below.

     The first conspiracy that is widely accepted is that Biggie Smalls (A.K.A. The Notorious B.I.G.) killed Tupac. Biggie and Tupac originally had “mutual respect” for each other until one day (Chang). On the day of November 30, 1994, Tupac was heading upstairs to where Biggie and Combs were but, instead, he was gunned down in the lobby and shot five times. Tupac was convinced after the shooting that Biggie had something to do with it. After that started the famous feud between Tupac and Biggie. Days after the shooting, Tupac was jailed for a sexual assault case. Tupac was able to get out of jail due to making a deal with Death Row Records CEO, Suge Knight, which was the rival record label to Biggie Smalls’ Bad Boy Records. This led to Tupac and Biggie arguing through rap with songs such as ‘Who Shot Ya’ by Biggie and ‘Hit Em Up’ by Tupac. Fast forward to Tupac’s death on September 7, 1996, when he was fatally shot, Biggie claimed no involvement in the shooting. According to his wife, Faith Evans, at the time Biggie Smalls said, “Shit got fucked up somewhere along the way. But that was my n***a.” (Anderson) There are many claims that Biggie wanted Tupac killed because of the ongoing feud they were going through and that Biggie wanted Tupac killed so they wouldn’t have to compete in the rap game with each other. This is the most promising theory of how Tupac died because many reasons and factors could have led Biggie to kill Tupac. This is also the most widely known conspiracy.

     The second conspiracy is that Tupac is still alive after his supposed death. There have been many people including celebrities that have claimed that they believe that Tupac is still alive. Just two months after Tupac died, the album “The Don Killuminati: The 7 Day Theory” (A.K.A. Makaveli) was released. The music video for the lead single “Hail Mary” featured Tupac rising from the earth to murder all his enemies (Hobbs). This, to many people, could symbolize Shakur rising from the dead. This is the least plausible theory because there are many things that could prove Shakur’s death.

     The last conspiracy is that Suge Knight killed Tupac. Suge Knight was the CEO of the rap label Death Row Records. In 1995, Tupac was in Rikers Island due to a sexual assault charge when Suge Knight offered to pay his $3 million bail. The only condition was that Tupac had to sign with Suge’s Death Row Records (Pearce). In the 1990’s Tupac was becoming a big actor as he had acted in over 5 movies (Lawrence). Suge Knight noticed Tupac was going to leave Death Row Records. According to LAPD Detective Russell Poole he said, “ The evidence shows you just don’t leave Death Row Records and get away with it.” (Entertain This! Staff) By the police officer saying that, there could be a big possibility that Suge Knight had Tupac killed just so he would not leave Death Row Records. (1)