The Ties That Bind Blood Medallions: Tupac Amaru Shakur an Historical Perspective.
The genre of Hip-Hop music called Gangster Rap was best expressed in the person of, Tupac Amaru Shakur. Bearing the name of an Incan mythological chief (Shining Serpent) Shakur from an early age felt that he was destined for greatness. Afeni Shakur was very active in the black liberation movement at the time. Her activities within the Black Panther Party would catapult her and her compatriots to worldwide fame. Afeni’s seminal role and work in the Panther 21 trial would establish her as a key, leader and thinker in the BPP and would seal her and her offsprings’ fates as perpetual enemies of the US state apparatus and its various intelligence agencies.
Afeni Shakur: speaking at a Black Panther Party rally in the 1970’s. Afeni was jailed as part of the “Panther 21”, trial when they were accused of the ridiculous false charge of plotting to blow up, the New York City botanical gardens. Both Afeni and Assata were imprisoned at the same time, though on different charges. Afeni conducted a by all accounts brilliant defense on her own behalf and was later acquitted of all charges. According to Assata Shakur and others, the Panther 21 were among some of the more intellectually inclined Black Panthers and were leaders and teachers within the Panthers. The incarceration of the Panther 21, as per their explanation was an orchestrated attempt by US intelligence to “cripple” the Black Panther’s. Many of the BPP’s alumni including Angela Davis and Stokely Carmichael were initially active in the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC). SNCC was an organization active with and allied to Dr Martin Luther King JR. It will be instructive and crucial for purposes of historical context to include herein a highly explosive account of the COINTELPRO activity within the African American community at the time, which set the stage for some of the explosive events that shaped the lives of all of the principals in this narration. Tony Brown in his seminal work, Black Lies White Lies, he exposed the NAACP, which had already been outed by Malcolm X publicly decades earlier. In his chapter “Conspiracies and Black America”, he gave evidence detailing a spy network, in the NAACP, operative throughout the African American community from as early as 1914. He cited an article in the Memphis Commercial Appeal newspaper from 1993, from a series of stories by reporter Stephen G.Thompkin, that made public the fact that Joel Spingarn, the white board chairman of the NAACP from 1914-1919 and its president in 1930, operated a spy network within the African American community under the direction of the U.S. Army. Thompkin spent sixteen months of research on the “largest domestic spy network ever assembled in a free country”.
Spingarn had taken a leave of absence from the NAACP, to serve as a major in the Military Intelligence Division (MID). Along with black agent T. Montgomery Gregory, Major Spingarn took on the secret assignment of infiltrating and recruiting Americas’ “Talented Tenth”. W.E.B. Du Bois actively sought admission to the government’s intelligence division in 1918. Thompkin uncovered a confidential memo dated June 10, 1918, from Spingarn to Colonel Churchill of the MID. In it, Spingarn wrote that Du Bois agreed to let the NAACP’s The Crisis become the propaganda tool of a special MI-4 (counterespionage) intelligence unit on “Negro subversion”.
The Civil Rights era of the 60’s and 70’s the protesters organized “sit ins “ and marches, these forms of social protest were “nonviolent”, from the protesters themselves, however the American police perpetrated horrendous acts of violence on the civilians who were engaged in civil rights protest, many people were killed during the protests, even children were murdered by police.
One man emerged from the ranks of the civil rights leadership at that time to become a universal symbol for “human rights”. Martin Luther King J.R. (Atlanta, Georgia, 15 January. 1929 – Memphis, Tenn., 4 April 1968), in 1954 he was ordained as a minister in the Baptist Church in Montgomery Alabama.
When he began to organize social protest in the South, he and some other men formed the Southern Christian Leadership Conference. In October 1967, the FBI started a massive Ghetto Information Program. In David Garrow’s Bearing the Cross, he wrote how black columnist Carl Rowan accused King of being consumed with self-importance. He implied that King was under Communist influence. Earlier, in 1964 FBI Director J. Edgar Hoover had circulated a highly explosive document called “Communism and the Negro Movement”. The top-secret report soon made its way to the US Army, home of the military intelligence operations that formally organized spying on Black America in 1917-1918. Rowan reiterated his remarks on the King communist link in the September 1967 Readers Digest, one of the largest circulated journals in the world. He subtitled his article “Sinister Murmurings”. In the article he intimated that King was linked with enemies of the United States. In an ominous passage in the Digest article, Rowan claimed that King “has become persona non grata to Lyndon Johnson”. Rowan warned in the article that: “the murmurings are likely to produce powerfully hostile reactions”. Rowan’s writings were the early warning signals that the Washington insiders had already sanctioned King’s murder.
