2Pac, the rapper whose raw gangsta lyrics often told the story of his own tumultuous lifestyle riddled with violence and anger died on Friday the thirteenth of September, 1996 from gunshot wounds during a drive-by shooting.
He was 25.
Officials at University Medical Center in Las Vegs, where the rapper had been hospitalized for nearly a week, confirmed that Shakur died at 4:30pm. Doctors listed the cause of death as respiratory failure and cardiopulmonary arrest.
Shakur was hit by four bullets September 7th near the Maxim Hotel east of the Las Vegas Strip as he rode in a car driven by the head of Death Row Records, Marion "Suge" Knight, who himself ws wounded.
The pair had just watched the Mike Tyson- Bruce Seldon title fight when a white Cadillac pulled alongside their BMW and peppered the passenger side of the car with bullets, according to police reports.
Shakur was hit in the chest and abdomen, and eventually had to have a lung removed. Had he lived, he never would have fully recovered.
The mystery of who killed him and why may never be solved. The 1995 Atlanta murder of Suge Knight's aide, Jade Robles, has never been solved, nor did the police ever arrest a sspect in connection with the 1994 shooting of Tupac.
When Shakur's friends are interviewed, a complex portrait of the slain rapper/actor always emerges. But throughout his career, Shakur seemed to court danger. "Tupac always searched for the next level of the game," says a former associate.
"Where we come from, the negative is just how people live. He had graduated each level. Born in New York City, he'd gone from Marin [Marin City, Calif.] to Oakland, to L.A. where it was more dangerous. Then he went to the East Coast where he kicked it with big time drug dealers and killers, and next the natural progression was Death Row."
Las Vegas police believe they know why no one's talking about the shooting. "They all want to take care of it themselves." Maybe they will and someone else will die.
In the end, Dr. Dre sums it up as bluntly as if he were reciting a freshly written lyric. "Who knows when it's your time?" he says. "When God says it's your time, you have to go. That's it."
And that's it for 2Pac's time on earth, but his music will continue on as he passes from mortal man into legend.
