Latest news with #Shakur
San Francisco Chronicle
09-05-2025
- Entertainment
- San Francisco Chronicle
Review: ‘Words for My Comrades' defines the complex politics of rapper Tupac Shakur
It's possible rapper Tupac Shakur first formulated his distaste for police brutality while still inside the womb. That's because his mother, Black Panther member Afeni Shakur, was heavily pregnant with him when she served as her own defense in New York City's infamous Panther 21 trial. How that baby would come to be revered as a titan of West Coast hip-hop — as well as a modern figurehead for revolution — serves as the premise for author Dean Van Nguyen's insightful new work examining Tupac Shakur's politics and socioeconomic experiences. In 'Words for My Comrades: The Political History of Tupac Shakur,' Van Nguyen contextualizes the hallowed lyrics of Shakur's music by contrasting a personal biography of the rapper with relevant history lessons on, among others, the Black Panthers and Malcolm X. Raised in poverty and educated by a mother who regularly risked everything in support of her beliefs, Shakur's upbringing somehow managed to place him in the epicenter of the burgeoning hip-hop movement. He died in 1996 at age 25. His life was never easy, but Shakur's presence in New York City, then the Bay Area via Marin City, marked fateful chapters in his story. Enlightening scenes include a spotlight on Shakur's brief time as a student at San Rafael's Tamalpais High School, with teacher Barbara Owens recalling the budding actor's singular talent for bringing Shakespeare to life. 'You will never, in your lifetime, hear 'Othello' as well as you just heard it now,' she recalls telling her classroom after one such memorable performance. It can be slightly difficult to follow the threads of Van Nguyen's narrative as it frequently jumps from the biographical to the historical to explain how figures like Black Panther cofounder Bobby Seale and moments like the 1966 Hunter's Point uprising in San Francisco ultimately informed Shakur's work. Other elements are presented with more ambiguity. Van Nguyen spends little time covering the more unsavory elements of Tupac's timeline, including his involvement in the accidental shooting death of a six-year-old boy in Marin City in 1992 and the sexual assault charges he faced in 1995. Both earn brief mentions in the text, but Van Nguyen fails to elucidate on whether either incident made a lasting impact on Shakur or his music. Following his Bay Area years, he ultimately anchored in Los Angeles and launched his career as a dual-threat rapper and actor. The fiery notions contained in his verses — in which Shakur forcefully argued against capitalism, police brutality and imperialism — first took flame in the form of real-life events. At one point, Van Nguyen recalls how the rapper abruptly left the set of John Singleton's film 'Poetic Justice' in 1992 following the announcement of a 'not guilty' verdict in the trial of the LAPD officers who beat Rodney King. 'Singleton later heard stories of Tupac driving down Wilshire Boulevard shooting out windows,' Van Nguyen writes. Shakur also saw firsthand the ravages inflicted by crack cocaine when his mother temporarily succumbed to the drug, forcing the 19-year-old to fully take control of his own life. Ultimately, Afeni would reconnect with her Black Panther family in New York and overcome her addiction, once again proving her uncanny capacity for resilience, but the chapter left lasting scars on the younger Shakur. It was all these elements — including extreme poverty — coupled with an inextinguishable pride that led her son to become a deity in the world of rap as well as a lasting symbol of resistance. From referencing Malcolm X's 'The Ballot or the Bullet' speech in his 1993 song 'Holla If Ya Hear Me' to the roles Tupac's music has continued to play in modern protests, like those waged in honor of George Floyd in 2020, it's obvious categorizing his contributions solely under the guise of music is, to Van Nguyen, a failure to recognize all that the late rapper gave and continues to give us. Once again, it all begins with the rapper's birth, when he was temporarily named Lesane Parish Crooks as a means of avoiding detection from government agencies eager to track the offspring of a high-ranking Black Panther member. By his first birthday, his title had been rightfully restored, with Afeni naming her son in honor of Tupac Amaru II, an Andean rebel who died fighting against Spanish colonial rule. 'The name proved to be a chilling prophecy that came to be,' Van Nguyen writes, 'but as Afeni explained, 'I wanted him to have the name of revolutionary, Indigenous people in the world. I wanted him to know he was part of a world culture and not just from a neighborhood.''