Above an interesting poster from the period in question depicting an African American beaten and wrapped in barbed wire, complete with the ‘statue of Liberty “mockingly, juxtaposed by the scene at right of Soviet citizen’s walking, tall, proud and ‘free”. The propaganda of the machines of the USSR and the US have been waging their wars for a long time, as is the case today.
King also began to speak out against the war in Vietnam. On April 4th, King spoke from the balcony of a motel in Memphis Tennessee.
Minutes later, he was shot purportedly by a lone gunman. James Earl Ray confessed to the murder.
The death of King remains shrouded in mystery, there is evidence to suggest that Kings death was orchestrated and coordinated by American intelligence, with presidential knowledge if not approval. I will introduce some pertinent facts in the following that will shed light on my statements. Tony Brown a highly intelligent African American who was once a front runner Republican exploratory nominee for President of the United States of America wrote a book entitled Black Lies White Lies: it was published in 1995. A cross section of American personalities and Media houses praised his book, people and entities such as Newt Gingrich, George Fraser, Joel Kotkin, Newsweek and a host of others. In the book he wrote that the Memphis Commercial Appeal newspaper published a series of stories by reporter Stephen G. Thompkins that made public for the first time, damning evidence that included facts on the assassination of Dr King.
The following is a direct quote from Thompkins: “On the day King was assassinated Eight Green Beret soldiers from an Operation Detachment Alpha Team, were in Memphis carrying out an unknown mission”. Thompkins noted that there was also a group of Green Berets from the 20th Special Forces Group in town. He reported that the 20th was notorious for being the dumping ground for “crazy guys” from Vietnam Special Forces , “who had worked in clandestine operations with the CIA , the Special Operations Group (SOG) or the top secret Detachment B-57,”. The bullet that killed King was delivered by a marksman, an expert who knew how to mangle his victims brains from a distance. Brown detailed that the weapon used to kill King was a .30-06 rifle, the type the army had supplied to local police officers, including the Memphis police department. The rifle that was allegedly the murder weapon was found neatly packaged in a box in a doorway near the apartment of James earl Ray. The FBI never conducted ballistics tests on the bullet that allegedly killed King. No specific rifle was ever identified as the murder weapon by the FBI or the House select committee, according to the Commercial Appeal.
King’s assassination from the evidence points to a deeply laid plot at the highest levels of the American Intelligence community and the government. In 1963 John F Kennedy felt that Kings anti-Vietnam posture and his civil rights marches alienated whites and adversely affected Kennedy’s reelection chances. The FBI was spying on all Civil rights leaders including Martin Luther King with the tacit approval and knowledge of the then president. Another cause for grave concern for the US President and his cabinet was the fact that King was closely associating with Black Panther Party firebrand and radical Marxist Stokely Carmichael. Kennedy’s successor Lyndon B. Johnson hated King for his suspected Communist ties and opposition to the Vietnam War. Malcolm X an ardent critic of King began to soften his stance towards King, and King’s own increasingly anti-war and seemingly “socialist and communist” ties, were in the American Intelligence community, telltale signals that assuredly marked him for death.
The assassination of King led to a turning point in the radical movements throughout the US and specifically the African American “liberation” and Black Nationalist movements of the time. Tony Brown wrote in his “Black Lies, White Lies”, that “Stokely Carmichael, the flamboyant Black radical Marxist, and his inflammatory and taunting behavior may have pushed military intelligence analysts to conclude that King was ready to light a match to every city in America”. It is a well-documented fact that Martin Luther King JR was totally committed to the tactic of non-violence within social protest. His increasing willingness to engage with Marxist’s, Communist’s and Black Nationalist’s leading up to the last days before he was shot, was an indication of the internal pressure he was under within his own circles to engage and build bridges with these groups, in an attempt to heal and unify a badly fractured African American community at the time. Carmichael’s bombastic, incendiary rhetoric was mainly an attention grabbing tactic, since he was well aware of the impossibility of the BPP and other “revolutionary” elements, successfully overthrowing the US government. What Carmichael was, was an intellectual well suited to position himself in attaining a leadership position of mass proportions that transcended the narrow prism of American society. Carmichael more than any other of the BPP’s leadership, managed to insinuate himself into the broader revolutionary struggles of the time, going on to cement his legacy as a lightning rod of dynamic black nationalist rhetoric. To this day Carmichael’s legacy endures and will be constantly burnished by African people’s, particularly African American and Caribbean intellectuals.
