Hip hop deaths

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In the hip-hop music industry there have been numerous fatalities within the late 1980's-2000's

[edit] 2PAC

One of the most notorious of all time. Tupac Amaru Shakur (June 16, 1971 – September 13, 1996) was an American rap artist, actor, activist, and poet. He is also referred to as: 2Pac, Makaveli and 'Pac. He is known in the Guinness Book of World Records as the world's most successful rapper, as he is the best-selling rap/hip-hop artist ever, having sold over 73 million albums worldwide.[2] This includes over 44.5 million sales in the United States alone.[3] Most of Shakur's songs are about growing up around violence and hardship in ghettos, racism, problems in society, and sometimes his feuds with fellow rappers. Tupac is known for the political, economic, and messages of racial equality found in much of his work. He has been ranked by many fans, critics, and industry insiders as the greatest rapper ever.[4][5]

Born in New York City, Tupac frequently found his family changing place of residence. In 1988, his family moved to California, where he would reside for the rest of his life. In 1990, he was hired as a backup dancer for the alternative rap group Digital Underground. Tupac's debut album, 2Pacalypse Now, gained critical recognition and backlash for its controversial lyrics. Shakur became the target of various lawsuits, and experienced legal troubles. Most notably, he was convicted of sexually assaulting a woman in 1993 (although he vigorously denied the claims). The day before the guilty verdict was issued, Shakur was shot five times in a recording studio lobby in Manhattan, wounding him. Following the incident, Shakur grew suspicious that other figures in the rap industry had prior knowledge of shooting and did not warn him; the controversy would help spark the later East Coast-West Coast feud. After serving eleven months of his sentence, Shakur was released from prison on bail by Marion "Suge" Knight, the CEO of Death Row Records. In exchange, Shakur would release three records under the label,with his fifth album, the double-disc All Eyez on Me counting as two albums. On September 7, 1996, Tupac was shot four times in a drive-by shooting in Las Vegas, Nevada. On September 13, 1996, six days after the shooting, Tupac died of respiratory failure and cardiac arrest at University Medical Center, Las Vegas.

Tupac's music addresses such topics as the hardships of growing up around violence in United States ghettos, poverty, racism, and his feuds with fellow rappers. He is known for the messages of political, economic, and racial equality that pervade his work as well as the "Thug Life" that he raps about living in. His music has attracted a large amount of controversy and was showcased in the media a number of times. Shakur gained a large amount of publicity for being one of the main figures in the East Coast vs. West Coast feud between his Death Row Records label and Bad Boy Records. During his lifetime, Tupac released five albums and played roles in several films. Many posthumous albums have been released under Shakur's name.

On September 7, 1996, Shakur attended the Mike Tyson - Bruce Seldon boxing match at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas. After the boxing match, Shakur spotted 21 year-old Orlando "Baby Lane" Anderson, a member of the Southside Crips in the MGM Grand lobby. Shakur rushed him and knocked Anderson down, and Shakur's entourage beat him. The incident was captured on the hotel's video surveillance. Anderson and a group of Crips had beaten up a member of Death Row's entourage in a Foot Locker a few weeks earlier, precipitating Shakur's attack. After the fight with Anderson, Shakur met up with Suge Knight to go to Death Row-owned Club 662 (now known as restaurant/club Seven). Shakur rode with Knight in Knight's 1996 black BMW 750i sedan,[31][32] as part of a larger convoy of cars including some of Shakur's friends, The Outlawz, and bodyguards.

At approximately 11:15 PM, while stopped at the intersection of East Flamingo Road and Koval Lane, Shakur was shot in a drive-by shooting. Shakur was hit four times, twice in the chest, and once each in his arm and thigh, while Knight was scratched in the head by a piece of flying glass.

At the time of the shooting, Shakur was riding alongside with Suge Knight, with his bodyguard following behind in a vehicle belonging to Kidada Jones, Shakur's then-fiancée. The bodyguard, Frank Alexander, stated that while he was about to ride along with the rapper in Suge Knight's car, Shakur asked him to drive Kidada Jones' car in case they were too drunk and needed additional vehicles from Club 662 back to the hotel. Shortly after the shootings, the bodyguard reported in his documentary, Before I Wake, that one of the convoy's cars drove off after the assailant but he never heard back from the occupants.

After arriving on the scene, police and paramedics took Shakur and Knight to the University Medical Center. Shakur was placed on life support until his death six days later, on September 13, 1996, at 4:03 PM PDT at the age of 25. The official cause of death was respiratory failure and cardiac arrest. After his death, Shakur's body was cremated. His ashes were spread over Los Angeles, the Pacific Ocean, Shakur's aunt's land and his mother's land in North Carolina, and some has been mixed with marijuana and smoked by The Outlawz.[33] Family and friends plan to spread the remaining ashes during a ceremony in Soweto, South Africa. The ceremony has been delayed from September 13, 2006, to June 16, 2007, which would have been Shakur's 36th birthday.[34]

Theories of the crime Although no one has ever been formally charged, nor publicly identified by the police as a suspect, police sources have indicated they believe that Anderson (who has since been murdered himself) was the killer. Officers in the Compton, California Police Department Gang Unit claimed in a leaked report the Crips were bragging about the killing soon after Anderson returned from Las Vegas. Officers further indicated they were disappointed with the lack of initiative shown by the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department in pursuing Shakur's killer(s).

