0:00

In the quiet morning light of Henderson, Nevada,

0:02

a town celebrated for its peace and security,

0:05

60-year-old Dwayne Keith Davis set out for

0:07

what he thought would be another routine

0:09

walk through familiar streets. But as the

0:12

sun climbed higher, the day's calm was

0:14

shattered by the approach of Las Vegas

0:16

Metro Police. With a precision that portrayed

0:19

countless rehearsals for this moment, they placed

0:21

Davis in cuffs and announced his arrest

0:23

for a crime that had become the

0:26

stuff of legend. The unresolved murder of

0:28

Tupac Shakur. A case as enigmatic as

0:31

the lyrics of the rap icon himself. As

0:33

Davis was escorted to a squad car, a

0:36

flood of questions surged through the community and

0:38

across the nation. Had justice finally caught up

0:40

with the past? Or was this another twist

0:42

in the long, winding saga that began on

0:44

that fateful night in 1996? Join

0:48

me today as we unravel the threads

0:50

of this gripping tale, from the glittering

0:52

heights of musical stardom to the darkened

0:54

streets where shadows speak truths.

0:57

Let's navigate the intricate maze of leads

0:59

and of lies, the alliances and enmities

1:01

that defined the era of thug life.

1:04

And perhaps together we'll edge a little

1:06

bit closer into answering the question that

1:08

has lingered for decades. Who

1:11

killed Tupac Shakur? Hello,

1:13

everybody! Welcome back to another episode of

1:15

The Casual Criminalist. Today we're covering Tupac

1:17

Shakur. Written by Kevin, read by

1:19

me. There was a recent development. I

1:22

have to say, first of all, by

1:24

knowledge, I couldn't name. If someone

1:26

told them to me, I'm sure I would

1:28

know a Tupac song. But I couldn't name

1:30

a single Tupac song right now if I

1:33

was asked. If it was like, who wants to be a millionaire? And it's

1:35

like, Simon, here are A, B, C, D, which is the Tupac song? I'd

1:37

be like, I don't know. And they'd be like, well, you don't win $100

1:39

then, do you? Because

1:43

I feel, and people might be, I don't know,

1:46

maybe Americans would be more surprised at this. And

1:48

tell me, like, comments, let me know. Because I've got a

1:50

few American friends who are about my age. And

1:52

it seems like, you know, growing up in the 90s and early 2000s.

1:56

And they have, like, knowledge of rap. Like

1:58

rap music was a part of their culture. and

2:00

stuff and I don't either it just wasn't in

2:02

the it wasn't part of my growing

2:05

up or it wasn't part of UK like

2:07

culture in general like it was US culture right

2:09

is that just me I don't know but I

2:12

don't think they're like like they would definitely know

2:14

all about Tupac and about other

2:16

rappers who I just have no idea about anyway

2:18

not interesting you're not here for this you're here

2:20

for murder aren't you folks let's just jump in

2:22

shall we just

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3:51

back to today's episode september the 29th 2023 started

3:54

off as an ordinary day for 60 year

3:56

old duane keith davis he had gone out

3:58

for his typical morning stroll in his

4:00

Henderson, Nevada neighborhood. This would normally be an

4:03

uneventful walk, as Henderson routinely ranks in the

4:05

top three safest large cities in the United

4:07

States. It's certainly not something that would typically

4:10

result in police rolling up, but that's exactly

4:12

what happened that morning. I was just reading

4:14

an article in Time Out magazine,

4:16

I mean I wasn't reading Time Out, I got

4:18

linked to Time Out. I don't read Time Out.

4:20

Should I read Time Out? What's Time Out? It's

4:22

a magazine, right? About like culture and stuff. I'm

4:25

just not that cultural. But my neighborhood was ranked by

4:27

Time Out as like the 29th coolest

4:30

neighborhood to live in in the world. And I was

4:32

like 28th or something. Vina Hradi. And I was like,

4:34

oh that's nice. Look at that. It is nice. It's

4:37

a great neighborhood. I'm leaving it soon because

4:39

I'm moving to a different neighborhood, which is like

4:41

Vina Hradi's great, but it's not the

4:43

most family friendly place in the world.

4:46

So I'm moving to a slightly, you know, more green neighborhood.

4:48

It's a little bit more family friendly. You have to

4:50

get like garden and sh- I don't know, kids and

4:52

gardens. It's like the most amazing thing. Like when I

4:55

go to my parents' house or my wife's parents' house

4:57

and they have a garden, and it's like, kids go

4:59

in the garden and they're like, okay, dad. And they're

5:01

just running around for ages. And you're like, ah.

5:04

Whereas like, I don't know, like right now, they're in an

5:06

apartment or flat. And it's like, yeah,

5:08

kids run around and they're like, dad, dad,

5:10

show me this. And I'm just like, oh, I wish

5:13

we had a garden. I could do

5:15

that final hands off parenting that I dream of.

5:17

Las Vegas Metro Police parked their car and asked

5:19

for Dwayne to come over to them. He obliged

5:22

the officers and was probably put into carves

5:24

and guided into the vehicle for transport. They didn't

5:26

even need to say why he was under

5:28

arrest because he already knew. In his own words,

5:30

they were bringing him in for the biggest

5:32

case in Las Vegas history, September the 7th, 1996.

5:34

Dwayne Davis

5:36

was being arrested for the murder of Tupac

5:39

Shakur. Wait, this was 1996. Okay. And we

5:41

know like the mystery

5:43

that he, it's kind of unsolved, right? Until

5:45

recently when they arrested someone like

5:47

as a suspect, right? I saw that in the

5:49

headlines. It's probably why Kevin pitched this episode. He

5:51

was like, yeah, this is in the news. And now

5:53

we're like weeks behind because of production schedules. When the

5:55

news broke, one of three different questions likely jumped to

5:58

your mind, depending on your perspective and knowledge. For

6:00

some people, the first question they asked was, how

6:02

could somebody be arrested for the murder of a

6:04

person who's still alive? We're not actually going to

6:07

get into that conspiracy because it wasn't meant to

6:09

be taken seriously. It had become a sort of

6:11

running joke that Tupac really couldn't have been killed

6:13

because he continued to release album after album of

6:15

new material for the decade following his murder and

6:18

that joke got misinterpreted as a genuine theory by

6:20

people who didn't understand that Tupac may have been

6:22

the single hardest working person in the industry. While

6:24

the volume was impressive, it's hardly unprecedented for a

6:26

person's work to release after their death, how if

6:29

Simon would suddenly disappear there would still be months of

6:31

new videos across all of his channels. Yes, there would. There's

6:34

an extraordinary amount of content that is pre-recorded.

6:36

Like, there's got to be a hundred

6:38

hours. There's probably a hundred hours

6:40

just sitting in various dropbox holders just waiting

6:42

to be produced. So if I die, it'd

6:44

be like, you guys are good for a

6:46

few months, but then it will all stop.

6:49

Sorry. The second question a

6:51

lot of people asked was, who the hell

6:53

is Dwayne Davis? He's not the sort of

6:55

household name that most of the people in

6:57

today's episode are, but he's still rather infamous.

6:59

Dwayne, better known as Kefi D, was a

7:01

well-known drug dealer, a member of the south

7:03

side Compton Crips. He was also a childhood

7:05

friend of both EZE from NWA and Sug

7:07

Knight, pronounced like the first two in a

7:09

little sugar. Yeah, I know that. I don't

7:11

know who Sug Knight is, but I asked

7:13

to pronounce his name for some reason. It's

7:16

unclear to what extent a two-pack and Kefi

7:18

might have known one another, but they certainly

7:20

knew a lot of the same people. And that

7:22

just brings us to the final question that people

7:24

have been asking about the arrest. Why now? And

7:27

why not 20 years ago? Oh wait, is this now? Okay,

7:29

so 60 years. Oh, sorry, I'm so stupid. It's 2023, we're

7:32

leading, we're starting with the lead. Why

7:36

can't I pay attention to my own videos? It's

7:38

crazy. Kefi's involvement in the murder of two-pack has

7:40

been considered a bit of an open secret, like

7:43

the crimes of Jimmy Savile or Harvey Weinstein, but

7:45

it doesn't matter how many people know the secret

7:47

if nobody close enough to the suspect is willing

7:49

to talk. And given the opportunity, even two-pack

7:51

refused to name his killer. Yeah, it's like

7:54

you have these open secrets, right? And it's

7:56

like I have nothing to do with the

7:58

world of celebrity. I

8:00

mean, maybe like now it's like a list a lot

8:02

of people. But back in the day,

8:04

it's like even like the Russell Brand thing. Even

8:06

I knew that something was cooking there like years

8:08

ago, because I was just a mates party and

8:11

a friend of mine there was just all like a friend

8:13

of my mates was there and we're just like having a

8:15

chat after a few beers and God,

8:18

I can't even remember if it was a man or a woman was

8:20

just saying like, yeah, no, I was working

8:22

with Russell Brand and they were like the shh that

8:24

is going to come out. So I was like, oh,

8:26

okay, like, okay. And

8:29

then it's like I'm just sitting like waiting around

8:31

racing around and then you see those headlines. It's

8:33

like Russell Brand accused by most women. It's like,

8:36

oh, yeah, I'm not surprised. Not surprised at all

8:38

because if I know if I

8:40

know and I have nothing to do with his

8:42

world, then everyone knows and it's like the same

8:44

with Kevin Spacey being gay and

8:47

a bit weird because another mate of mine was like,

8:49

yeah, I was on holiday in in

8:51

a beater or somewhere. I was getting hit on by

8:53

Kevin Spacey. I'm like, holy shh, really? No,

8:56

it wasn't the person. It was like their

8:58

mate and it's like I'm so far removed

9:00

from this, but the fact that you kind

9:02

of like, oh, yeah, okay, when it comes

9:04

out, you're like, yeah, yeah. So it's like

9:06

these open secrets. It's wild and it's just

9:08

so many people know but then nothing ever

9:10

happens until much later. Sergeant Chris

9:12

Carroll was the first officer on the scene

9:14

following the shooting of Tupac. According to Carroll,

9:17

a first Tupac was non-cooperative. The sergeant was

9:19

asking Tupac who shot him attempting to get

9:21

a dying declaration that could be used in

9:23

court, but Tupac was struggling to speak. Suddenly,

9:25

he became calm as if it made his

9:27

peace. Carroll again asked him who shot him

9:30

and this time Tupac looked directly at the

9:32

officer, breathed in and with all the emphasis

9:34

he could muster, he spoke his famous last

9:36

words. F*** you. Wow,

9:38

that is gangster. I

9:42

kind of like that. What were your last words? F***

9:44

you. The

9:47

Panther 21. Board

10:00

of Education Office. Undercover police officers who had

10:02

infiltrated the Panthers were able to sabotage two

10:04

of the bombs, but one still went off,

10:06

blowing a hole in the side of the

10:08

Education Office building. Fortunately, there were no

10:10

fatalities, and I'm fairly certain but not 100% sure that there

10:13

weren't even any injuries. Following the attack,

10:15

21 members of the Black Panthers, aptly known as

10:18

the Panther 21, were arrested and

10:20

charged with the crimes. Among those arrested was

10:22

a Phoenix occurr who found herself facing over

10:24

150 charges and

10:26

saddled with a $100,000 bail. Holy

10:28

sh- she spent

10:31

about two years in prison leading up to

10:33

the trial, although she was one of the

10:35

first two Panthers bailed out in

10:37

the hopes that she could help raise money

10:39

to pay bail for the others. The trial

10:41

began in 1971 and would last for eight

10:43

months. Unable to afford an attorney, Affini chose

10:45

to represent herself. If

10:47

you're unable to afford an attorney, an attorney will be

10:49

provided for you and you should take that attorney, even

10:51

if they're not brilliant, because you know what they are?

