There's no doubt that Tupac Shakur is still one of the biggest names in rap. His music exposed the racial and social inequality in modern society, and the horror of life and death in the ghetto.

Despite these introspective and political themes, Tupac still managed to attain an incredible amount of commercial success and sold approximately 75 million albums worldwide, and proved hugely influential to a generation of other rappers in the 90s.

But then, tragedy struck. On the night of September 7, 1996, Shakur was shot four times in a drive-by shooting in Las Vegas. The rapped died six days later of respiratory failure and cardiac arrest at the University Medical Centre.

Since then many fans of his advanced numerous conspiracy theories, claiming that Tupac actually faked his own death and is still alive and living in hiding secretly.

The video in question shows the cameraman hiding behind a bush while filming the Tupac doppelganger, who is smoking a cigarette and speaking on the phone. The footage was later uploaded with the title: 'Finally A Footage of Tupac alive in 2020. Age 48'.

Have a look at the footage of the so-called sighting: 

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Back in 2018, a man named Michael Nice who claimed to be a former bodyguard of Shakur, claimed he'd actually helped Tupac fake his death and escape to Cuba.

Nice told TMZ: "Why you think nobody been arrested if they said they the one that killed Tupac? Because Tupac is not dead. If he was dead, they’d be arresting those dudes for murder. You know he’s somewhere smoking a Cuban cigar on an island. It was me, my brother, the pilot, Tupac as the co-pilot and two Panther guys on the jet."

Lil Pump recently provoked controversy when he claimed that xxxtentacion was the 'Tupac of our generation':

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He added: "We took off and immediately knew we were safe, we felt good and it was like escaping from prison. There were hugs and handshakes when we finally managed to get him to Barbados. Then my brother helped him get to Cuba from there. Kadafi was doing some kind of hand signals - he looked kind of funky. I saw them alive way after their said deaths."

One of the first responders at the scene of Tupac Shakur’s fatal shooting in 1996 has finally revealed the rapper’s last words, but sadly, they're not exactly inspirational.

Chris Carroll, a retired Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department sergeant, recounted the hip hop legend’s final moments to Vegas Seven.

Shakur, 25, was shot multiple times in a drive-by attack on September 7, 1996, after leaving a boxing match with former Death Row Records CEO Suge Knight.

The rapper and his bodyguards got into a scrap with Crips gang member Orlando Anderson, then 21, in the lobby of the MGM Grand casino.

Not long after the brawl, a white Cadillac pulled up at traffic lights beside Knight and Shakur, and a man began shooting at the pair from the back window.

Rapper Tupac Shakur and Death Row Records CEO Surge Knight were shot at from a Cadillac in 1996. Credit: Jeff Kravitz / FilmMagic / Getty Images

How was the rapper found?

Carroll, who had also attended the Mike Tyson fight, was the first officer to respond to the bloody scene and attend to the seriously wounded Shakur.

Recounting finding the injured pair, Carroll said: “I grab the car door, and I’m trying to open it, but I can’t get it open…[Knight] keeps coming up on my back, so I’m pointing my gun at him.

When he was finally able to open the car door to get to the wounded rapper, Shakur’s limp, bloody body fell out of the vehicle, “like he was leaning against the door.”

The retired cop explained: “ I grabbed him with my left arm, and he falls into me, and I’ve still got my gun in the other hand.

“He’s covered with blood, and I immediately notice that the guy’s got a ton of gold on – a necklace and other jewelry – and all of the gold is covered in blood.

“As Suge is yelling ‘Pac!,’ I look down and I realize that this is Tupac Shakur.”

In his final moments, Carroll tried desperately to get a “dying declaration” or description of the suspect who shot him, but the rapper ignored his pleas at first.

Shakur died in hospital six days after the shooting. Credit: Al Pereira/Michael Ochs Archives/Getty Images

Moments before his final words, Carroll reports: “he went from struggling to speak, being noncooperative, to an ‘I’m at peace’ type of thing. Just like that… He went from fighting to ‘I can’t do it.’”

