Tupac Shakur

The cavalcade from Death Row associates to awe-struck fans scuffled their way over to the Luxor hotel where Tupac would check in with Kidada in the room and change his outfit for the after-party at Suge’s club 662 later in the evening. As they resumed downstairs in the front drive, the Death Row vehicle procession was in full effect, a collection of dropped and chrome wheel Mercedes, BMWs, Cadillacs and Lexus’ nearly all black with tinted windows. This was a badass site on the road. Tupac rode in with Suge in his new one week old BMW 750IL yet to be fitted with registration plates as Alexander followed behind in Kidada’s Lexus (which he found out was running very low on fuel) with the Outlawz as were Pac’s instructions. Suge was in no rush as it was still too early for his usual grand entrance at the club. He instructed to meet half way at his house. (This was the residence used in the film Casino where DeNiro’s character Sam Rothstein lived, next door to Mike Tyson.) On the drive over Suge blasted Pac’s latest Don Kiluminati album, the bass was so loud from the sound system the ground was trembling. He loved to listen to his own tunes. Suge and Pac were both lead foots, hardly stopping at all for traffic lights, they reached Suge’s residence and stayed for a total of fifteen minutes before resuming their trip into town for 662.

As they entered the main strip a bicycle cop motioned for Suge to pull up as they were playing Makaveli’s music louder than the city limits allowed. The officer then asked Suge to exit the vehicle and open the trunk, very relaxed he followed orders and got back into his car and was free to continue on. Instead of driving right onto Tropicana to enter the club from the rear to avoid the crowds, he drove through traffic lights at an alarming rate taking Flamingo for a grand front entrance. Through The Strip the entrance was a spectacle. Women were sidling up to the line of luxury vehicles with their breasts out and hitched skirts with flirtatious intentions. The crowd of fans almost swarmed Suge and Pac’s car when they reached the front of the Maxim Hotel. They stopped at the next red light on Korval Lane. A Chrysler sedan with four young ladies immediately pulled up on the BMW’s left catching Pac’s attention. Moments later on the opposite lane heading toward Suge’s car, a white Cadillac screeched to a halt slightly in front and to the left passenger side where Tupac was. Four black men were seated inside the car as the left rear window opened stretching a black arm out extended by a .40 calibre Glock. Between ten to fifteen shots were fired into the vehicle. There were over a hundred or so witnesses watching as Pac climbed into the backseat and got hit four times in the process. Two bullets ripped open his torso splitting his “Thug Life” tattoo in half while the two other bullets wounded him in the hand and leg. The Cadillac sped away and turned right in the direction of Korval Lane away from The Strip.

Rather than call 911 on his phone, he made a U-turn into oncoming traffic as cars scattered to avoid collision with the entire caravan of Death Row vehicles followed by jumping median strips. Two bicycle cops who overheard the shots gave chase and caught up with the BMW because two of the car’s tyres had been deflated with shots. The scene of the shooting was vacated, crowds dispersed as did the vehicles involved. The two police on bicycles approached the BMW with guns drawn and ordered Suge out of the car. With blood dripping from his head he stepped out informing them he had been shot. However they forced him to the ground spread eagle with officers holding him down as he bled profusely. Alexander was yelling at the police to get off Suge, when they finally did both of them ran over to the BMW to check on Tupac. The door was closed tight. Alexander reached for Tupac through the window, his medaliion was soaked with blood and his body was trembling like he was cold. As ambulances and cars sped onto the scene, this was by the time Suge had gotten the door open and the both of them laid Tupac out on the ground. Within minutes the whole area was a chaotic scenario of flashing and howling alarms from screeching emergency vehicles. Many onlookers swarmed the BMW as it sat stationary on Vegas Boulevard and Harmon trying to rip themselves off mementos from the car, hubcaps, mirrors but police drew them back with the threat of arrest.

Alexander knelt down beside Tupac with his hand touching him, “You’re gonna be ok, Pac.” Through tears he kept talking to him, “Pac, you’re ok, you’re ok.” Tupac looked up at him and said “Frank I can’t breathe… I can’t breathe.” Tupac repeated this over and over to Frank Alexander. He witnessed Tupac with his own strength cross his arms over his chest, take a deep breath and close his eyes. This was the last time he saw Tupac breathe on his own. As paramedics arrived at Las Vegas University Medical Center to deliver Tupac he had lost vast amounts of blood. A team of surgeons removed his shattered left lung that evening and operated again the next morning. He was given a 50-50 chance of survival only to be improved when he regained consciousness. Prayer vigils were held by the Outlawz with fans that helped drive away the media and their snappy cameras before they could get any images caught of the rapper’s condition. In the lobby a teenage girl chanted the lyrics from ‘All Eyes On Me’ and outside Tupac’s room Jesse Jackson and Minister Tony Muhammed head of LA’s Nation of Islam chapter comforted the Shakur family.

At 4:04pm on Friday the thirteenth, at twenty five years young Tupac Amaru Shakur was pronounced dead from respiratory failure and cardiopulmonary arrest. Suge arrived moments later in a black lexus just after the announcement was made. As he exited his vehicle the crowd went quiet and everybody noticed the gunshot wound to his scalp was barely noticeable. Inside Suge spoke briefly to Tupac’s family then walked strtaight out the front entrance smoking a cigar ten minutes later. This spelled the end of an era, a defining moment in black history. The loss of a generational icon who could have stood still through eternal evolution had he not met his demons along the way.

Discography:

* 1991 2Pacalypse Now (Gold U.S.)
* 1993 Strictly 4 My N.I.G.G.A.Z. (Platinum U.S.)
* 1994 Thug Life: Thug Life Vol. 1 (with Thug Life) (Gold U.S.)
* 1995 Me Against the World (2x Platinum U.S.)
* 1996 All Eyez on Me (9x Platinum U.S.)
* 1996 The Don Killuminati: The 7 Day Theory (5x Platinum U.S.)
* 1997 R U Still Down? (Remember Me) (4x Platinum U.S.)
* 1998 2Pac's Greatest Hits (9x Platinum U.S.)
* 1999 Still I Rise (with Tha Outlawz) (2x Platinum U.S.)
* 2000 The Rose that Grew from Concrete
* 2000 The Lost Tapes: Circa 1989 on Lightyear Records
* 2001 Until the End of Time (4x Platinum U.S.)
* 2002 Better Dayz (3x Platinum U.S.)
* 2003 Tupac: Resurrection (OST) (Platinum U.S.)
* 2003 Nu-Mixx Klazzics
* 2004 2pac Live
* 2004 Loyal to the Game (Platinum U.S.)
* 2005 The Rose, Vol. 2
* 2005 Live at the House Of Blues (With the Dogg Pound)

Filmography:

* 1991 Nothing But Trouble (brief appearance as self)
* 1992 Juice (as Bishop)
* 1993 Poetic Justice (as Lucky the postman)
* 1994 Above the Rim (as Birdie)
* 1996 Bullet (as Tank)
* 1997 Gridlock'd (as Ezekiel 'Spoon' Whitmore)
* 1997 Gang Related (as Detective Rodriguez)
* 2002 Biggie & Tupac (archive footage)
* 2003 Tupac: Resurrection (archive footage)
* 2006 Live 2 Tell - as screenwriter (currently in pre-production)