10:54

They're better than you. Because you didn't go

10:56

to law school. At least they went to law

10:58

school. At least they

11:00

know something. They've got some experience. You're just

11:02

like, nah mate, I'm not guilty. No, no.

11:06

She later admitted that she made this decision rather

11:08

than going with a public defender because she was

11:11

young and arrogant, adding that, I thought this was

11:13

the last time I could speak before they locked

11:15

me up forever. I was writing my own obituary.

11:18

Someone needs to explain, like they're just being like, you should

11:20

at least talk to a lawyer before like rejecting them. You

11:23

should at least ask them this question. Just

11:25

always, always, I'm saying this in casual credit, even if

11:28

you're innocent. Always get a

11:30

lawyer. The police, that they will twist your

11:32

words if they think you're guilty. Get a

11:34

lawyer, even if you're innocent. Always. Not

11:37

only was she wrong about being locked up forever, but

11:39

her efforts played a crucial role in all 21 Panthers

11:41

being acquitted on all charges. Well,

11:46

Kevin, make me look stupid. Why don't you? Nevermind.

11:49

Forget it all. Represent yourself. You don't need

11:51

a lawyer. You see, the police and the

11:53

feds have a lot of leeway when it

11:55

comes to committing crimes thanks to qualified immunity.

12:00

undercover in a criminal enterprise, it's pretty

12:02

much expected that they'll be required to commit

12:04

crimes on the regular in order to avoid

12:06

detection. However, this is not without its limits.

12:08

The criminal activity is supposed to be justified

12:10

and minimized, but those are subjective terms that

12:12

arguably do little to curb their behavior. The

12:15

real key is that they're not supposed to

12:17

be the ones organizing the crimes. They can

12:19

take part in other people's crimes, but they're

12:21

not supposed to initiate and orchestrate any plans.

12:24

Needless to say that when a Feeney got Officer

12:26

Ralph White to admit during cross-examination that he and

12:28

two other undercover cops had personally organized almost

12:30

all of the illegal activities, it was

12:33

a massive bombshell. What the

12:35

f*** are you doing, Ralph White? I understand.

12:37

I don't think he's right or moral, obviously

12:39

not, but it's like, yeah, if you're Ralph

12:41

White and you're going in with the Colombian

12:43

cartels and they're like, yeah, Ralph, Ralph,

12:46

here's a million in like cash, in

12:49

like, Passatas or whatever Colombia uses. And

12:51

Ralph's like, hey, hey, and he tucks it

12:53

under his mattress. I mean, I get it.

12:56

I get it. Why, Ralph?

12:58

You're just like bombing places. Why are you becoming

13:00

it? Why are you like being all terroristic? There

13:02

was no way the police could legally justify this

13:04

level of involvement from the officers, especially since the

13:07

group they infiltrated wasn't a criminal enterprise in the

13:09

first place. While many people view the Black Panthers

13:11

as being far too militant and confrontational for their

13:13

own goods and Hoover's FBI definitely had some real

13:16

issues with them to say the least, the Panthers

13:18

have never been categorized as a criminal

13:20

or domestic terrorist organization. Wait,

13:22

so they were just like a regular organization and

13:24

then when they bombed somewhere, it turned out it

13:26

was the undercover police who were trying to expose

13:28

them that were doing the bombing. Are

13:31

you shitting me? They were activists seeking social

13:33

reform, particularly involved in fighting police brutality and

13:35

trying to improve the quality of education for

13:37

black youth. I get the being constantly monitored

13:39

by Panthers who were openly carrying their legal

13:41

firearms could make the police uncomfortable, which was

13:44

kind of the point. But the solution wasn't

13:46

to send undercover agents to the Harlem Panthers

13:48

office with fake dynamite and say, hey, whatever

13:50

that is, the police station's with us. Yeah,

13:52

that's not okay. That's not okay. Isn't

13:54

that like entrapment or whatever they call it? Not only did

13:57

a Feeney get Ralph to admit that the police had organized

13:59

most of the the illegal activities, she also

14:01

got him to admit that he misrepresented the

14:03

Panthers to his bosses, that he betrayed the

14:05

community, and that he found the activism they'd

14:07

done together to be powerfully inspiring and beautiful.

14:10

She did all of this despite having no legal

14:12

training and being pregnant for the entire eight months

14:14

trial. Oh my

14:17

god, I take it all back, Affini. You need

14:19

to go to law school, get a law degree,

14:21

and become a lawyer, because apparently you're just naturally

14:23

incredible at it. On June 16th,

14:25

1971, one month after being

14:27

acquitted, Affini gave birth to her son,

14:29

La San Parish Crooks. A year later,

14:32

she decided that she didn't like their

14:34

name, so she changed the name to

14:36

Tupac Amaru Shakur, named after the Peruvian

14:38

revolutionary Tupac Amaru II. The

14:43

father was a fellow Black Panther, Billy Garland,

14:45

which was problematic since Affini was married to

14:48

Lumumba Shakur. The marriage quickly dissolved, leaving

14:50

Affini a single mother. Billy was mostly

14:52

off doing Black Panther stuff, and while

14:54

his and Tupac's father did a very

14:56

occasionally cross, it wasn't until Tupac was

14:58

a teenager that he found out that

15:00

Billy was his biological father. In

15:02

1975, Affini married Mottulu Shakur, the cousin of her

15:04

first husband. Mottulu was a member of the Black

15:06

Liberation Army, and he wound up on the run

15:08

after some cops got killed in an armored truck

15:10

heist in 1981. So

15:13

while Tupac did have a stepfather for a few

15:15

his formative years, it was largely Affini raising him

15:17

on her own. Following her acquittal, Affini

15:19

got a job working as a paralegal to provide Tupac

15:21

and her siblings with the best life she could. This

15:37

worked for about a decade, but things went south in a big way in

15:39

the 1980s, not just for Affini, but

15:41

for much of America. There was a hot new commodity

15:43

on the market that people couldn't get enough of, and

15:46

it was called crack cocaine. In those

15:48

early days, the danger of crack wasn't fully understood

15:50

by most people. The active ingredient is still just

15:53

cocaine, so crack was seen as a cheaper, smokable

15:55

version of the drug that already existed. Yeah, you'd

15:57

kind of think, like I dunno, if someone- I

16:00

knew nothing about crack and cocaine and someone was

16:02

like yo there's this white powder that you shove

16:04

up your nose or there's this one that you

16:06

smoke. Which one is less dangerous? I'd be like

16:08

the smoky smoky because smoking's fine. Since

16:11

it wasn't known just how much more dangerous and

16:13

addictive crack was than powdered cocaine people would deal

16:15

crack to their own families the same way that

16:17

they'd deal wheat. It's reported that a fiendy was

16:20

a recreational user of cocaine having first naughtered it

16:22

at the age of 15 but the stress of

16:24

being a single mother who was being hassled by

16:26

the FBI for her Black Panther associations led her

16:28

to try out the cheaper and more plentiful

16:31

alternative to powdered cocaine. Once she became a crack

16:33

addict, a fiendy was unable to hold down a

16:35

job. She was still trying her best to nurture

16:37

Tupac's intellect and creativity and when he was 12

16:40

years old, a fiendy enrolled Tupac in the 127th

16:42

Street Ensemble, a Harlem theater group. He performed with

16:44

them at the famous Apollo Theater in their production

16:46

of A Raisin in the Sun. Tupac

16:49

was the only child in the cast. It was

16:51

undoubtedly a highlight among what was otherwise a hard

16:53

time. In an attempt to escape her addiction, a

16:55

fiendy moved the family to Baltimore, Maryland in It

16:59

didn't work and she raised her children on welfare due to

17:01

her inability to keep a job. At

17:04

the age of 13, Tupac attended 8th grade

17:06

at Rowland Park Middle School. His strange name,

17:08

lack of trendy clothes and overall appearance made

17:10

him unpopular with the other students. The next

17:12

year, he attended a regular public school for

17:14

his freshman year of high school but for

17:16

his sophomore year, he auditioned for and was

17:18

accepted to the Baltimore School for the Arts.

17:20

This was still part of the public school system so

17:22

there was no private school tuition fees for him to

17:25

worry about and it was a much better fit for

17:27

Tupac. Not only was he more popular at this school

17:29

but it gave him the opportunity to study things like

17:31

acting, poetry, jazz and ballet. Yes, Tupac danced

17:33

ballet as the mouse king in the school

17:35

production of The Nutcracker. It was also at

17:37

this school where Tupac would meet his lifelong

17:39

friend, Jada Pinkett. However, there was something that

17:42

Tupac's teachers noticed about him that would eventually

17:44

become a source of some controversy. Most people

17:46

aren't hollow, two dimensional characters and Tupac had

17:48

two very distinct sides to himself. On the

17:50

one hand, he was an extremely bright student

17:52

with a hunger for knowledge. He loved to

17:54

read and consume information to the point that

17:56

teachers even remembered him reading entire sets of

17:58

encyclopedias. spectrum, Tupac hit

18:00

his love of learning and acted like a

18:02

tough guy with the other students as a

18:04

way to gain their respect. And when I

18:06

say he acted tough, I'm not trying to

18:08

get into the whole fake Sargorb studio gangster

18:10

debate surrounding Tupac, a debate I'm

18:13

entirely unfamiliar with, although I like

18:15

the term studio gangster. It's kind of like,

18:17

it reminds me of that term like keyboard warriors

18:19

and stuff, people are all big and hard, buying

18:21

their keyboards and then in real life they're like,

18:24

I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I was a dick. It's

18:26

just that this was the first point in his

18:28

life where we see a real clear distinction between

18:30

how he was in private and how he portrayed

18:32

himself publicly. Everybody does this to

18:34

some extent, so it's kind of whatever, but the

18:36

aforementioned debate remains a controversial topic. While

18:38

living in Baltimore, Tupac wrote his first rap under the

18:41

name MC New York. The song was about gun control

18:43

and it was inspired by the shooting death of one

18:45

of his close friends. Of course, 1980s Baltimore wasn't really

18:47

known for its rap scene, so Tupac's career wasn't

18:49

about to take off yet. In 1988, just four

18:51

years after moving to Maryland, before Tupac had a

18:54

chance to finish high school, it was time for

18:56

the Shakur family to move yet again. This time

18:58

it was the housing projects in Marin City, California

19:00

near San Francisco. Tupac attended high

19:02

school at first and took part in the theater

19:04

program there, but he wound up dropping out before

19:06

graduation. Athena was still in the throes of addiction

19:08

at this point and enabled to keep her job,

19:10

so Tupac had to find a way to make

19:12

money. He briefly tried selling drugs, but friends say

19:14

this only lasted about a week. Tupac would see

19:16

things like people trying to trade their wedding rings

19:19

for crack and he simply didn't have it

19:21

in him to destroy people's lives like that,

19:23

deciding he'd rather starve than deal. He

19:25

was instead determined to make it as a rapper,

19:27

and he formed a group called Strictly Dope with

19:29

Ray Love and DJ D's, still rapping under the name

19:31

MC New York at the time. It was the right

19:34

call, because in 1989, a year

19:36

after moving to California, Tupac was going to

19:38

begin his rise. I

19:40

assumed he had another name, I thought Tupac

19:42

was his MC New York name, his

19:44

stage name or whatever, and he had a different name. Almost

19:47

everyone seems to him, and you look them

19:49

up on Wikipedia or whatever and it would

19:52

be like Tupac, original name, John Smith, or

19:54

something like that, right? While

20:02

out dancing one night, Tupac met Leela Steinberg, and

20:04

the two hit it off. She invited him to

20:06

a poetry workshop she was hosting the next day, and

20:08

she saw a lot of promise in his work.

20:10

Leela became Tupac's first manager, and as she learned more

20:12

about his home life, she realized it was too dysfunctional

20:14

of an environment for him to stay in while trying

20:17

to build a career. A few months

20:19

after they met, she offered for him and Ray to come

20:21

and live in her apartment with her, her husband, and her

20:23

kids. Holy s***, Leela's a good manager. She's like, hey, you

20:25

seem good at this stuff, come live with my family. Okay.