The flag of Black Nationalism.
The sight of armed black men in the 1960’s and 70’s in America produced shock and fear in many Caucasian American’s, and had the opposite effect on most African American’s engendering in many young African American’s a sense of awe and respect for the Panther’s. The only black men known for gun play at the time were criminal’s, the BPP carried arm’s openly in accordance with the laws of the US governing such. While the
mainstream media’s attempt to portray the BPP as a terrorist organization comparable to KKK is pure idiocy; the eventual degeneration of the BPP was largely self-inflicted. The claim that the BPP exclusively targeted white police officer’s is an outright lie. The reality of racism as an institution as was personified in America and South Africa is modern society’s greatest example of racism. The claim of whites today of some sort of reverse racism is hilarious at best and dangerous at its worst, since (racism) as an institution for the oppression of one racial group over another means the monopolization of power i.e. economically, politically, educationally, militarily et.al as a mean’s of dictating all aspects of the subdued racial group’s existence to their detriment while, the system guarantee’s by the aforementioned instrument’s the continued dominance and perpetuation of the dominant culture and their offspring. Both the American system of racial oppression and segregation and the South African apartheid system are no more, yet the social dynamic’s that both created have a long lasting legacy that have yet to be totally destroyed.
America is once again polarized over something as trivial as a pop-star (Beyoncé) performing in Black Pantheresque costumes complete with beret’s, the buffoon Rudy Giuliani went as far to say that Beyoncé, attacked the police by her performance. Giuliani and many like him want to link the BPP to “violence against the police”.
Unfortunately for buffoon’s of that ilk, hundreds of thousands of people if not millions of people around the world are aware of the abysmal record of policing in America, that record is so sullied that the UN is conducting extensive investigation’s into police misconduct and brutality in America . With its state sponsorship of terrorism, massive police brutality, police murders of civilians and police corruption the statistic’s prove that America is a fractured and racially divisive system, tainted by the rot of hundreds of years of institutional racism and genocide such a nation is hardly in a position, to bring about meaningful interaction between the disparate racial groups in its midst. The prognosis for the future not only in the US but throughout the western hemisphere is one of ever widening gaps between racial groups in the west.
The recent movie on the BPP. To some they were terrorist’s, to other’s they are hero’s.
Davis’ well-known autobiography and a Life cover of Davis. Davis is well-known and well-read internationally, even in the Caribbean she is still revered, by Black Nationalist’s, Socialist’s and some Rastafari.
Angela Davis and Erich Honecker in the German Democratic Republic 1972 (in East Germany which was Communist). At right Davis at the: “World Festival of Youth and Students”. Davis is best known for her 1960’s radical politics and Black Panther Party association. Davis was a Communist who was affiliated with the BPP, as a leader of the Communist Party USA, Davis rose quickly to national and international prominence when, she was charged with , aggravated kidnapping and first degree murder in the death of Judge Harold Haley. Davis shown above was on the FBI’s most wanted list and went into hiding “underground”, becoming a “wanted fugitive”.