Due largely to the perceived lack of progress on the case by law enforcement, many independent investigations and theories of the crime have emerged. Because of the acrimony between Christopher Wallace (aka Notorious B.I.G.) and Shakur, there was speculation about the possibility of Wallace's involvement in the murder from the outset. Wallace vehemently denied involvement. However, in a notable (but highly disputed) 2002 investigation by the Los Angeles Times, writer Chuck Phillips claimed to have uncovered evidence implicating Wallace in the murder.[35] In the article, Phillips quoted unnamed gang-member sources who claimed Wallace had ties to the Crips, often hiring them for security during West Coast appearances. Phillips' informants also state that Wallace gave the gang members one of his own guns for use in the attack on Shakur, and that he put out a $1 million contract on Tupac's life. By the time Phillips' specific allegations were published, however, Wallace himself had been murdered.[36]

Wallace's family and associates have vehemently denied Wallace's involvement in Shakur's death.[37] In support of their claims, Wallace's family submitted documentation to MTV indicating that Wallace was working in a New York recording studio the night of Shakur's murder. Wallace's manager Wayne Barrow and rapper James "Lil' Cease" Lloyd made public announcements denying Wallace's involvement in the murder and claiming further that they were both with Wallace in the recording studio the night of the shooting.

The high profile nature of the killing and ensuing gang violence caught the attention of British filmmaker Nick Broomfield who made the documentary Biggie & Tupac, which examines the lack of progress in the case by speaking to those close to Wallace, Shakur, and the investigation. Shakur's close childhood friend and member of the Outlawz, Yafeu "Yaki Kadafi" Fula, was in the convoy when the shooting happened and indicated to police that he might be able to identify the assailants. He was killed shortly thereafter in a housing project in Irvington, New Jersey.[38]

It was believed by many listeners that in the first few seconds of the song "Intro/Bomb First (My Second Reply) on the album The Don Killuminati: The 7 Day Theory, a muffled Shakur can be heard saying but multiple audio tests and confirmation from a member of The Outlawz proved that it was indeed "Shoulda shot me".[39][40] Many theorist mistook the statement as "Suge shot me" or "Suge shot 'em". This, along with reports of Knight's strong-arm tactics with artists and other illegal business tactics including involvement with the Mob Piru Bloods street gang gave rise to a theory that Knight was complicit in Shakur's murder, as it was reported that Suge Knight owed Tupac up to seventeen million dollars in back royalties, but no evidence has been provided to support this theory.

Other theories have been put forth, including a theory that Shakur is alive and well, but in hiding. Many supporters of these theories point to the symbolism in Shakur's The Don Killuminati: The 7 Day Theory album and in the video for the single "I Ain't Mad at Cha". In 2005 a book entitled 2Pac Lives The Death of Makaveli / The Resurrection of Tupac Amaru (Volume 1) was released which claims that Shakur is still alive.

[edit] Notorious B.I.G.

Christopher George Latore Wallace (May 21, 1972 – March 9, 1997), also known as Biggie Smalls (after a stylish gangster in the 1975 film Let's Do it Again), Big Poppa, and Frank White (from the film King of New York), but best known as The Notorious B.I.G. (Business Instead of Game), was a very popular rapper who rose to fame during the mid-1990s.

Born in Brooklyn, Christopher Wallace was raised at the height of the crack cocaine epidemic of the 1980's. By the time his critically acclaimed album Ready to Die was released in 1994, he was the central figure of East Coast hip-hop, reviving New York's prominence in a hip-hop scene which had previously been focused on West Coast hip-hop. Biggie's double disc set, Life After Death, has sold over 10 million copies, making it the second best-selling hip-hop album ever.[1] Biggie was noted for his storytelling, freestyling, and his easy to understand yet complex lyrics. His short career was overshadowed by the Bad Boy/Death Row Records feud dominating the hip-hop scene at the time, but since his death, the Notorious B.I.G. has been celebrated as one of the greatest hip-hop artists of all time.

On March 9, 1997, Wallace was attending the Soul Train Music Awards at the Peterson Automotive Museum on Wilshire Boulevard in Los Angeles. Other guests included Busta Rhymes, Heavy D, Da Brat, Aaliyah, Jermaine Dupri, Jagged Edge, Yo Yo, and Sean "Puffy" Combs.

Just after midnight fire marshals shut down the party due to overcrowding of the museum. Biggie left with his friends in two black GMC Suburbans. Sean Combs was in one truck. In the second truck Biggie was seated in the front passenger seat alongside his friends Damion Butler, sitting behind the driver, and Lil' Cease behind Biggie.

By 12:45 a.m. the street was crowded with people leaving the event. Biggie's truck stopped at a red light just 50 yards from the museum. While waiting for the light to change, a black Chevy Impala crept up alongside the truck Biggie was in. The driver of the Impala (an African-American male neatly dressed in a blue suit and bow tie) rolled down his window, drew a 9mm pistol and shot numerous rounds into the GMC Suburban; four bullets hit Biggie in the chest. It was believed he was killed instantly, but paramedics rushed him to Cedars-Sinai Medical Center and he was pronounced dead at 1:15 a.m.

The Notorious B.I.G.'s murder case has been reopened in July of 2006.