20:29

According to Leela, Tupac saw her as the perfect

20:31

package to get him where he needed to go.

20:34

He wasn't wrong, as not only had she given

20:36

him a much more stable living environment full of

20:38

new books on philosophy, religion, and cultural issues for

20:40

him to absorb, but Leela was also working to

20:42

get him a contract. Of course, it's fondly as

20:44

she remembers the time she spent with Tupac in

20:46

her home, he wasn't the perfect guest. Leela described

20:48

him as being one of the sloppiest and dirtiest

20:50

people she'd ever met, the sort of guy that

20:52

would rather just buy new clothes than do laundry.

20:55

Yeah, I get it though. I mean, fair enough.

20:57

I get it. She was also frequent visits by

21:00

the police, though these could take a humorous turn.

21:02

On one occasion, Leela recounted the police knocking on

21:04

her door for yet another noise complaint over

21:06

the volume of Tupac's music. She apologized, said

21:08

they'd turn it down because she didn't want

21:10

any problems, but then Tupac appeared over her

21:12

shoulder sarcastically saying, the neighbors rock music is

21:14

just as loud. You don't give them

21:16

s***. He then told the officer

21:18

to stare at the door while he turned the

21:20

music down to ensure it was lowered to an

21:23

acceptable level. Tupac ran to the stereo, put on

21:25

NWA's s*** police, just loud enough for the officer

21:27

to hear, but also loud that it would justify

21:29

another noise complaint, asking him, is this good officer?

21:33

Because malicious compliance is the best form of compliance.

21:35

I also really hope you enjoyed that little anecdote

21:37

because that's the last time there's going to be

21:39

anything funny about Tupac's run-ins with the police. Oh

21:41

god, Kevin, no. You savage

21:43

turn. For months, Leela mentored

21:45

Tupac, encouraging him in his reading and

21:47

writing, but she recognized that to make it big he

21:49

was going to need a real manager, for lack of

21:51

a better term. Wait, Leela sounds like an amazing manager.

21:54

What? No, Leela, you can do it. He

21:56

reached out to Antron Gregory, the manager of

21:59

the Oakland-based rap- Group Digital Underground try and

22:01

get Two Pack a deal. Atron said he

22:03

needed a video of Two Pack performing, so

22:05

Strictly Dope put on their first concert on

22:07

the lawn of Leela's apartment building, inviting all

22:09

the kids from the building to show up

22:11

and fill out the crowd for the camera.

22:13

In 1990, Atron signed Two Pack at home

22:15

work as a roadie backup dancer and backup

22:17

rapper for Digital Underground. At the urging of

22:19

Leela, Digital Underground's Chop Master Jay worked with

22:22

Strictly Dope to produce their earlier studio recordings.

22:24

It was clear at the start that there

22:26

was something different about Two Pack, especially in

22:28

the recording studio. Strictly Jay said Two Pack

22:30

didn't work well with others because he was Strictly

22:32

business. A lot of guys liked to drink, smoke

22:34

and have fun during their recording sessions, but Two

22:36

Pack didn't have time for any of that nonsense

22:39

while he was in the studio. As far as

22:41

he was concerned, they could party afterwards, but now

22:43

was the time for work. I like that. Yes,

22:45

I have maybe two or three meetings a

22:48

month. I really try to keep

22:50

meetings as absolutely non-existent as possible.

22:53

And I don't meet people for lunch. I

22:55

don't do all of this because I'm at

22:58

work to work. The amount of waste that

23:00

I see from friends in

23:02

companies and stuff where they're just like, well, we

23:04

had a meeting about that. We had a meeting about that. Then we

23:06

had to travel here and travel to do that. I'm like, when do

23:08

you actually do work? And

23:10

they're like, oh, I don't know. Maybe after

23:13

that meeting I did a little bit. It's like, I had to

23:15

go to another meeting. It's like, what are you doing? It's

23:17

so inefficient. Don't you just want to get something

23:20

done? Digital Underground's Shock Jay made

23:22

similar remarks about the first time he met

23:24

Two Pack just after Adrian signed him. Two

23:26

Pack walked into the studio, introduced himself and

23:28

immediately started asking, so you

23:30

want me to rhyme now, never breaking eye

23:33

contact. According to Shock Jay, Dude was intense.

23:35

He also described Two Pack as being better

23:37

than average in the early days, but added

23:39

that he wasn't going to blow people away

23:41

yet. Still it was clear there was promise.

23:44

This was still years before Thug Life and at

23:46

the time, Two Pack's songs only took two different

23:48

forms. I've heard of Thug Life, not sure if

23:51

that's an album or a song, but

23:53

like I said, if someone named them, I would probably be familiar

23:55

with them, but I don't know what it goes. Like,

23:58

either they were just kind of silly fun songs like. the case

24:00

of the misplaced mic, in which he goes on an

24:02

adventure to find his microphone that disappeared, although he was

24:04

filled with political and socio-economic commentary. Oh, and if you

24:06

were wondering, the mic was actually in his pocket the

24:09

whole time. I wasn't Kevin, but I'm so glad we

24:11

got a resolution to that story. He

24:18

wasn't the only person rapping about social issues

24:20

and inequality, but there was something that separated

24:22

him from the rest. Not only was he

24:24

educated and well-read despite having dropped out of

24:26

high school, but the number one word used

24:28

by Tupac's friends and contemporaries to describe him

24:30

was articulate. I wish they'd chosen the different words,

24:33

since I now know how it sounds when someone

24:35

like me or Simon says, he's so well spoken,

24:37

but it is what it is. Wait, I don't

24:39

get it. I

24:41

don't understand what's wrong with he's so well

24:43

spoken. He speaks so well. He's

24:47

so well spoken. There may have been

24:49

some other people rapping about the same sorts of

24:51

topics, but Tupac was able to express those ideas

24:53

more eloquently and in a way that more deeply

24:55

resonated with people. But on this, far

24:58

you might assume that he was a perfectionist in the studio,

25:00

but according to Shock G, it was the opposite. Instead of

25:02

obsessing over every word, he would just write something down and

25:04

if he didn't think it was good, he'd throw it away

25:06

and write a new song instead of trying to revise it.

25:09

While many artists can send weeks in the studio on

25:12

each song making sure it was perfect, Tupac could record

25:14

multiple tracks each day. It was this no-nonsense attitude in

25:16

the studio that allowed him to record so much material

25:18

that he released more new albums after he

25:20

died than when he was still alive. Anyways,

25:22

Digital Underground got to know Tupac better. They

25:24

did more to put him on the mic.

25:26

In January 1991, he dropped the

25:29

stage in AMC New York and started rapping as

25:31

Tupac. Ah, like 2, the number

25:33

2, PAC. Okay,

25:35

that sounds like that's probably where

25:37

I think, like, that's where he gets

25:39

his, like, you know, rapper name from. That

25:41

month, Digital Underground released their single Same Song,

25:43

which is considered Tupac's recording debut. The song

25:45

was featured on the soundtrack of the Dan

25:47

Aykroyd film Nothing But Trouble. This is the

25:49

first big win for Tupac's career, but by

25:51

no means the last. Having been interested not

25:53

only in music but acting, Tupac auditioned for

25:55

the movie Juice. He was cast as Bishop,

25:57

one of the main characters in the movie.

26:00

movie and when the movie released the following years,

26:02

well received by critics and audiences alike, the breakout

26:04

performance opened a lot of doors in the film

26:06

industry, though his future behaviour would later close a

26:08

number of those doors. As a finalist ill aside,

26:11

Tupac met Samuel L. Jackson while working on Juice,

26:13

as he also had a role in the film.

26:15

They didn't become great friends or anything, and Jackson's

26:17

wife even yelled at Tupac on set for swearing

26:19

in front of Wibbit. However, because the two had

26:22

met, a friend of Tupac claimed that George Lucas

26:24

reached out to Jackson, asking him to get Tupac

26:26

to audition for the role of Mace Windu in

26:28

The Phantom Menace. It was allegedly one of three

26:31

roles he auditioned for before his death. Tupac also

26:33

recorded his first solo album that year, Tupacalypse

26:36

Now, which released in

26:38

November. Then a month before the album's release,

26:40

he had a run-in with the Oakland Police

26:42

Department and allegedly with police brutality. Tupac was

26:44

walking down the street when he was stopped

26:46

by two officers for jaywalking of all things.

26:49

I couldn't stop for jaywalking in America. Just

26:51

like crossing the street. Because you can just cross wherever

26:53

you like in Europe, it's normal. I

26:56

just like crossing the street and it's obviously like,

26:58

hey, I'm like, yes. He's like,

27:00

you have to cross at the crossing. And I'm

27:02

like, OK, sorry.

27:06

They asked for his ID and they allegedly started

27:08

giving him either because they didn't believe Tupac was

27:10

his real name or they didn't think it was

27:12

an American name, which suggests they might have thought

27:14

he was in the country illegally. Ah, yes. According

27:17

to Tupac's accounts of events, he told the

27:19

police for hassling him about

27:21

his name. And the other account is,

27:23

next thing I know is in a choke hold

27:25

passing out with cuffs on, headed to jail for

27:27

resisting arrest. He filed a $10 million lawsuit against

27:29

the Oakland PD. If he won, he'd plan to use

27:32

the money to buy himself a house in California, buy

27:34

a house for his mother, who'd finally overcome a drug

27:36

addiction and move back to New York and use the

27:38

rest to build things like a boy's home and a

27:40

stop police brutality center. The case never went to trial

27:42

for the presence of police brutality and the extent to

27:44

which it may have existed are entirely allegations, but the

27:47

department did settle the lawsuit for $43,000, which is a

27:49

lot more money today. It's got to

27:51

be 100 grand a day easy. We always talk

27:53

about how everybody settles because it's cheaper, easier and

27:55

avoids emissions of guilt, but it's worth noting that

27:57

the settlements for claims of police brutality rarer

28:00

back in 1991, especially because brutality cases rarely

28:02

received any media attention. Then again, this is

28:04

the same year that the Rodney King beating

28:06

occurred in Los Angeles, and I'll let you

28:08

interpret the police department's decision to settle this

28:10

case however you like. I just figured I'd

28:12

give it as much context as possible, they

28:14

wanted to go away because they're like, oh

28:17

no. Hello everybody, welcome back to another episode

28:19

of Casual Criminals. Today we're covering Two-Pack Shakur,

28:21

written by Kevin, read by me. But what's

28:23

the recent development? I have to

28:25

say, first of all, by knowledge, like I

28:27

couldn't name. I mean, if someone told them

28:29

to me, I'm sure I would know a

28:31

Two-Pack song, but I couldn't name a single

28:33

Two-Pack song right now if

28:36

I was asked. If it was like, who wants to be millionaire?