I will attempt to re-construct as accurately as possible the events leading to her fugitive status here. On the 7th of August 17 year old Jonathan Jackson, the brother of one of the “Soledad Brothers”, George Jackson, the heavily armed Jonathan entered the Marin County courtroom in California. Davis described the events leading up to her capture, in her autobiography I think those events are worth recounting here. On August 7th 1970 courtroom number one presided over by judge Alex Haley was in session. James McClain a prisoner in San Quentin was on trial, and had been acting as his own attorney, at the same time Jonathan Jackson entered the courtroom. Jackson took a seat in the spectators section, Ruchell Magee, another San Quentin prisoner and a witness for the defense, was being examined by McClain. She recounted how Jackson sat for a while, and then he stood up, a carbine in his hand, and directed everyone present to “freeze”. McClain and Ruchell immediately joined Jonathan, as did William Christmas, indicating that the men had been somehow in contact with each other, and had planned the “rescue” previously. The Judge had a shotgun taped to his neck, the district attorney prosecuting the case, and several jurors were led outside, into a parked van in the parking lot. A San Quentin guard fired on the van. Then sounds from a barrage of gun shots filled the air, as bullets pierced the van, when the smoke cleared everyone except one person, had either been wounded or were dead. Judge Haley was dead, D.A. Gary Thomas was wounded.
A female jury member was dead, McClain and Christmas were dead, Ruchell was wounded and Jackson was dead. Davis was charged as a murderer herself and co-conspirator with, Jonathan Jackson, whose elder brother George Jackson, was “romantically” involved with Davis (through letters), though he was a prisoner in Soledad maximum security prison. As a result of the criminal charges leveled against her Davis, went “underground”, moving from place to place and state to state in a nationwide manhunt that ended in her capture and imprisonment.
Davis was found not guilty on all three counts of which she was accused, those three counts were, murder, kidnapping and conspiracy. Davis was often and still is to date, called a member of the Black Panther Party for Self Defense, Davis refuted the statement, that she was a member of the BPP, in her autobiography, she categorically stated that she was an organizer, for the BPP, but was never an ‘official” member. She was at one point a member of the Student Non Violent Coordinating Committee (SNCC). Davis was an avowed Communist, who modified her views enough to, claim to be a socialist willing to use democracy in the attainment of her goals.
dead.
Four years later, she was convicted of Foerster’s murder and the assault of another officer, despite neurologists' testimony that she was shot while seated in the car with her hands in the air and rendered physically incapable of pulling a trigger.
Sentenced to life in prison, Shakur broke out of a Clinton, N.J., state prison and surfaced in Cuba in 1987. Ten years later, then New Jersey Police Superintendent Carl Williams wrote Pope John Paul II asking that he urge Cuban officials to extradite Shakur. That letter sparked events that brought Shakur back to the public’s attention, and Gov. Christine Todd Whitman has sought Shakur's return to New Jersey to stand trial. The following is excerpted from an Emerge interview with Assata Shakur.
EMERGE: In the incident on the New Jersey State Turnpike, who
shot state trooper Werner Foerster?
EMERGE: Forensic evidence indicates that your gunshot wound
incapacitated you from firing a gun. Even The New York Times
reports that the prosecution could not prove that you fired the fatal
shot. What was your conviction based on, the premise that you
shot Foerster or on the New Jersey law that states that all parties
involved with killing a police officer are equally responsible?
SHAKUR: My conviction was based on the color of my skin. I was
convicted by an all-White jury. The prosecution brought in not one
single witness. I was shot with my hands in the air. We didn't have
a name for it then. Nobody had heard of racial profiling. We didn't
even think about that just driving down the New Jersey Turnpike,
just being Black, was a dangerous thing
to do. It never occurred to me that I was
going to be shot like that.
The conviction was a forgone conclusion
given the pre-trial publicity, given
the all-White racist jury, and given the
total prejudice of the judge. They used the
so-called felony conviction law to not
only charge me with the murder of a
New Jersey state trooper,
They charged me with killing Zayd
Malik Shakur, even though the
police clearly stated that he was
shot by police.
Shakur emphatically stated that she did not break out of prison, but that she was in her words “liberated”. The organization with which Assata Shakur was as per her own explanation, involved with at the time of her arrest was the Black Liberation Army (BLA). Shakur had “quit” the BPP over ideological differences. The following is excerpted from Assata Shakur’s opening statement during her trial, her Lawyer allowed her to act as co-counsel at which time she made the following statement, in a letter written of course from her prison cell: “Judge Thompson , brother’s and sister’s ladies and gentlemen of the jury.