Yahoo
07-03-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
Man Accused of Tupac's Murder Speaks Out for the First Time Since Being Charged
Nearly two years after Duane 'Keefe D' Davis was arrested after being indicted for the September 1996 murder of Tupac Shakur, the 61-year-old is finally speaking out. Although he's being charged for the murder of the hip-hop legend, he says that he played no part in his fatal shooting. In a jailhouse interview with ABC News, Keefe D was finally able to defend himself and denies any involvement in the drive-by shooting of Shakur nearly 30 years ago. 'I'm innocent,' said Davis. 'I ain't kill nobody. Never killed nobody. They don't have no evidence against me. Prove that I orchestrated this. You're key witness orchestrated this. Their top witness is the lead suspect.' Davis refers to Reggie Wright Jr., a former Los Angeles police officer who worked as a security guard for Suge Knight and other members of Death Row Records in the mid-1990s. Wright's original testimony in court led to Davis' indictment. Davis later adds that he's cooperated with authorities over the years: 'I did everything they asked me to do. Get new friends. Stop selling drugs. I stopped all that. I'm supposed to be out there enjoying my twilight at one of my f***ing grandson's football games, and basketball games. Enjoying life with my kids.' One of the main things working against Davis is that he went on record in several interviews confessing to being involved in Shakur's murder. In 2008, he also allegedly confessed to the murder as a part of a 'proffer agreement,' meaning that anything he told investigators at the time could not be used against him in court, according to ABC News. Authorities referred to the 2019 book, 'Compton Street Legend,' a memoir where Davis allegedly recounts the murders of both Tupac and Notorious B.I.G. Although he's credited as a co-author, Davis said he just did it for the money. 'I've never read the book,' said Davis. 'I just gave him [Yusuf Jah] details of my life. And he went and did his little investigation and wrote the book on his own.' Although prosecutors are confident that Davis will be convicted, the man himself says he has witnesses of his own that corroborate his whereabouts the night of shooting. He allegedly has '20 or 30 people' coming to the trial to say that he was in Los Angeles, not Las Vegas, the night of the shooting. The murder trial is scheduled for February 2026. For the latest news, Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.
New York Times
06-03-2025
- Entertainment
- New York Times
Man Charged With Tupac's Murder Says His Prior Admissions Were False
Over the years, Duane Keith Davis, who goes by Keffe D, has claimed in interviews and a memoir that he was in the white Cadillac when one of the other passengers shot and killed the rapper Tupac Shakur in Las Vegas in 1996. When Mr. Davis was arrested and charged with Mr. Shakur's murder in 2023, the Las Vegas police confirmed that Mr. Davis's own words had reinvigorated their dormant investigation. But now Mr. Davis, who is awaiting trial in the case, told ABC News in an interview from jail that he was innocent of the murder, that he had not been in Las Vegas at the time of the shooting and that he had not written or even read his 2019 memoir, 'Compton Street Legend,' which described the shooting and his role in it. 'They can't even place me out here,' said Mr. Davis, who has pleaded not guilty. 'They don't have no gun, no car, no Keffe D, no nothing.' Mr. Davis was charged in September 2023 with one count of murder with the use of a deadly weapon, plus a gang enhancement. Before his arrest, Mr. Davis gave numerous recorded interviews about the shooting. He repeatedly said that he was in the front passenger seat of the white Cadillac that pulled up near the vehicle holding Mr. Shakur after a boxing match between Mike Tyson and Bruce Seldon. Mr. Shakur, one of the most prominent artists of the 1990s, was shot four times and died in a hospital days later. The three other people that prosecutors say were in the white Cadillac are now dead. Despite previously placing himself at the scene of the crime, Mr. Davis now says he was not in Las Vegas at all but at home in Los Angeles. He said that upward of 30 people will attend his trial — which was recently delayed until February 2026 — to corroborate his alibi. Mr. Davis also said that his admissions of responsibility in his 2019 memoir were bogus. 'I've never read the book,' Mr. Davis told ABC, adding that his co-author took liberties. (The co-author could not be immediately reached for comment.) 'I just gave him details of my life,' he said. 'And he went and did his little investigation and wrote the book on his own.' Mr. Davis's lawyer and the Clark County District Attorney's Office did not immediately respond to requests for comment on Thursday. His lawyer has previously said that the stories Mr. Davis told in the book and in interviews were 'for entertainment purposes.' In the ABC interview, Mr. Davis blamed the killing on a former police officer who was working security for Death Row Records the night of the shooting. He did not provide evidence for that claim. The indictment against Mr. Davis was a stunning turn in the nearly 30-year-old cold case in which no one had ever been charged despite an abundance of speculation. Prosecutors say Mr. Davis 'ordered the death' of Mr. Shakur after a gang dispute involving his nephew, the rapper and his associates had escalated. Officials said in court papers that Mr. Davis had acquired a gun 'for the purpose of hunting down' the rapper and the leader of Mr. Shakur's record label, Suge Knight. Mr. Davis's trial was originally scheduled to begin this month, but a judge granted his lawyer's request for additional time to prepare. The verdict will most likely come down to whether jurors consider Mr. Davis's memoir and numerous videotaped interviews as legitimate admissions of guilt. In court documents, his lawyer has asserted that they are not, saying that parts of the memoir are fiction to make it more marketable.