28:38

And it's like, Simon here at ABCD, which is the Two-Pack song,

28:40

I'd be like, I don't know. And they'd be like, well, you

28:42

don't win $100 then, do you? Because

28:46

I feel, and people might be, I don't know,

28:48

maybe Americans will be more surprised at this. And

28:51

tell me, like, comments, let me know. Because I've got a

28:53

few American friends who are about my age. And

28:55

it seems like, you know, growing up in the 90s

28:57

and early 2000s, and they have like,

28:59

knowledge of rap. Like rap music was

29:01

a part of their culture and stuff. And

29:03

I don't, either it just wasn't in the,

29:05

it wasn't part of my growing

29:08

up, or it wasn't part of the UK

29:10

like culture in general, like it was US

29:12

culture. Right? Is that just me? I

29:14

don't know, but I don't think they're like, like, they

29:16

would definitely know all about Two-Pack and

29:18

about other rappers who I just have no

29:21

idea about. Anyway, not interesting. You're not here

29:23

for this. Murder, aren't you folks? Let's just

29:25

jump in, shall we? September

29:32

the 29th, 2023, started off as an ordinary

29:34

day for 60-year-old Dwayne Keith Davis. He had

29:37

gone out for his typical morning stroll in

29:39

his Henderson, Nevada neighborhood. This would normally be

29:41

an uneventful walk, as Henderson routinely ranks in

29:43

the top three safest large cities in the

29:46

United States. It's certainly not something that would

29:48

typically result in police rolling up, but that's

29:50

exactly what happened that morning. I was just

29:53

reading an article, it was in Time Out

29:55

magazine, I mean I wasn't reading Time Out,

29:57

I got linked to Time Out. that

32:00

Tupac may have been the single hardest working

32:02

person in the industry. While the

32:04

volume was impressive, it's hardly unprecedented for a person's

32:06

work to release after their death. How if Simon

32:08

would have suddenly disappeared, there would still be months

32:10

of new videos across all of his channels. Yes,

32:12

there would. There's an extraordinary

32:14

amount of content that is pre-recorded. Like, there's

32:17

got to be a hundred hours. There's

32:19

probably a hundred hours just sitting in various

32:21

dropbox holders just waiting to be produced. So

32:23

if I die, it'd be like, you guys

32:25

are good for a few months. But

32:28

then it will all stop. Sorry. The

32:30

second question a lot of people asked was, who

32:33

the hell is Dwayne Davis? He's not the sort

32:35

of household name that most of the people in

32:37

today's episode are, but he's still rather infamous. Dwayne,

32:39

better known as Kefee Dee, was a well-known drug

32:42

dealer, a member of the South Side Compton Crips.

32:45

He was also a childhood friend to

32:47

both Eazy E from NWA and Sug

32:49

Knight. Pronounced like the first two in

32:51

the middle of sugar. Yeah, I know that. I don't know who Sug

32:53

Knight is, but I'd ask to pronounce his name for some reason. It's

32:56

unclear to what extent a two-pack and Kefee

32:58

might have known one another, but they certainly

33:00

knew a lot of the same people. And that

33:02

just brings us to the final question that people

33:05

have been asking about the arrest. Why now? And

33:07

why not 20 years ago? Oh wait, is this now?

33:09

Okay, so 60 years. Oh, sorry. I'm

33:12

so stupid. It's 2023. We're leading.

33:14

We're starting with the lead. Why can't I

33:16

pay attention to my own videos? It's crazy.

33:18

Kefee's involvement in the murder of two-pack has

33:20

been considered a bit of an open secret,

33:22

like the crimes of Jimmy Savile or Harvey

33:24

Weinstein. It doesn't matter how many people know

33:26

the secret if nobody close enough to the

33:29

suspect is willing to talk. When given the

33:31

opportunity, even two-pack refused to name his killer.

33:33

Yeah, it's like you have these open secrets,

33:35

right? And it's like I have nothing to

33:37

do with the world of celebrity. Like,

33:40

I mean, maybe like now it's like, but back

33:42

in the day, it's like, even like the Russell

33:46

Brand thing, even I knew that something was cooking

33:48

there like years ago, because I was just a

33:50

mate's party. And a friend of

33:52

mine there was just all that. A friend of my mates was

33:54

there and we were just like having a chat after a few

33:56

days. And I can't

33:58

even remember if it was a man or a woman. was just saying

34:00

like, yeah, no, I was working with

34:03

Russell Brand and they were like, the shh that is

34:05

gonna come out. And I was like, oh, okay. Like,

34:08

okay. And then it's

34:10

like, I'm just sitting like waiting around, waiting

34:12

around. And then you see those headlines, it's

34:14

like Russell Brand accused by most women. It's

34:16

like, oh yeah, I'm not surprised at all.

34:18

Because if I know, if I

34:20

know and I have nothing to do with his

34:22

world, then everyone knows. And it's like the same

34:24

with Kevin Spacey being gay and

34:27

a bit weird. There's another mate in line

34:29

was like, yeah, I was on holiday in Ibiza

34:31

or somewhere. I was getting hit on by Kevin

34:33

Spacey. I'm like, holy shh, really? No,

34:36

it wasn't the person. It was like their mate.

34:38

And it's like, I'm so far removed from this.

34:40

But the fact that you kind of like, oh

34:42

yeah, okay, when it comes out, you're like, yeah,

34:44

yeah. So it's like these open

34:47

secrets. It's wild. And it's just so many

34:49

people know, but then nothing ever happens until

34:51

much later. Sergeant Chris Carroll was the first officer

34:53

on the scene following the shooting of Tupac. According

34:56

to Carroll, a first Tupac was non-cooperative. The

34:58

sergeant was asking Tupac who shot him attempting

35:00

to get a dying declaration that could be used

35:03

in court. But Tupac was struggling to speak. Suddenly

35:05

he became calm as if it made his

35:08

peace. Carroll again asked him who shot him.

35:10

And this time Tupac looked directly at the

35:12

officer, breathed in and with all the emphasis

35:14

he could muster, he spoke his famous last

35:16

words. F*** you. Wow,

35:18

that is gangster. I

35:22

kind of like that. What were your last words? F***

35:27

you. The Panther 21. In

35:32

1969 a coordinated attack was carried out by

35:34

the Black Panthers in New York City. Okay,

35:36

back we go. The targets were two police

35:38

stations and the Queen's Board of Education office.

35:40

Undercover police officers who had infiltrated the Panthers

35:43

were able to sabotage two of the bombs,

35:45

but one still went off, blowing a hole

35:47

in the side of the education office building.

35:50

Fortunately, there were no fatalities and I'm fairly certain, but not 100%

35:52

sure, that there weren't even

35:54

any injuries. Following the attack, 21 members

35:56

of the Black Panthers, aptly known as the Panther

35:58

21, were Arrested and charged

36:00

with the crimes, among those arrested was Afeni Shakur,

36:03

who found herself facing over 150 charges and saddled

36:05

with a $100,000 bail. Holy

36:09

sh... That's over $800,000 today. She

36:11

spent about two years in prison leading up to the

36:13

trial, although she was one of the first two that

36:16

the Panthers bailed out in the hopes that she could

36:18

help raise money to pay bail for the others. The

36:20

trial began in 1971 and would

36:22

last for eight months. Unable to afford an

36:24

attorney, Afeni chose to represent herself. Um,

36:27

if you're unable to afford an attorney, an attorney will be

36:29

provided for you and you should take that attorney, even

36:31

if they're not brilliant. Because you know what they are?

36:34

They're better than you. Because you didn't go

36:36

to law school. At least they went to law

36:38

school. At least they

36:41

know something. They've got some experience. You're just

36:43

like, nah, mate, I'm not guilty. No,

36:46

I don't. She later admitted that she made this

36:48

decision rather than going with a public defender because

36:50

she was young and arrogant, adding that, I thought

36:52

this was the last time I could speak before

36:54

they locked me up forever. I was writing my

36:56

own obituary. Um, someone needs to explain, like they're

36:59

just being like, you should at least talk to

37:01

a lawyer before like rejecting them. You

37:03

should at least ask them this question. Look, just

37:05

always, always I'm saying this in casual credit,

37:08

even if you're innocent, always get a lawyer.

37:10

The police, that they will twist your words

37:12

if they think you're guilty. Get a lawyer,

37:14

even if you're innocent, always. Not only was

37:16

she wrong about being locked up forever, but

37:18

her efforts played a crucial role in all

37:20

21 Panthers being acquitted on all charges. Well,

37:26

Kevin, make me look stupid. Why don't you never

37:28

mind? Forget it all. Represent yourself.

37:31

You don't need a lawyer. You see, the

37:33

police and the feds have a lot of

37:35

leeway when it comes to committing crimes thanks

37:37

to qualified immunity. If a cop is going

37:39

to go undercover in a criminal enterprise, it's

37:42

pretty much expected that they'll be required to

37:44

commit crimes on the regular in order to

37:46

avoid detection. However, this is not without its

37:48

limits. The criminal activity is supposed to be

37:51

justified and minimized, but those are subjective terms

37:53

that arguably do little to curb their behavior.

37:55

The real key is that they're not supposed

37:57

to be the ones organizing the crimes. people's

38:00

crimes, but they're not supposed to initiate and

38:02

orchestrate any plans. Needless to say that when

38:04

a Feeney got Officer Ralph White to admit

38:07

during cross-examination that he and two other undercover

38:09

cops had personally organized almost all of

38:11

the illegal activities, it was a massive bombshell.

38:13

What the f*** are you doing Ralph White?

38:16

I understand. I don't think he's right or

38:18

moral, obviously not. But it's like, yeah, if

38:20

you're Ralph White and you're going in with

38:23

the Colombian cartels and they're like, Ralph, Ralph,

38:25

here's a million in like cash,

38:28

in like, for satyrs or whatever Colombia uses.

38:31

And Ralph's like, hey, hey, and he tucks

38:33

it under his mattress. I mean, I get

38:35

it. I get it. But why, Ralph?

38:38

You're just like bombing places. Why are you becoming

38:40

at why you like being all terroristic? There was

38:42

no way the police could legally justify this level

38:45

of involvement from the officers, especially since the group

38:47

they infiltrated wasn't a criminal enterprise in the first

38:49

place. While many people viewed the Black Panthers as

38:51

being far too militant and confrontational for their own

38:54

goods and Hoover's FBI definitely had some real issues

38:56

with them, to say the least, the Panthers have

38:58

never been categorized as a criminal or

39:00

domestic terrorist organization. Wait,

39:02

so they were just like a regular organization.

39:05

And then when they bombed somewhere, it turned

39:07

out it was the undercover police who were

39:09

trying to expose them that were doing the

39:11

bombing. Are you s***ing me? They were activists

39:13

seeking social reform, particularly involved in fighting police

39:15

brutality and trying to improve the quality of

39:17

education for Black youth. I get they're being

39:19

constantly monitored by Panthers who were openly carrying

39:21

their legal firearms could make the police uncomfortable,

39:24

which was kind of the point. But the

39:26

solution wasn't to send undercover agents to the

39:28

Harlem Panthers office with fake dynamite and say,

39:30

Hey, whatever that's a police station with us.

39:32

Yeah, that's not okay. That's not okay.

39:34

Isn't that like entrapment or whatever they call

39:37

it? Not only did a Feeney get Ralph

39:39

to admit that the police had organized most

39:41

of the illegal activities. She also got him

39:43

to admit that he misrepresented the Panthers to

39:45

his bosses, that he betrayed the community and

39:47

that he found the activism they'd done together

39:49

to be powerfully inspiring and beautiful. She did

39:51

all this despite having no legal training and

39:53

being pregnant for the entire eight months trial.

39:56

Oh my God, I take it all back. If you need

39:58

to go to law school. get a law

40:00

degree and become a lawyer, because apparently you're just

40:03

naturally incredible at it. On

40:05

June 16th 1971, one month after being acquitted, Afini

40:08

gave birth to her son, Lassan Parish

40:10

Crooks. A year later, she decided that

40:12

she didn't like their name, so she

40:14

changed the name to Tupac Amaru Shakur,

40:16

named after the Peruvian revolutionary Tupac Amaru

40:19

II. The second was Afello Black Panther

40:21

Billy Garland, which was problematic since

40:27

Afini was married to Lumumba Shakur.

40:29

The marriage quickly dissolved, leaving Afini a

40:31

single mother. Billy was mostly off doing Black

40:33

Panther stuff, and while his and Tupac's father

40:35

did a very occasionally cross, it wasn't until

40:38

Tupac was a teenager that he found out

40:40

that Billy was his biological father. In 1975,

40:43

Afini married Muthulu Shakur, the cousin of her first

40:45

husband. Muthulu was a member of the Black Liberation

40:47

Army, and he wound up on the run after

40:49

some cops got killed in an armored truck heist

40:51

in 1981. So while Tupac did have a stepfather

40:53

for a few years, it was

40:56

largely Afini raising him on her own. Following

40:58

her acquittal, Afini got a job working as a paralegal

41:00

to provide Tupac and her siblings with the best life

41:02

she could. This

41:17

worked for about a decade, but things went south in a big way

41:19

in the 1980s, for much

41:21

of America. There was a hot new commodity

41:23

on the market that people couldn't get enough

41:25

of, and it was called crack cocaine.