During the voire dire process we asked you about the word “militant”. There was a reason for that, in the late sixties and early seventies this country was in an upheaval. There was a strong people’s movement, against the war, against racism, in the colleges, on the streets and in the Black and Latino communities”. This government, local police agencies, the FBI, and the CIA launched an all-out war against people they considered militants. We are only finding out now because of investigations into, the FBI and CIA how extensive and criminal their methods were. Since you have been in this courtroom you have heard the name Black Liberation Army mentioned. Most of you have stated that you thought the BLA was a militant organization. You have stated that what you have read or heard has come from the establishment media.
The major TV and radio networks, the Times, the Post and The Daily News. One percent of the people control seventy percent of the wealth. And it is that one percent the heads of large corporations, who controls the policies of news media, and determine what you and I hear on radio, read in the newspapers, see on television. It is more important for us to consider where the news media gets its information from. From the police department, from the prosecutor. No major newspaper or television station has ever asked myself or my lawyer’s one question concerning anything. The idea of a Black Liberation Army emerged from the conditions in black communities: conditions of poverty, indecent housing, massive unemployment, poor medical care, and inferior education.
The idea came about because black people are not free or equal in this country. Because ninety percent of the men and women in this country’s prisons are black and Third World. Because ten-year-old children are shot down in our streets. Because dope has saturated our streets, preying on the disillusionment of our children. The concept of the BLA arose because of the political, social and economic oppression of black people in this country and where there is oppression there will be resistance”.
The detailed accounts Shakur gave of her treatment at the hands of the New Jersey State police were, verified by doctor’s reports, of her wounds. A detailed United Nations report, the following is not the report itself but is a footnote in Shakur’s autobiography pertinent to said report: “On December 11, 1978, attorney Lennox Hinds, on behalf of the National Conference of Black Lawyers , The National Alliance Against Racism, and the Commission for Racial Justice of the United Church of Christ, sent a petition to the United Nations Commission on Human Rights alleging a “consistent pattern of gross violations of human rights of certain classes of prisoners in the United States , because of their race, economic status, and political beliefs”.
In response to the petition seven international jurist’s visited a number of prisoners on August 3-20, 1979, and reported their findings. They listed four categories of prisoners, the first of which were political prisoners defined as “a class of victims of FBI misconduct through the COINTELPRO strategy and other forms of illegal government conduct who as political activists have been selectively targeted for provocation false arrest’s, entrapment, fabrication of evidence, and spurious criminal prosecutions. This class is exemplified by at least : the Wilmington Ten, The Charlotte Three, Assata Shakur, Sundiata Acoli, Imari Obadele and other Republic of New Africa defendants, David Rice, Ed Poindexter, Elmer “Geronimo” Pratt, Richard Marshall, Russel Means, Ted Means and other American Indian Movement defendants”.
They considered my case in the section of their report dealing with solitary confinement: “One of the worst cases is that of Assata Shakur, who spent over twenty month’s in solitary confinement in two separate men’s prisons subject to conditions totally unbefitting any prisoner. Many more months were spent in mixed or all-women’s prisons. Presently, after protracted litigation, she is confined at Clinton Correctional Facility for Women in maximum security. She has never on any occasion been punished for any infraction of prison rules which might in any way justify such cruel and unusual treatment (read torture emphasis mine).
Given the history of the Shakur’s and their experiences with US intelligence and “law enforcement”, Tupac was already pre-conditioned and predisposed to not trust the police and to view them as his potential killer’s, which given the preponderance of evidence past and present, they in all likelihood were and are still the likely killer’s (specifically white psychopath’s in police garb) of innumerable young black men globally. When Tupac Shakur hit the mainstream with in Hip-Hop, young black men in the US were being referred to as an endangered species. Bill Clinton was President and Dan Quayle declared that Tupac’s “Soldierz”, “has no place in our society”.
Being the son of Afeni Shakur, Tupac’s ideology and pro black rhetoric, was as a direct result of, being raised by a Black Panther. The “legacy” that he attained from the BPP relationship of his mother, stepfather Mutulu Shakur and his father’s sister Assatta Shakur was a certain realization in the media and within Hip-Hop circles, that he was not the average rapper, but someone who could function, as a leader with a politicized message, that would transcend Hip-Hop.