Why did the cop not reveal Tupac's final words at the time?

Per CNN, after asking numerous times, “Who shot you?” Carroll thought he was about to get a response when Shakur looked him in the eyes and muttered: “f*** you.”

Shakur never spoke again after letting out his final curse word to Carroll and died in hospital six days later.

The former Las Vegas cop only revealed this information in 2014, almost two decades after the rapper’s murder, because retiring gave him the freedom to speak about the homicide case without being reprimanded.

Also, he claims he kept the information to himself for so long because he didn’t want “Tupac to be a martyr or a hero because he told the cops ‘f**k you.’”

Featured image credit: Bob Berg / Getty Images

Twenty-seven years after Tupac Shakur was fatally shot, police have issued a search warrant in connection with the rapper's unsolved murder.

One of the most prolific figures in hip-hop was shot on the night of September 7, 1996, in a drive-by shooting in Las Vegas. He was only 25.

The 'Hit Em Up' rapper had attended a boxing match with Marion 'Suge' Knight - the now-incarcerated head of Death Row Records - and was sitting in the passenger side of his car when an unknown shooter rapidly fired shots at him, which hit his arm, thigh, right lung, and chest.

He was then rushed to the intensive care at the University Medical Center of Southern Nevada where he was heavily sedated and put on life support. Sadly, he passed away six days later, on September 13, after suffering from respiratory failure and cardiopulmonary arrest.

No arrests have ever been made in one of the more notorious cases in US history. Las Vegas police have said in the past that the investigation was hindered in part because witnesses refused to cooperate, according to The Guardian.

In addition to this, a 2002 investigation by Los Angeles Times journalist Chuck Philips implicated multiple people in the murder, including Tupac's hip-hop rival Notorious BIG, who strongly denied any involvement and was actually killed in a drive-by shooting six months later.

Now, almost three decades later, the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department revealed that they raided a property in Henderson - a city 15 miles southeast of the gambling mecca - on Monday (July 17) as part of an ongoing investigation into the 'All Eyez On Me' rapper's murder.

Law enforcement shared a statement with Metro confirming the raid, stating: "LVMPD can confirm a search warrant was served in Henderson, Nevada on July 17, 2023, as part of the ongoing Tupac Shakur homicide investigation."

The department spokesperson Aden Ocampo Gomez also told The Guardian in a brief phone call that he couldn't provide further details on the latest development in the case, citing the open investigation.

Lesane Parish Crooks was born in East Harlem, New York, in 1971, and was the son of active members of the Black Panthers. He was renamed Tupac Amaru Shakur - his mother’s maiden name - at the age of one.

The late rapper was largely considered one of the most influential and versatile rappers of all time. Despite his professional music career only lasting five years, he had five number-one albums including 1995’s Me Against The World, 1996’s All Eyez On Me, and three posthumous releases.

Tupac also earned 21 Billboard Hot 100s, including top 10 hits 'Dear Mama' and 'Old School' in 1995, and his best-known track, 1996’s 'How Do U Want It/California Love' featuring K-Ci and JoJo - which spent two weeks at number one.

After his shocking death, the Grammy-winning star was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame by Snoop Dogg in 2017 and in June of this year, he received a posthumous star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.

The 'Changes' musician has also been granted tributes in California - where he grew up despite being born in East Harlem - and had a street named 'Tupac Shakur Way' near Lake Merritt.

Featured image credit: Ron Galella / Getty

Hip-hop legend Tupac Shakur is one of the most mourned artists ever; someone whose loss affected millions of his fans. The rapper was a visionary, and to this day is considered to be more of the most influential R&B musicians ever. A real-life renaissance man, Tupac's work sought to expose social and racial inequality in society, and his music explored dark themes and uncomfortable subjects. Despite these introspective topics, however, he still managed to attain amazing commercial and critical success, selling around 75 million albums worldwide.