41:28

In those early days, the danger of crack

41:30

wasn't fully understood by most people. The active

41:32

ingredient is still just cocaine, so crack was

41:34

seen as a cheaper, smokable version of the

41:36

drug that already existed. Yeah, you'd kind of

41:38

think, like, I don't know, if someone, if

41:40

I knew nothing about crack and cocaine, and

41:42

someone was like, yo, there's this white powder

41:44

that you shove up your nose, or there's

41:46

this one that you smoke, which one is

41:48

less dangerous? I'd be like, the smoky smoky.

41:50

Because smoking's fine! Since it wasn't known just

41:52

how much more dangerous and addictive crack was

41:54

than powdered cocaine, people would deal crack to

41:56

their own families the same way that they'd deal

41:58

weed. It's reported that a female Ophenia was a recreational

42:00

user of cocaine, having first naught at it at the age

42:02

of 15, but the stress

42:05

of being a single mother who was being hassled

42:07

by the FBI for her Black Panther associations led

42:09

her to try out the cheaper and more plentiful

42:11

alternative to powdered cocaine. Once she became a crack

42:14

addict, Ophenia was unable to hold down a job.

42:16

She was still trying her best to nurture Tupac's

42:18

intellect and creativity, and when he was 12 years

42:20

old, Ophenia enrolled Tupac in the 127th Street Ensemble,

42:22

a Harlem theatre group. He performed with them at

42:25

the famous Apollo Theatre in their production of A

42:27

Raisin in the Sun. Ophenia was

42:29

the only child in the cast. It was undoubtedly

42:31

a highlight among what was otherwise a hard

42:33

time. In an attempt to escape her addiction,

42:35

Ophenia moved the family to Baltimore, Maryland in

42:39

It didn't work, and she raised her children on welfare due

42:41

to her inability to keep a job. At

42:43

the age of 13, Tupac attended 8th grade at

42:46

Rowland Park Middle School. His strange name, lack of

42:48

trendy clothes, and overall appearance made him unpopular with

42:50

the other students. The next year, he attended a

42:52

regular public school for his freshman year of high

42:54

school, but for his sophomore year, he auditioned for

42:57

and was accepted to the Baltimore School for the

42:59

Arts. This was still part of the public school

43:01

system, so there was no private school tuition fees

43:03

for him to worry about, and it was a

43:05

much better fit for Tupac. Not only was he

43:08

more popular at this school, but it gave him

43:10

the opportunity to study things like acting, poetry, jazz,

43:12

and ballet. Yes, Tupac danced ballet as the

43:14

Mouse King in the school production of The

43:16

Nutcracker. It was also at this school where

43:18

Tupac would meet his lifelong friend, Jada Pinkett.

43:20

However, there was something that Tupac's teachers noticed

43:22

about him that would eventually become a source

43:24

of some controversy. Most people aren't hollow two-dimensional

43:26

characters, and Tupac had two very distinct sides

43:28

to himself. On the one hand, he was

43:30

an extremely bright student with a hunger for

43:32

knowledge. He loved to read and consume information,

43:34

to the point that teachers even remembered him

43:36

reading entire sets of encyclopedias. But on the

43:38

other end of the spectrum, Tupac hid his

43:40

love of learning and acted like a tough

43:42

guy with the other students as a way

43:44

to gain their respect. And when I say

43:46

he acted tough, I'm not trying to get

43:48

into the whole fake SAG or studio gangster

43:50

debate surrounding Tupac. A debate

43:52

I'm entirely unfamiliar with. Although I

43:55

like the term studio gangster. It's kind of

43:57

like, it reminds me of that term, like

43:59

keyboard warriors and stuff. People are all big and hard,

44:01

behind their keyboards, and then in real life they're

44:03

like, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I was a dick.

44:05

It's just that this was the first point in

44:07

his life where we see a real clear distinction

44:10

between how he was in private and how he

44:12

portrayed himself publicly. Everybody does this

44:14

to some extent, so it's kind of whatever, but

44:16

the aforementioned debate remains a controversial topic. While living

44:18

in Baltimore, Tupac wrote his first rap under the

44:20

name MC New York. The song was about gun

44:22

control and it was inspired by the shooting death

44:25

of one of his close friends. Of course, 1980s

44:27

Baltimore wasn't really known for its rap scene, so

44:29

Tupac's career wasn't about to take off yet. In

44:31

1988, just four years after moving to Maryland, before

44:33

Tupac had a chance to finish high school, it

44:35

was time for the Shakur family to move yet

44:37

again. This time it was the housing projects in

44:39

Marin City, California near San Francisco. Tupac attended high

44:41

school at first and took part in the theater

44:44

program there, but he wound up dropping out before

44:46

graduation. Afinna was still in the throes of addiction

44:48

at this point and unable to keep a job,

44:50

so Tupac had to find a way to make

44:52

money. He briefly tried selling drugs, but friends made

44:54

his only last for about a week. Tupac would

44:56

see things like people trying to trade their wedding

44:58

rings for crack, and he simply didn't have

45:00

it in him to destroy people's lives like

45:03

that, deciding he'd rather starve than deal. He

45:05

was instead determined to make it as a rapper,

45:07

and he formed a group called Strictly Dope with

45:09

Ray Love and DJ Deez, still rapping under the name

45:12

MC New York at the time. It was the right

45:14

call, because in 1989, a year

45:16

after moving to California, Tupac was going to

45:18

begin his rise. I

45:20

assumed he had another name, I thought Tupac

45:22

was his MC New York name, his

45:24

stage name or whatever, and he had a different name. Almost

45:28

everyone seems to him, and you look them

45:30

up on Wikipedia or whatever, and it would

45:32

be like, Tupac, original name, John Smith, or

45:34

something like that, right? Ascent

45:39

to stardom While

45:42

out dancing one night, Tupac met Leila Steinberg, and the

45:44

two hit it off. She invited him to a poetry

45:46

workshop she was hosting the next day, and she saw

45:48

a loss of promise in his work. Leila became Tupac's

45:51

first manager, and as she learned more about his home

45:53

life, she realised it was too dysfunctional of an environment

45:55

for him to stay in while trying to build a

45:57

career. A few months after they met, she offered for him

45:59

and to come and live in her apartment with

46:01

her, her husband, and her kids. Holy shit, Leela's a

46:04

good manager. She's like, hey, you seem good at this

46:06

stuff, come and live with my family. Okay.

46:09

According to Leela, Tupac saw her as the perfect

46:12

package to get him where he needed to go.

46:14

He wasn't wrong, as not only had she given him

46:16

a much more stable living environment full of new books

46:19

on philosophy, religion, and cultural issues for him to absorb,

46:21

but Leela was also working to get him a contract.

46:23

Of course, as fondly as she remembers the time she

46:25

spent with Tupac in her home, he wasn't the perfect

46:27

guest. Leela described him as being one

46:29

of the sloppiest and dirtiest people she'd ever met, the

46:32

sort of guy that would rather just buy new clothes

46:34

than do laundry. Yeah, I get it

46:36

though. I mean, I get it.

46:38

There were also frequent visits by the police, though

46:40

these could take a humorous turn. On one occasion,

46:42

Leela recounted the police knocking on her door for

46:45

yet another noise complaint over the volume of

46:47

Tupac's music. She apologized, said they'd turn it

46:49

down because she didn't want any problems, but

46:51

then Tupac appeared over her shoulder sarcastically saying,

46:53

the neighbors rock music is just as loud.

46:56

You don't give them shit. He then told

46:58

the officer to stare at the door while he turned

47:00

the music down to ensure it was lowered to an

47:02

acceptable level. Tupac ran to the stereo, put on NWA's

47:05

police, just loud enough for the officer to hear,

47:07

but also loud that it would justify another noise

47:09

complaint, asking him, is this good, officer?

47:13

Because malicious compliance is the best form of compliance.

47:15

I also really hope you enjoyed that little anecdote,

47:17

because that's the last time there's going to be

47:19

anything funny about Tupac's run-ins with the police. Oh

47:21

god, Kevin, no. Savage turn.

47:24

For months, Leela mentored Tupac, encouraging him

47:26

in his reading and writing, but she recognized

47:28

that to make it big, he was going to need

47:30

a real manager, for lack of a better term. Wait,

47:32

Leela sounds like an amazing manager. What? No,

47:35

Leela, you can do it. She reached out

47:37

to Antron Gregory, the manager of the Oakland-based

47:39

rap group, Digital Underground, to try and get

47:41

Tupac a deal. Atron said he

47:43

needed a video of Tupac performing, so strictly Dope

47:45

put on their first concert on the lawn of

47:47

Leela's apartment building, inviting all the kids from the

47:49

building to show up and fill out the crowd

47:51

for the camera. In 1990, Atron signed to you

47:53

back at home work as a roadie, backup dancer

47:55

and backup rapper for Digital Underground. At

47:57

the urging of Leela, Digital Underground's chop master, J

48:00

worked with Strictly Dope to produce their

48:02

earlier studio recordings. It was clear at

48:04

the start that there was something different

48:06

about Tupac, especially in the recording studio.

48:09

Tom Master, J said that Tupac didn't work well

48:11

with others because he was strictly business. A lot

48:13

of guys like to drink, smoke, and have fun

48:15

during their recording sessions, but Tupac didn't have time

48:18

for any of that nonsense while he was in

48:20

the studio. As far as he was concerned, they

48:22

could party afterwards, but now was the time for

48:24

work. I like that. Yes, I have maybe two

48:26

or three meetings a month.

48:28

I really try to keep meetings

48:31

as absolutely non-existent as possible, and

48:34

I don't meet people for lunch. I

48:36

don't do all of this because I'm

48:38

at work to work. The amount of

48:40

waste that I see from friends and

48:42

companies and stuff where they're just like, well, we

48:44

had a meeting about that, we had a meeting about that, then we

48:46

had to travel here and travel to do that. I'm like, when do

48:49

you actually do work? And they're

48:51

like, oh, I don't know. Maybe after that

48:53

meeting I did a little bit, it's like, I had to go

48:55

to another meeting. It's like, what are you doing? It's

48:58

so inefficient. Don't you just want to get something

49:00

done? Digital Underground's Shock G

49:02

made similar remarks about the first time

49:04

he met Tupac just after Adrian signed

49:06

him. Tupac walked into the studio, introduced

49:08

himself, and immediately started asking, so you

49:10

want me to rhyme now, never breaking eye

49:12

contact. According to Shock G,

49:14

dude was intense. He also described Tupac as

49:16

being better than average in the early days,

49:19

but added that he wasn't going to blow

49:21

people away yet. Still, it was clear there

49:23

was promise. This was still years

49:25

before Thug Life, and at the time, Tupac's

49:27

songs only took two different forms. I've heard

49:29

of Thug Life, not sure if that's an

49:31

album or a song, but

49:33

like I said, if someone named them, I would probably

49:35

be familiar with them, but I don't know what it

49:38

goes like. Either they were just kind of silly, fun

49:40

songs, like the case of the misplaced mic in which

49:42

he goes on an adventure to find his microphone that

49:44

disappeared, or they were filled with political and socioeconomic commentary.

49:46

Oh, and if you were wondering, the mic was actually

49:48

in his pocket the whole time. I wasn't, Kevin, but

49:50

I'm so glad we got a resolution to that story.