Yahoo
06-03-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
Tupac Murder Suspect Gives First Interview Since 2023 Arrest: ‘I'm Innocent'
Nearly two years after he was arrested in Las Vegas on suspicion of ordering the 1996 drive-by shooting of rapper Tupac Shakur, Duane 'Keffe D' Davis has given his side of the story. In a jailhouse interview conducted by ABC News out Thursday, Davis insisted that he is innocent of any wrongdoing involved in Shakur's long-unsolved death. 'I'm innocent,' he plainly told the outlet. 'I did not do it.' Shakur, an acclaimed rapper, activist, poet and actor (his film credits include roles in John Singleton's 'Poetic Justice' and Ernest Dickerson's 'Juice'), was sitting in a car driven by Death Row Records founder Suge Knight on the Las Vegas Strip on Sept. 7, 1996, when a white Cadillac pulled up alongside them. A shooter in the Cadillac's backseat opened fire, spraying the other car with bullets. Shakur was hit four times and died six days later from his gunshot wounds. He was only 25. The crime, which shook the hip-hop world, went unsolved until Las Vegas police arrested Davis in Sept. 2023 and a Nevada grand jury indicted him on one count of murder with a deadly weapon. At the time, Clark County Chief Deputy District Attorney Marc DiGiacomo said that authorities believed Davis is the man who 'ordered the death' of Shakur. Davis, who has pleaded not guilty to the murder charge against him, told ABC News he is a 'good man' who has moved on from his days as a gangster in Compton, California. 'I did everything they asked me to do. Get new friends. Stop selling drugs. I stopped all that,' he said. 'I'm supposed to be out there enjoying my twilight at one of my f—king grandson's football games and basketball games; enjoying life with my kids.' Vegas authorities' case against Davis is largely built on his own comments about Shakur's killing, compiled from multiple interviews he gave over the years, as well as remarks made in his 2019 memoir titled 'Compton Street Legend,' which Davis is credited as a co-author of alongside Yusuf Jah. Davis now not only claims that he did not co-write the book, but that he hasn't even read it. 'I just gave him details of my life,' Davis said of Jah. 'And he went and did his little investigation and wrote the book on his own.' He has walked back some of his past claims, including that he was sitting in the Cadillac that pulled up alongside Shakur and Knight's car. Davis now says that he was 'in Los Angeles' the night of the drive-by shooting and that he has 'about 20 or 30 people going to come' to his trial to corroborate his whereabouts. 'They don't have nothing. And they know they don't have nothing,' Davis said of those prosecuting him. 'They can't even place me out here. They don't have no gun, no car, no Keffe D, no nothing.' He further alleged that he was 'paid' to play up his involvement in Shakur's murder in his past media appearances and memoir and argues that any confessions he gave to the police are connected to a 'proffer agreement' he made with a Los Angeles task force in 2008 that granted him immunity in return for information. Claiming that he only told the police what they wanted to hear so they would 'let me go,' Davis added, 'I'm not even supposed to be in jail. A deal is a deal.' In his interview with ABC News, the he additionally accused Reggie Wright Jr., a former cop responsible for partly running Knight and Shakur's security operations the night of the shooting, of being the actual 'lead suspect' in the murder. Wright Jr. testified before the grand jury that indicted Davis and has said that he spent a large part of that infamous 1996 night in a club that Knight and Shakur were planning on visiting before the shooting. Wright has denied any involvement in the shooting that killed Shakur. Davis, for his part, insists that he will survive and come out the other side of his trial a free man. 'God got my back, and God will see me through this,' he told ABC News. 'He had my back with cancer, I survived the streets and the FBI. That's a big accomplishment for a man from Compton.' His trial is currently set for Feb. 9, 2026. Davis' comments come just a week after a male escort filed a lawsuit against disgraced music mogul Sean 'Diddy' Combs accusing him of sexual assault in 2012. The escort claims in his suit that Diddy subsequently threatened to have him killed the same way he managed to 'get Pac hit.' The post Tupac Murder Suspect Gives First Interview Since 2023 Arrest: 'I'm Innocent' | Video appeared first on TheWrap.
