Three decades after the killing of Tupac Shakur shocked the music world, a man in his 60s is finally going on trial for allegedly orchestrating the shooting. The mystery of who killed the rapper has intrigued fans and conspiracy theorists alike since 1996. The trial of 63-year-old Duane ‘Keffe D’ Davis could soon put the question to rest.
Davis’s trial is set to begin on Monday in Las Vegas. He is charged with one count of murder with a deadly weapon with the intent to promote, further or assist a criminal gang. United States prosecutors aim to prove it was Davis who orchestrated Tupac’s killing by supplying the gun – but they are not claiming he pulled the trigger.
Tupac Amaru Shakur, known popularly as Tupac or 2Pac, was a California-based rapper who became an icon of the genre during a short but glittering career in the 1990s. He released several Billboard-topping albums throughout his career, and more posthumously. The rapper’s music drew heavily on his experiences of violence on the streets of California, as well as themes of gang life, single motherhood, love and romance, civil rights, and racism and police violence in America.
Tupac was signed to Death Row Records later in his career, and the affiliation played an influential role in his music. A defining theme of his career was a rivalry with East Coast rapper The Notorious B.I.G., a beef that led to the release of some of the two rappers’ most popular songs. Tupac was involved in gang violence.
He had previously survived another shooting before being fatally wounded in a drive-by attack in Nevada on September 7, 1996. Hours before his shooting, Tupac – alongside Death Row Records founder Marion ‘Suge’ Knight – got into a fight at the MGM Grand after a Mike Tyson boxing match. The group they fought with included Davis’s nephew, Orlando ‘Baby Lane’ Anderson.
Hours later, Tupac was shot six times from a white Cadillac while in a car on his way to a club he was set to perform at in Las Vegas. Defendant Davis was one of four men in the Cadillac, authorities said. The other three, including Davis’s nephew Anderson, have all died in the years since.
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