49:52

I was happy as hell because I was lucky that

49:55

night. You put my hand in my pocket, and that

49:57

was my mic. He wasn't the only

49:59

person rapping about social issues and inequality, but

50:01

there was something that separated him from the

50:03

rest. Not only was he educated and well-read

50:05

despite having dropped out of high school, but

50:07

the number one word used by Tupac's friends

50:09

and contemporaries to describe him was articulate. I

50:11

wish they'd chosen the different words, since I

50:13

now know how it sounds when someone like

50:15

me or Simon says, he's so well spoken,

50:17

but it is what it is. Wait, I

50:19

don't get it. I

50:21

don't understand, what's wrong with he's so well

50:23

spoken? He speaks so well. He's

50:27

so well spoken. There may have been some other

50:29

people rapping about the same sorts of topics, but

50:31

Tupac was able to express those ideas more eloquently

50:33

and in a way that more deeply resonated with

50:35

people. Based on this, Safai might assume that he

50:37

was a perfectionist in the studio, but according to

50:39

Shock G, it was the opposite. Instead of obsessing

50:41

over every word, he would just write something down,

50:43

and if he didn't think it was good, he'd

50:45

throw it away and write a new song instead

50:48

of trying to revise it. While many artists can

50:50

send weeks in the studio on each song making

50:52

sure it was perfect, Tupac could record multiple tracks

50:54

each day. It was this no-nonsense attitude in the

50:56

studio that allowed him to record so much material

50:58

that he released more new albums after he

51:00

died than when he was still alive. Anyway,

51:02

as Digital Underground got to know Tupac better,

51:04

they did more to put him on the

51:06

mic. In January 1991, he

51:08

dropped the stage in AMC New

51:10

York and started rapping as Tupac.

51:12

Ah, like 2, the number 2,

51:14

PAC. Okay, that sounds like that's

51:17

probably where I think, like, that's where

51:19

he gets his, like, you know, rapper name

51:21

from. That month, Digital Underground released their single,

51:23

Same Song, which is considered Tupac's recording debut.

51:25

The song was featured on the soundtrack of

51:27

the Dan Aykroyd film, Nothing But Trouble. This

51:29

is the first big win for Tupac's career,

51:31

but by no means the last. Having been

51:33

interested not only in music but acting, Tupac

51:35

auditioned for the movie Juice. He was cast

51:37

as Bishop, one of the main characters in

51:39

the movie, and when the movie released the

51:41

following year, it was well received by critics

51:43

and audiences alike. The breakout performance opened a

51:45

lot of doors in the film industry, though

51:47

his future behavior would later close a number

51:49

of those doors. As a final result aside, Tupac

51:51

met Samuel L. Jackson while working on Juice, as

51:53

he also had a role in the film. They

51:55

didn't become great friends or anything, and Jackson's wife

51:58

even yelled at Tupac on set for Sw- wearing

52:00

in front of women. However, because the two had

52:02

met, a friend of Tupac claims that George Lucas

52:04

reached out to Jackson, asking him to get Tupac

52:06

to audition for the role of Mace Windu in

52:09

The Phantom Menace. It was allegedly one of three

52:11

roles he auditioned for before his death. Tupac also

52:13

recorded his first solo album that year, Tupacalypse

52:16

Now, which released in

52:18

November. Then a month before the album's release,

52:20

he had a run-in with the Oakland Police

52:22

Department and allegedly with police brutality. Tupac was

52:24

walking down the street when he was stopped

52:27

by two officers for jaywalking of all things.

52:29

I've been stopped for jaywalking in America. It's

52:31

just like crossing the street. Because you can just

52:33

cross wherever you like in Europe. It's normal. And

52:36

I'm just crossing the street and an officer's like,

52:38

hey, I'm like, yes? He's like,

52:40

you have to cross at the crossing. And I'm

52:42

like, OK, sorry.

52:46

They asked for his ID and they allegedly

52:48

started giving him shit either because they didn't

52:50

believe Tupac was his real name or they

52:52

didn't think it was an American name, which

52:54

suggests they might have thought he was in

52:56

the country illegally. Ah, yes. According to Tupac's

52:58

account of events, he told the police, fuck

53:00

y'all, for hassling him about his name. He

53:02

then recounted, next thing I know is in

53:04

a choke-off passing out with cuffs on, headed

53:06

to jail for resisting arrest. He filed a

53:08

$10 million lawsuit against the Oakland PD. If he

53:11

won, he'd planned to use the money to buy himself

53:13

a house in California, buy a house for his mother

53:15

who'd finally overcome a drug addiction and move back to

53:17

New York and use the rest to build things like

53:19

a boy's home and a stop police brutality center. The

53:21

gays never went to trial for the presence of police

53:23

brutality and the extent to which it may have existed

53:25

are entirely allegations, but the department did settle the lawsuit

53:28

for $43,000. It's

53:30

a lot more money today, it's gotta be 100

53:32

grand a day easy. We always talk about how everybody

53:34

settles because it's cheaper, easier and avoids emissions of

53:36

guilt, but it's worth noting that the settlements for claims

53:38

of police brutality were a lot rarer back in

53:40

1991, especially because brutality cases

53:42

rarely received any media attention. Then again, this is

53:44

the same year that the Rodney King beating occurred

53:47

in Los Angeles, and I'll let you interpret the

53:49

police department's decision to settle this case however you

53:51

like. I just figured I'd give it as much

53:53

context as possible. They wanted to go away because

53:55

they're like, oh no, look

53:57

at how brutal we are. He's going to

53:59

come to light again. Again, it doesn't look

54:02

good for us. Better solution would be just

54:04

like, don't be brutal. Just

54:06

don't be brutal. It's not that hard, is

54:08

it? A month after this incident, 2Pac's next

54:11

album dropped and sold half a million copies,

54:13

and his second album, released in February of

54:15

1993, was another critical and commercial success. The

54:18

second album, strictly for my NIGGAZ,

54:20

still focused on political and social

54:22

issues, but was regarded as being

54:24

more hardcore than his previous work.

54:26

The song, Last Words, featured both

54:28

Ice Cube and Ice-T, most famous

54:30

for Police and Cop Killer

54:33

respectively. Or, if you're like 70, most

54:35

famous for the kids movie, Are We There

54:37

Yet, and for Law and Order SVU

54:39

respectively. Things have been going great

54:41

for 2Pac, and he seemed unstoppable. That same

54:43

year, he returned to the big screen alongside

54:45

Janet Jackson in the film Poetic Justice. The

54:47

movie only did okay and was met with

54:50

mixed reviews, but the complaints were all about

54:52

the writing, whereas critics loved Jackson and 2Pac's

54:54

performances. In 1993, he also saw

54:56

a lot of changes in 2Pac's life, and things

54:58

just started to spiral out of control. I just

55:00

watched a terribly, terribly written

55:02

show. But it was, um, what

55:05

the f- was it called? It was about a

55:07

plane that gets hijacked! The show's called Hijack. It

55:09

is the worst written show that I've ever, I

55:12

can't believe I actually finished it. It's

55:14

dreadfully written. And

55:16

the main dude, played by Idris Elba,

55:18

it's like, he's

55:20

a good actor and it's like, this is what you have to

55:22

deal with. It's so

55:25

bad. SUG

55:29

LIFE AND LEGAL TROUBLES It

55:32

says that it was on the set

55:34

of Poetic Justice where 2Pac first met

55:36

Christopher Wallace, aka Biggie Smalls, aka the

55:38

Notorious B.I.G. They were, yeah,

55:40

this is what I'm talking about, you look

55:42

up Notorious B.I.G. and it's like, bon, Christopher

55:45

Wallace. They quickly

55:47

became good friends with 2Pac, visiting Biggie whenever he

55:49

was in New York, and Biggie crashing on 2Pac's

55:51

couch whenever he was in L.A. 2Pac

55:53

would also, did he really crash on 2Pac's

55:55

couch when he was in L.A.? 2Pac just

55:58

saw half a million records. He's probably crashing

56:00

in like Tupac's pool house, right? Tupac

56:03

would invite Biggie up on stage with him

56:05

when he performed and recorded the song Running

56:07

from the Police together. The track, which took

56:09

two years to release due to various controversies,

56:11

was later renamed to just Runnin'. At this

56:13

point, Tupac was already famous, while Biggie was

56:15

just starting to come up. He was signed

56:17

to Puff Daddy's newly created Bad Boy Records,

56:19

but he had concerns about the future of

56:21

the label and wanted the success Tupac had,

56:23

so he asked Tupac to be his manager.

56:25

He declined and told Biggie to stay with

56:28

Bad Boy, saying Puffy would make him a

56:30

star. Tupac was absolutely correct about that, and

56:32

the two remained friends for the time

56:34

being. Tupac even invited Biggie to

56:36

join the group Sugglife for an

56:38

album that he was working on

56:40

with Big Sky, his step-brother Moprim

56:42

Shakur, Macadocious, and The Rated R.

56:45

The name was originally conceived as

56:47

an anagram, standing for The Hate

56:49

You Give Little Infants Fucks Everybody.

56:53

So one of the rules of the cash are criminalised,

56:55

don't fuck up your kids, they had this as well,

56:57

I like that. The work was meant to show the

56:59

negative effects systemic racism has on society, showing how a

57:01

cycle of hatred and marginalisation was directly responsible for

57:04

the creation of generations of folk called Suggs

57:06

that terrorised the same society that created them.

57:08

Messages about social reform, racial equality, are

57:10

great in all, but like I said

57:12

earlier, people are multifaceted and sometimes smart

57:14

people say really stupid things. It

57:17

was around this time that Tupac made

57:19

a particularly stupid comment regarding race during

57:21

an interview with The Source Magazine. With

57:23

regards to famed record producer Quincy Jones,

57:25

Tupac said all he does is stick

57:28

his d*** in white bitches and make

57:30

fucked up kids. Okay, I

57:32

have no idea who Quincy Jones is so

57:34

I don't know the context. He was the

57:36

first person to call out Jones in his

57:38

interracial marriages, but bringing his kids into it

57:40

was not cool. Umm, okay.

57:44

Don't know what to say

57:46

about that. Actually 17

57:48

year old daughter Rashida Jones did not care for

57:50

these statements. Yeah, because he called

57:52

her a f***ed up kid. What a surprise. She

57:55

wrote a scathing reply to Tupac that was published in

57:57

a later issue of Source Magazine, in which she said

57:59

that it wasn't like people for her father paving

58:01

the way, Tubac wouldn't even have a platform

58:03

to run his mouth on like an asshole.

58:05

This exchange is going to come up again

58:07

later, but it was hardly the worst trouble that

58:09

Tubac found himself in that year. In the

58:11

early morning hours of October 31st, Tubac's caravan

58:13

of cars was returning to his hotel after

58:15

performing at the Clark Atlanta University when they stumbled

58:17

upon an altercation. There are varying accounts of what

58:20

happened, so exactly how the story played out

58:22

is uncertain. What we can say for sure

58:24

is that everything began when brothers Mark and

58:26

Scott Whitwell, along with their wives, left a bar

58:28

that night. They had been celebrating Scott's wife

58:30

passing the bar exam already to all his

58:32

night. As they were crossing the street, a

58:34

driver nearly hit them. That's when the story

58:36

starts to diverge, so I'll give you what

58:38

I and apparently the prosecutors believe to be

58:40

the most credible story of allegedly what happened

58:42

following the narrowly avoided car accident. Tubac's caravan

58:44

showed up, with him riding in the lead

58:46

car. There was also a car in front

58:48

of them blocking the road, with the black

58:50

driver being assaulted by Mark and Scott, two

58:52

white men who were allegedly throwing both fists

58:54

and racial slurs. He immediately jumped out

58:56

of the car to come to the aid of the

58:58

driver and his entourage followed suit. Mark

59:01

pulled a gun and pointed it at Tubac

59:03

and his crew, so Tubac pulled out his

59:05

Glock in what he believed to be self-defense.

59:07

Holy sh- He fired three times, hitting Mark

59:09

in the abdomen and Scott in the butt.

