On the night of September 7, 1996, rapper Tupac Shakur was shot multiple times after attending the Mike Tyson–Bruce Seldon boxing match at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas. Bullets hit him in the chest, pelvis, and his right hand and thigh. One of the rounds apparently ricocheted into Tupac's right lung.
At the hospital, Tupac was in and out of consciousness, was heavily sedated, breathed through a ventilator and respirator, was placed on life support machines, and was ultimately put under a barbiturate-induced coma after repeatedly trying to get out of the bed. Despite having been resuscitated in a trauma center and surviving a multitude of surgeries (as well as the removal of a failed right lung), Tupac had gotten through the critical phase of the medical therapy and was given a 50% chance of pulling through. While in the critical care unit on the afternoon of September 13, 1996, Tupac died of internal bleeding; doctors attempted to revive him but could not impede his hemorrhaging. His mother made the decision to tell the doctors to stop. The official cause of death was noted as respiratory failure and cardiopulmonary arrest in connection with multiple gunshot wounds.
Shakur's body was cremated and some of his ashes were later mixed with marijuana and smoked by members of the Outlawz (Tupac founded this group and had been performing them).
I'm not going to go there about Ren for several reasons. I think that comparison is unfair, but you're right about Tupac. You live that lifestyle, you could pay the ultimate price. There are so many theories out there about what really happened to Tupac. Some think he isn't dead, and it was to boost sales of his music. Some think Suge Knight had him killed. Some say biggie smalls had him killed while the east-west rap war of words was going on. Some think it was a rival gang that killed him. Some even believe the "illuminati" killed him.
This might come as a shock, but 2Pac was no gangsta.
I believe the theory that Suge Knight had Tupac murdered because he was going to leave Death Row records and with the loss of Dr. Dre and the falling popularity of Snoop Doggy Dogg, Death Row had nothing without 2Pac. 2Pac recorded 200 songs beyond the three albums worth of material he owed Death Row.
So in relation to messing with gangsters and getting messed up; 2Pac was an artist on a record label. 2Pac was guided to that record label by Jimmy Iovine, who owned Interscope Records put 2Pac and Death Row together. I always wonder why Jimmy Iovine didn't bail 2Pac out.
To be honest, had Suge Knight not gone to prison (for being on probation and getting in a fight), Dr. Dre and Snoop Dogg probably would have been targeted by Suge Knight as well.
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15 years ago today....