Yahoo
06-03-2025
- Yahoo
Tupac Shakur Murder Suspect Speaks for First Time Since Arrest: ‘I'm Innocent'
The man charged in the 1996 shooting death of Tupac Shakur has broken his silence for the first time since his arrest two years ago. In a jailhouse interview with ABC News, defendant Duane 'Keffe D' Davis continued to claim his innocence. Davis is charged with first-degree murder for his alleged role in Shakur's shooting death. He's pleaded not guilty and has been held without bail since his arrest in September 2023. More from Rolling Stone Andrew Tate and Brother Tristan Are Under Criminal Investigation in Florida: Attorney General Daniel Seavey Breaks Silence on Why Don't We Verdict: 'By No Means a Win' Why Don't We Members Can't Use Band's Name After 'Nightmare' Legal Battle 'I'm innocent. I ain't killed nobody, never did ever kill nobody,' Davis said in the hour-long meeting at the Clark County Detention Center. According to ABC, the defendant painted a soft image of himself, saying he should be at home, tending to his garden and taking care of his grandchildren. 'I'm supposed to be out there enjoying my twilight at one of my fucking grandson's football games, and basketball games. Enjoying life with my kids,' he said. Davis called himself a 'good man' and claimed he had left the drug dealing game he was once involved in. Prosecutors have argued that Davis was a longtime member and leader of group within the Compton, California Crips street gang. According to his indictment, prosecutors argued that Davis orchestrated Shakur's murder and provided the .40-caliber Glock. Authorities claim the murder was retaliation after Shakur got into a physical altercation with Crip gang member Orlando Anderson inside a casino after a Mike Tyson fight on Sept. 6, 1996, hours before the deadly shooting. In the jailhouse interview, Davis addressed his past incriminating statements, interviews, and memoir which helped the prosecution bring the first-degree murder charges against him. 'I've never read the book,' the defendant said, referring to his 2019 memoir, Compton Street Legend, which detailed the Crips member's alleged involvement in Shakur's murder. Davis claims the co-author took artistic liberties with his life story. 'I just gave him details of my life. And he went and did his little investigation and wrote the book on his own.' In addition to the memoir, Davis also spoke to the media in past interviews and would often refer to unique knowledge about Shakur's murder. 'I shouldn't have said nothing. I'm innocent, man,' Davis told ABC. Additionally, he addressed his recently revealed alibi. 'They don't have no evidence against me. They can't even put me in Las Vegas,' Davis said, claiming he couldn't have committed Shakur's murder on the Vegas Strip because he was not in Nevada at the time of the shooting in September 1996, and instead, was 300 miles away in Los Angeles, which is more than a four-hour car ride. Davis' claims reiterate arguments from the motion his defense filed in February to postpone the trial, citing new witness testimony from a private investigator could provide an alibi for the defendant, proving he was in L.A. and not Las Vegas at the time. In February, the trial was pushed to 2026 following the emergence of new evidence. Davis' trial was originally set for this month. The motion also claimed that new evidence had come out that could prove someone else orchestrated Shakur's killing. Davis also referred to this in his ABC interview. 'Prove that I orchestrated this. Your key witness orchestrated this. The top witness is the lead suspect,' he said, referring to Reggie White Jr. who was a security guard for Shakur's infamous record producer Suge Knight. On the night of Shakur's murder, White was driving the car in which Shakur was shot. White has denied any involvement in the murder. Now, with the new trial date set and more time to review the new evidence, Davis is looking forward to proving his innocence and getting out of jail. 'God got my back, and God will see me through this,' Davis said. 'He had my back with cancer, I survived the streets, and the FBI. That's a big accomplishment for a man from Compton.' Best of Rolling Stone The 50 Greatest Eminem Songs All 274 of Taylor Swift's Songs, Ranked The 500 Greatest Albums of All Time
