Tupac Shakur. Born 1971 and died 1996. He was gunned down in the streets of Las Vegas. That’s the story, and to this day rap fans across the world mourn his death. But did that actually happen? Was he actually killed? Could he still be alive? What if there was evidence supporting the fact that Tupac was still alive, and never was gunned down that night eighteen years ago?
If you do any research into this topic, literally just google “tupac conspiracy” you’ll find thousands, if not millions of websites and youtube videos and forums dedicated to providing proof for both sides of this argument, that Tupac is dead, or that he’s actually alive. People have their own opinions. I don’t. I’ve looked into this subject a little bit, but I haven’t formed my own opinion. The plan is to do this blog and make my own opinion.
Music has always been a huge part of my life. Growing up I listened to classic rock, and once I started high school I expanded my tastes. Right now, you’ll find on my iPod everything from Britney Spears to Florida Georgia Line to Blink 182 to Kendrick Lamar. I listen to everything. Tupac, or as is stage name goes, 2pac, has always been a huge section of my iTunes. Looking now, I have 370 songs by him. Tupac’s music is part of every playlist I have that includes rap, and once I heard about this conspiracy regarding his death, the idea has always intrigued me.
People nowadays tout Tupac as one of the greatest rappers of all time, if not the greatest. A question arose wondering if Tupac was considered the greatest when he was alive and rapping, or only posthumously awarded the title. To answer that, we have to dive into Tupac’s life when he was rapping. During his career, he wrote songs that had impeccable flow, that were about living the “thug life” yet everyone, from people living in ghettos to people living in suburban neighborhoods could relate to. He wrote songs about life and struggling and achieving dreams. People could argue that rappers today rap the same thing, but all you really here are lines about sleeping with women and making money. Tupac wrote songs about falling in love, about his love for his mother, about helping the poor. He was a social activist who constantly fought for people’s rights in the ghetto and for black rights. So yes, Tupac was considered the greatest rapper of his time. Dr. Dre was good, but never known worldwide, Biggie was amazing but never achieved the popularity levels of ‘Pac, and Snoop Dogg was still up-and-coming at the time but he quickly fell off the map. To this day, rappers are constantly rapping about Tupac and even they say he’s the greatest.
Another question posed about this idea was the fact that there was a lack of crime scene evidence and whether the legend came from just hope, the lack of evidence, or a mixture of both. I think it was both. The crime scene evidence, or lack thereof plays a significant part in this, but so does hope. Rap fans now and then revere Tupac, and everyone always hopes and prays that a loved one would come back from the dead so it’s not surprising that people would hope and pray for a leader of the rap community to come back from the dead.
So even though I haven’t even touched the surface of this conspiracy, of this hip hop urban legend, there’s still so much to think about.