59:11

That's allegedly how it went down and the brothers were

59:14

treated at the hospital and released the next day

59:16

while Tubac was arrested for aggravated assault and released

59:18

on $55,000 bail. Umm,

59:21

yo, if someone pulls a

59:23

gun on you and you happen

59:25

to have a gun and you pull the gun on them

59:27

and shoot them, what

59:29

is that if not self-defense? Someone

59:31

pulls a gun on you. From that point, like

59:33

if you pull a gun on someone and they pull

59:35

a gun on you and shoot you, I'm sorry but

59:38

that's on you, don't pull guns on people, are you

59:40

insane? However, things got a bit more complicated. It

59:42

turns out that Mark and Scott were off-duty police officers

59:44

in plain clothes, something that it's unclear whether or not

59:46

they mentioned at the time this all was happening. Police

59:49

are not going to be able to get

59:52

out of prison, and yet the charges were

59:54

dropped entirely. I'm sorry but like Mark and

59:56

Scott, you should know better. What are

59:58

you doing taking out your guns? Your police are- officers,

1:00:00

you should know better. There were a few

1:00:02

key factors that led to the charges being dismissed.

1:00:04

I mean it doesn't seem that surprising. Like

1:00:07

so two off duty

1:00:09

police officers, I'm assuming pretty f**king drunk,

1:00:11

are like almost hit by a car,

1:00:13

they get into an altercation, someone comes

1:00:16

to the person who they're altercating's defence,

1:00:19

and then one of them pulls

1:00:21

a gun on the dude and gets shot.

1:00:24

I'm sorry but it's like that's not going

1:00:26

to trial. Like what the f**k? Mark

1:00:28

and Scott were both drunk, yes what a

1:00:31

surprise, and the evidence showed they lied about

1:00:33

who the aggressor in the exchange was. By

1:00:35

themselves neither of those things would likely be

1:00:37

enough to get the case dismissed before even

1:00:39

going to a grand jury, however the brothers

1:00:41

were also carrying guns Scott admitted to have

1:00:43

stolen from a police evidence locker. Bruh. What

1:00:47

are you doing? You're a cop bro,

1:00:49

prison is not going to be fun.

1:00:52

Like stealing guns as a police officer, you're going

1:00:54

to go to prison. And people are going to

1:00:56

be like so what do you do on the

1:00:58

outside? Well listen boys, I'm not a cop. They'll

1:01:02

say oh yeah I know you, you're the

1:01:04

reason I'm here. Let's get the shank.

1:01:06

If I was a police officer I'd be like

1:01:09

so careful not to even accidentally commit crimes because

1:01:11

you know prison's going to be bad. Two pack

1:01:13

avoided criminal charges but the brothers both filed civil

1:01:15

lawsuits afterwards. It was a close call but it

1:01:18

still wasn't the worst of two packs legal troubles.

1:01:20

That came the following month when he was accused

1:01:22

of sexual assault by his acquaintance Ayana Jackson. He

1:01:24

had first met Ayana at a Manhattan nightclub where

1:01:26

she allegedly performed oral sex on him on the

1:01:29

dance floor though she has since claimed that part

1:01:31

never happened. Either way that night she went back

1:01:33

to Two Pack's room where they talked and eventually

1:01:36

had sex. After that Two Pack's road manager

1:01:38

Charles Fuller would frequently set up meetings with

1:01:40

Ayana whenever they were in Manhattan. She claimed

1:01:42

they hung out together on those occasions and

1:01:44

just talked but did not have sex. That

1:01:46

literally changed one night when she was invited

1:01:48

to his hotel suite where Two Pack, Charles,

1:01:50

drug dealer and music executive Jack Agnent, better

1:01:53

known as Haitian Jack and an unidentified fourth

1:01:55

person were all hanging out. She then talked

1:01:57

for a little bit before going back to

1:01:59

one of the bedrooms. Aiana gave them the

1:02:01

massage which turned into kissing, but while that

1:02:03

was happening, the other two men entered the

1:02:05

room. Aiana alleged that all four men sexually

1:02:08

assaulted her, though years later she claimed that

1:02:10

Charles had not. Two Pack was

1:02:12

later charged with three counts of sodomy, two counts

1:02:14

of first degree sexual abuse and two counts of

1:02:16

illegal possession of a firearm for guns that were

1:02:18

found in the hotel room but were not part

1:02:20

of the alleged assault. I mean, unlike the last

1:02:22

time, I'm kind of like, okay,

1:02:24

this doesn't look good for you Two Pack, does

1:02:26

it? It was going to cost

1:02:29

a lot in legal fees to defend the

1:02:31

allegations, which was a huge train on Two

1:02:33

Pack's finances. Yeah, lawyers are so expensive. I've

1:02:35

liked lawyers who deal with, like, some of

1:02:37

my, you know, more boring side of my

1:02:39

business. And it's like, any time, it's like,

1:02:41

oh, why? So much money! So much money!

1:02:43

Fung Life's Only album didn't release until September

1:02:46

of 1994 and the group

1:02:48

usually performed live without him. Two Pack's next solo album

1:02:50

also wasn't going to release until 1995 so there wasn't

1:02:52

a huge stream of income.

1:02:54

He was still performing and he appeared in the 1994 film

1:02:57

Above the Rim that he didn't have a major

1:02:59

tour or an album release and had been fired

1:03:01

from the movie Higher Learning following his arrest. Somewhat

1:03:04

ironically, for reasons that will soon become apparent,

1:03:06

many believed that the character Two Pack played

1:03:08

in Above the Rim was modeled after Haitian

1:03:10

Jack who was also charged with the honor's

1:03:12

assault. Biggie had reportedly told Two Pack to

1:03:15

stay away from Jack but he hadn't listened.

1:03:17

Anyway, between the diminished income, relatively lavish spending

1:03:19

and legal fees, money was starting to get

1:03:21

scarce for Two Pack. Yeah, you gotta like,

1:03:24

you gotta watch your money. Cause

1:03:26

otherwise it'll disappear. For me,

1:03:29

I'm always like, you gotta be ready to

1:03:31

cut back. Like if money stops

1:03:33

coming in, you gotta cut back, you can't spend

1:03:35

money on all the crazy shit that you used

1:03:37

to buy. While all this was happening, there was

1:03:39

war going on. At least, that was the public

1:03:41

image. There was a feud between East Coast and

1:03:43

West Coast rappers that was portrayed as being a

1:03:45

huge deal within the industry. In the beginning at

1:03:47

least, I think for the most part, it was

1:03:49

just work. They hated each other the same way

1:03:51

The Rock and Stone called Steve Austin hated each

1:03:53

other. I have no idea what that reference is.

1:03:56

I assume it's like they pretend to hate each other because it's

1:03:58

good for, you know... It's like

1:04:00

a beef, like an internet beef, everyone's

1:04:02

getting views on an internet beef. I'm

1:04:05

working on my internet beef. The

1:04:08

public feud was good for headlines and likely

1:04:10

boosted sales for all parties involved, but many

1:04:12

believe it was intended to be harmless until

1:04:14

it wasn't. On 30th November, Tupac

1:04:16

was in Manhattan to record verses for a

1:04:18

song. He got a page from music manager

1:04:21

and drug dealer Jimmy Henchman, who had met

1:04:23

through Haitian Jack. Jimmy wanted him to come

1:04:25

down to Quad Studios that night to record

1:04:27

a verse for a new client of his.

1:04:29

He wasn't really sure about the whole thing, but he was being offered $7,000 that he

1:04:32

really needed to help pay his

1:04:34

legal bills. $7,000

1:04:36

is not going to pay your lawyers for very long. Funnily

1:04:39

enough, just popped up on my screen. Got an email

1:04:41

from my lawyer. Sounds good.

1:04:43

I'm sure you're working on something. Money,

1:04:46

money, money! Against his better

1:04:48

judgement, he and his longtime friend Stretched from

1:04:50

Digital Underground and two others went down to

1:04:52

Quad Studios that night. When they arrived, they

1:04:54

heard familiar voices cheerfully shouting down to them

1:04:56

for a few stories up. It was Biggie

1:04:58

and Junior MAFIA, the group Biggie had formed

1:05:00

with Bad Boy Records rather than joining Sugg

1:05:03

Life. Tupac, Stretched and the others entered Quad

1:05:05

Studios, but when they entered the lobby, they

1:05:07

were greeted by three men with guns waiting

1:05:09

to rob them. The others got to the

1:05:11

floor, but Tupac tried to grab the gun

1:05:13

from one of the assailants and was shot

1:05:15

five times in the struggle. He was then robbed of

1:05:17

$40,000 in cash and jewelry. Bro,

1:05:20

if you're going to do something for $7,000

1:05:22

to help pay your legal bills, what

1:05:25

you're doing carrying around $40,000 worth of cash and jewelry.

1:05:28

There should be like something, it's like, you know, net

1:05:31

worth divided by a certain amount is how much

1:05:33

value you should have on your person at any

1:05:35

given time, like watches, jewelry, clothes, that kind of

1:05:38

stuff. Cash! Just don't be

1:05:40

carrying that. Like, what's that? Is it Kanye West

1:05:42

who was on like Oprah or something? And he

1:05:44

just pulls out like a wad of cash from

1:05:47

his pocket and she's like, how much money do you have on

1:05:49

you right now? Or maybe it was some morning show or something,

1:05:51

who knows? But Kanye West is just like,

1:05:53

like 25 grand. And

1:05:56

it's like Kanye West can do that because he's super

1:05:58

rich. I mean, much less rich. picture he

1:06:00

used to be. Oh, he became a bit

1:06:02

ashy-semitic. I was a Kanye

1:06:05

West, I haven't heard about him in ages. People really

1:06:07

did just lose interest. As paramedics

1:06:09

wheeled Tupac out on a stretcher to be taken

1:06:11

to the hospital, he lifted up his arms to

1:06:13

give Biggie the finger. He believed that Bad Boy

1:06:15

Records had set him up, changing the East Coast

1:06:18

rivalry from a potential marketing scheme to an actual

1:06:20

blood feud. Tupac received surgery for his wounds and

1:06:22

a few hours after surgery, he checked himself out

1:06:24

of the hospital against Dr. Device and went to

1:06:26

the home of actress Jasmine Guy. What

1:06:29

the f-? He was shot five times and he's checking

1:06:31

himself out of the hospital hours later. If I was

1:06:33

shot five times, I'd just assume I'm going to be

1:06:35

in the hospital for like six months. You

1:06:38

know, that's like getting shot five times. It's

1:06:40

a long hospital stay. It's not just like,

1:06:42

yeah, cool, thanks for patching me up guys.

1:06:44

Off I go, somehow able to walk. The

1:06:46

two had become friends during his guest appearance

1:06:48

on the sitcom A Different World in which

1:06:50

Jasmine starred alongside her friend Jada Pinkett. And

1:06:52

he also wanted, is Jada Pinkett like Jada

1:06:54

Pinkett Smith, Will Smith's wife? Is

1:06:56

that the same person? Is that really? And

1:06:58

he wanted to recover in secrets in a

1:07:00

house rather than hospital where he could be

1:07:03

exposed. The day after the shooting, Bandage Tupac

1:07:05

entered a Manhattan courthouse in a wheelchair. The

1:07:07

verdict in the Anna Jackson Sexual Assault Case

1:07:09

was being read that day. He was acquitted

1:07:11

on the counts of sodomy and firearms possession,

1:07:13

but found guilty of two counts of first-degree

1:07:15

sexual abuse and they quote, forcibly touching the

1:07:18

women's buttocks in his hotel room. He was

1:07:20

released on $25,000 bail pending

1:07:22

the sentencing hearing and to again went to Jasmine's

1:07:24

home where he was cared for by his mother

1:07:26

and a private doctor while Black Panthers stood guard

1:07:28

as security. A couple of months later, on

1:07:30

the 14th of February 1995, it was time

1:07:33

for Tupac to be sentenced. We're not going

1:07:35

to speculate on whether the jury got it

1:07:37

right or wrong, but to reiterate the verdict,

1:07:39

Tupac was convicted of grabbing Iana's ass. Now

1:07:42

I don't condone groping people without their consent

1:07:44

and I'm not claiming that Iana's story of

1:07:46

sexual assault was untruthful, but because that was

1:07:48

the decision the jury made, that alone is

1:07:51

what the judge should have been obligated to

1:07:53

pass sentence on. Instead, what followed could be

1:07:55

considered insanity even by America's already insane standards

1:07:57

of prison sentencing. Okay, he's been

1:07:59

being accused, or

1:08:02

he's been found guilty, of groping, essentially.