But despite this, Tupak's life was also a violent and controversial one; which culminated in his eventual murder. His often-confrontational attitude made him many enemies, exacerbated the famous East/West Coast rap rivalry, and prior to his murder he had already cheated death after being robbed and shot five times in the lobby of a recording studio in New York City. Tupac also severed time in prison on rape charges (which he vigorously denied).

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On September 7, 1996, Shakur was shot four times in a drive-by shooting in Las Vegas, and died six days later of respiratory failure and cardiac arrest at the University Medical Centre. However, even days after his death was announced, many fans began disseminating conspiracy theories among themselves claiming that Tupac actually faked his own death, and is still alive and well and living in hiding somewhere secret.

However, now a popular YouTube channel,  CharlieBoyTV, (which describes itself as "the home to all entertainment, hip-hop and reality TV") claims that Tupac really is still alive and is currently living in Cuba. What's more, the camera crew visited Havana, and talked to a number of Cubans who claimed to have seen the supposedly-dead rapper on numerous occasions. Is this a hoax, a case of mistaken identity, or is Tupac really still among us?

This video comes not long after Michael Nice made the audacious claim that he'd helped smuggle the star into Cuba, telling TMZ: "Why you think nobody been arrested if they said they the one that killed Tupac? Because Tupac is not dead. If he was dead, they’d be arresting those dudes for murder. You know he’s somewhere smoking a Cuban cigar on an island." It's interesting that Nice mentions Cuba here, as it seems to corroborate the other stories circulating.

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Nice added: "It was me, my brother, the pilot, Tupac as the co-pilot and two Panther guys on the jet. We took off and immediately knew we were safe, we felt good and it was like escaping from prison. There were hugs and handshakes when we finally managed to get him to Barbados. Then my brother helped him get to Cuba from there. Kadafi was doing some kind of hand signals – he looked kind of funky. I saw them alive way after their said deaths."

So if Tupac alive? We may never know for sure, but hey: we can still hope, can't we?

For years, conspiracy theories have swirled around the tragic death of hip-hop legend Tupac Shakur. Now, fresh revelations from a courtroom trial are shedding light on the rapper's last moments and the shocking events that took place in Las Vegas on September 7, 1996.

In recent developments, Duane 'Keefe D' Davis, associated with The South Side Compton Crips, has been arrested and charged with the murder of Tupac.

The decision to charge Davis came after a grand jury session held in September found sufficient substantial evidence. While Davis's attorney has declared his intent to plead not guilty, gripping details from that fateful night are now coming to the fore.

During the trial, a significant testimony came from E.D.I Mean, whose real name is Malcolm Greenidge. As a member of the rap group Outlawz, Greenidge was alongside Tupac during his final days.

Recounting the harrowing night of the shooting, Greenidge vividly described the moments when Tupac, after being shot while with Suge Knight, instructed him to "get down," fearing Greenidge might be shot by the police.

In Greenidge's words, after witnessing the shooting from the car behind Tupac and Knight, he raced to Tupac's side. Upon inquiring about Tupac's condition, the iconic rapper replied, "Get on the ground, they’re going to shoot you," per 8NewsNow.

Turning around, Greenidge was met with the sight of a police officer aiming a gun at him and instructing him to get down. Fearing for his life, Greenidge complied, and along with fellow members from Outlawz and a security guard named Frank, they were detained.

Revisiting the sequence of events leading up to the ambush, Greenidge told the jurors: "We were on our way to Club 662. Mr. Shakur and Knight were in the car in front of us. We approached the light, and some women pulled up next to them. Although we couldn’t discern their conversation, we assumed Mr. Shakur was inviting them to the club. Moments after they left, another car sidled up, and an arm reached out, spraying bullets."

Unfortunately, a few days after this incident, the world lost one of its most influential rappers, Tupac.

While conspiracy theories have filled the void left by the lack of concrete information over the years, this trial might finally offer closure to many fans globally. As the hip-hop community awaits justice, these testimonies bring to light the harrowing reality of that tragic night in Las Vegas and the void left behind by the legendary Tupac Shakur.

Featured image credit: Ron Galella / Getty