1:08:05

I think groping is wrong, I think

1:08:07

it's nasty, but

1:08:10

I don't think it should particularly

1:08:12

attract a prison sentence. Tupac

1:08:14

was sentenced to 18 months to four and a

1:08:16

half years in prison. Obviously, the

1:08:18

defense was going to appeal this case, and

1:08:20

in most circumstances, a convicted person is allowed

1:08:23

to be released from prison on bail while

1:08:25

awaiting their appeal. To rent this, the judge

1:08:27

set the bail at $3 million, which Tupac's

1:08:29

lawyers decried as being inhumane. Tupac was sent

1:08:31

to Rikers Island before being transferred to Clindegretional

1:08:33

Facility, a maximum security prison.

1:08:35

Bro, why is he in a

1:08:37

maximum security prison? You

1:08:40

have to ignore everything else, the gun possession, all of

1:08:42

that stuff, because that's not what he was found guilty

1:08:44

of. He was found guilty of groping. Why

1:08:46

is he in max—he should be in like, I

1:08:49

don't know, what medium security prison? Maximum

1:08:51

security? That's just going to make him

1:08:53

a worse criminal. Are you insane? And then one

1:08:56

week after the sentencing hearing, Biggie's single, Big Poppa,

1:08:58

was released. It was the second single off his

1:09:00

debut album from a few months earlier, and it

1:09:02

sold over a million copies. However, it was the

1:09:04

B-side that caught people's attention with the track, Who's

1:09:06

Shot Yet? Had this song been written about Tupac?

1:09:09

Probably not. It was allegedly written before he was

1:09:11

shot, and some of the lyrics don't really line

1:09:13

up with what happened. But it didn't matter whether

1:09:15

the song was about Tupac, because he and many

1:09:17

others believed that it was. The

1:09:23

napkin contract Before

1:09:26

to work and isolated from his vices of

1:09:28

weed and alcohol, being in prison gave Tupac

1:09:30

time to catch up on reading. Among the

1:09:32

books he read were Machiavelli's The Prince and

1:09:34

Sun Sues The Art of War, reigniting his

1:09:39

interest in philosophy as well as military strategy.

1:09:41

He also married his longtime girlfriend Keisha Morris

1:09:43

while in prison, though the marriage was annulled

1:09:45

shortly after he got out. But before that

1:09:47

could happen, he actually had to get out,

1:09:49

and the $3 million bail was well

1:09:52

beyond his means. To make that his worth, Afini

1:09:54

was about to lose her house. Tupac told Keisha

1:09:56

to contact Shug Night, the co-founder and CEO

1:09:58

of Death Row Rec. It is reported

1:10:00

that immediately following this, Evina received $15,000 saving her

1:10:03

home. This

1:10:05

was likely just a gesture of good faith rather

1:10:07

than an act of kindness as there was something

1:10:09

Sug was after. He wanted Two Pack on Death

1:10:12

Row. On

1:10:17

August 3, Sug was in New York

1:10:19

for the 2nd Annual Source Awards and he visited

1:10:21

Two Pack in prison before heading to the cemetery.

1:10:23

At the awards, the rivalry between East and West

1:10:26

was on full display. Since the awards ceremony was

1:10:28

in New York, everybody from Death Row Records was

1:10:30

getting booed. A lot of words

1:10:32

being exchanged, including Snoop Dogg's angry tirade against

1:10:34

the audience, but nobody that night was more

1:10:36

inflammatory than Sug. The award for Best Soundtrack

1:10:38

of the Year went to Above the Rim

1:10:40

and Dr. Dre, the supervising producer on the

1:10:42

album. As an executive producer, Sug went to

1:10:45

accept the award on Dre's behalf. In his

1:10:47

speech he stated, Any artist out there want to

1:10:49

be an artist and want to stay a star

1:10:51

and don't want to have to worry about the

1:10:53

executive producer trying to be all in the video,

1:10:56

all the record dancers come to Death Row. This

1:10:58

was a blatant shot at Puffy, who was notorious

1:11:00

for inserting himself into every project that came through

1:11:02

Bad Boy Records. A little over a month

1:11:04

later, on September 16th, Sug returned to visit Two

1:11:07

Pack in prison and this time he had a

1:11:09

deal to offer. Three

1:11:11

albums, $3.5 million, and Death Row would use a

1:11:13

portion of that money to immediately bond Two Pack

1:11:15

out of prison. It's referred to as the infamous

1:11:17

Napkin Contract, because the two allegedly worked out the

1:11:20

initial deal on the Napkin, but it's unclear whether

1:11:22

or not this is true. Knowing

1:11:24

that Napkin Contract or Napkin Agreement is a fairly

1:11:26

common colloquial term in law, it probably wasn't being

1:11:28

used literally here. I'd say Sug's offer gave Two

1:11:30

Pack a lot to think about, but it really

1:11:32

didn't. At the time he was signed into scope

1:11:34

and was happy with his deal there, but he

1:11:37

had toyed around with the idea of eventually making

1:11:39

the move to Death Row anyway. He obviously hadn't

1:11:41

decided in favour of it before this, but now

1:11:43

his options were either signed with Death Row or

1:11:45

stay in prison until there's a pill with hers. I

1:11:47

have to say this is a very good business move

1:11:49

by Sug here, isn't it? He's like,

1:11:52

lock him in, he's talented, he doesn't have a

1:11:54

choice. It's still a lot of money though. But

1:11:57

for three albums, that's a lot of albums. since

1:12:00

he was locked up and there's no telling when

1:12:02

his appeal would be heard and so there was

1:12:04

nothing really to consider. On October the 4th, Shug

1:12:06

returned with a much more formal though extremely short

1:12:09

contract to sign. I love it when people have

1:12:11

short contracts because it's just like it like

1:12:13

I just love a one page like you get I

1:12:15

get some ridiculously long contracts. I just looked at one

1:12:17

this morning to like something and it was like two

1:12:19

pages long and really simple and I was like I love you whoever

1:12:22

wrote this your lawyers are champions because I've

1:12:24

got like 16 20 page contracts

1:12:26

the most basic and I'm like I'm

1:12:29

not reading this what is

1:12:31

this it's just loads

1:12:33

of legal nonsense he put up a 1.4

1:12:35

million dollar bond because I guess when bail

1:12:37

is that high you can't get a bond

1:12:39

for only 10 percent of the total bail

1:12:41

like you normally can or maybe the exorbitant

1:12:43

an inappropriate amount of three million dollars got

1:12:45

reduced slightly who knows the American legal system

1:12:47

is weird regardless eight days after signing the

1:12:49

contract Tupac was released from prison and flew

1:12:51

back to LA while he had been in

1:12:53

prison Tupac's third album The Against the World

1:12:55

was released it was written while he was

1:12:57

awaiting trial and is considered by many to

1:12:59

be his magnum opus it's described as Tupac

1:13:01

facing his inner self with lyrics about paranoia

1:13:04

self-loathing and depression the whole album isn't one

1:13:06

giant introspective downer but there's a lot of

1:13:08

that the album debuted at number one on

1:13:10

the billboard 200 and the first signal Dear

1:13:12

Mama which was a tribute to his mother

1:13:14

was the Balbom's best selling signal yeah again

1:13:16

I've heard of that but a few months

1:13:18

after being released from prison his next album

1:13:20

All Eyes on Me would be released by

1:13:23

death row it was rap's first ever double

1:13:25

album and it was markedly different from everything

1:13:27

else it written Tupac's music had become much

1:13:29

more aggressive he cast aside nearly all of

1:13:31

his social and political commentary instead filling the

1:13:33

double album with nothing but gangster rap and party

1:13:35

songs it also hit number one on the charts

1:13:38

and was well received but critics and fans alike

1:13:40

noticed the stark contrast with his other work when

1:13:42

it came time to release singles for the album

1:13:44

there was a treat in store for fans the

1:13:47

album's second single How Do You Want It released

1:13:49

on June the 4th 1996 however it was the

1:13:51

b-side that caught everyone's attention the b-side hit him

1:13:53

up is considered one of the greatest and probably

1:13:55

one of the most vicious distractible time not only

1:13:58

does it call out biggie puffy and other

1:14:00

East Coast rappers by name, but he wasted no

1:14:02

time in saying to Biggie, you claim to be

1:14:04

a player, but I f*** your wife. That

1:14:07

wasn't meant as idle trash talk either. Tupac

1:14:09

was legitimately claiming to have slept with Biggie's

1:14:11

wife, Faith Evans, though she claims to have

1:14:13

rejected him when he tried. Now Distracts and

1:14:15

Battle Raps are a time honored tradition in

1:14:17

rap. They're an extension of a game known

1:14:19

as the Dozens, though God only knows why

1:14:21

it's called that, which is why there are

1:14:23

two participants just insulting each other and possibly

1:14:25

their mothers back and forth. There really is

1:14:27

a time honored tradition too, with the first

1:14:29

academic reference to Dozens going back to the 1930s, an

1:14:32

origin possibly tracing all the way back to Africa

1:14:34

before the Atlantic slave trade. Is this actually relevant

1:14:37

rather than just being a fun fact? Well, sort

1:14:39

of. When you have an entire community of people

1:14:41

who grow up doing Dozens as a routine part

1:14:43

of their culture, but suddenly everyone's like, whoa, Tupac,

1:14:46

you went too far, I think that speaks to

1:14:48

just how aggressive and over the top his rhetoric

1:14:50

was becoming. And he went much, much further than

1:14:52

just claiming to have slept someone's wife, and we'll

1:14:55

come back to that later. Holy

1:14:57

shit, okay, Tupac's getting real. Of

1:14:59

course, this track wasn't just your run of

1:15:01

the mill East versus West beef. Tupac truly

1:15:04

believed that not only had his shooting been

1:15:06

orchestrated, but that he was set up for

1:15:08

the sexual assault charges. That wasn't without evidence

1:15:10

either, albeit circumstantial. To be clear, what follows

1:15:12

is what Tupac believed and is not meant

1:15:15

to undermine IANA's story. Anyway, it all comes

1:15:17

back to Haitian Jack. Jack had quite the

1:15:19

reputation, mainly for being a dangerous bully. However,

1:15:21

there were lots of rumors and whisperings that

1:15:23

he was a snitch. Jack had been charged

1:15:25

with the same sexual assault as Tupac, but

1:15:28

their cases were tried separately. While Tupac

1:15:30

had received up to four and a half years in

1:15:32

prison for his conviction, Jack received only probation. Yeah, that

1:15:34

seems like more in line with what it should have

1:15:36

been. Tupac's lawyers were able to

1:15:39

obtain a national rap sheet on Jack, and it was

1:15:41

extensive. Sadly, I don't believe the

1:15:43

rap sheet is public information, so I can't say

1:15:45

for certain how many times he was charged or

1:15:47

for what, but lawyers claim the rap sheet showed

1:15:49

Jack had been arrested and convicted numerous times all

1:15:52

over the country. Yet, despite all of these convictions,

1:15:54

he'd never done any serious jail time. Based on

1:15:56

that information, Tupac and his lawyers felt that Jack

1:15:58

was secretly an informant, community already

1:16:00

suspected. Yeah, it does seem a bit suspicious, doesn't it? And

1:16:02

they're like, how do you get off so easy, Jack? Oh,

1:16:05

you know, just good liars.