Shakur, articulate and witty raconteur that he was, did indeed in the beginning phase, of his career attempt, to fulfill the hopes and aspirations of those who held faith in his potential. Shakur’s earlier musical direction reflected a pro-black message, he was labeled a “socially conscious” rapper, later though his public image diluted his message, after the movie Juice debuted, Shakur increased his gangster posturing, to the point of no return. Shakur’s public actions, lyrics and lifestyle, all served to reveal the psyche of someone who believed he was fated to die young, his incessant flaunting in the face of death, proved to ultimately be his undoing.
After Shakur, s near fatal shooting he was contracted to Death Row records, headed by music mogul Suge Knight.
Knight was a South Central Los Angeles resident, who maintained ties to a street gang known as the Mob Piru, s.
The Pirus are a Blood gang of the infamous Los Angeles Bloods the Crips are the famous rivals of the Bloods.
Knight was one of the owners
of Death Row records at the time he owned the masters of all his artist’s and paid them sometimes by, purchasing luxury cars, and homes instead of their royalties, a Lexus is of minuscule monetary value in comparison, to the million’s that the artists generated for his record label.
In reality, that type of business arrangement is a form of indentured servitude, which is the reason there are now so many independent labels on the Rap music scene.
Tupac Shakur, upon his arrival at Death row was contracted to release, a double album, the album sold millions of copies.
Yet Tupac himself died a pauper, the house and car that were supposedly his, were leased to him, the ownership of his home, has been proven from documented evidence, to belong, to the business entity, called Death Row Records.
One thing is very clear from the way Knight did business; he made sure that the artist’s
were indebted to him that is in effect a form of indentured servitude.
The astounding proof that this photo provides of the corporate media outlets and corporations such as Time Warner, Sony and their various affiliates and subsidiaries deliberately marketing images, that promote gang culture as, “cool and vogue”, speaks
volumes. Snoop Dogg an avowed Crip gangster, in this photo is posing displaying the c for Crip; Tupac is shown displaying the w for Westside. Shakur was a Bloods gang affiliate.
Both rappers are dressed here in the very latest high fashion trends at that time.
Looking back all this was a very carefully orchestrated media campaign, to market Black Urban gang culture globally with the effects and aftershocks still felt globally.
This Ghetto Culture, though spawned in the jail cells of America, is now deregeur, in Hollywood, and as such, it is now being used, to uphold, the “Prison Industrial Complex”.
The Thug Culture is a component, of an insidious economy, that in order for it to survive poor populations, must be made into, the fodder that feeds its machinery. Snoop Dogg a real life gangsta, turned himself into police and was arraigned on first-degree murder charges for his role in a gang-style drive-by shooting of Eritrean gang member, Phillip Woldemariam, in the same week that his 1993 Death Row album, Doggy Style debuted. The fact that Dogg turned himself in the same week that his album hit store shelves was a deliberate ploy engineered by Death Row Records CEO Suge knight, as a means of boosting record sales.
Many youth today foolishly and naively revere Shakur, as infallible; claiming he staged his own death, sadly it is all an illusion.
Tupac Shakur did not die as a black Christ or as a sacrificial lamb for young black people. Machiavelli the 13th-century philosopher, who Shakur, “studied”, is often quoted by rappers and people, from every conceivable facet of society today. I will attempt a brief summation of certain books past and present that have impacted popular culture globally.
Niccolò di Bernardo dei Machiavelli (3 May 1469 – 21 June 1527) was a philosopher, humanist, and writer based in Florence Italy during the Renaissance. He is one of the main founders of modern political science. He was a diplomat, political philosopher, playwright, and a civil servant of the Florentine Republic. He also wrote comedies, carnival songs, poetry, and some of the most well-known personal correspondence in the Italian language. His position in the regime of Florence as Secretary to the Second Chancery of the Republic of Florence lasted from 1498 to 1512. His book the Prince details the methods that a ruler according to his philosophy, can use to obtain and hold on to power. Today many leaders of industry, academia, politics, sports, gangs, military, rappers and other entertainers all read the Prince religiously and live by the Machiavellian doctrine. Below the 48 Laws of Power by Robert Greene and Joost Elffers, another favorite of rappers.
The Art of War is required reading in some gangs, it is a favorite of many of the “Gangsta rappers”, mentioned in this book. The Tao of Jeet Kun Do by Bruce Lee is another example of a book that is religiously adhered to by people throughout the world today, from a wide spectrum of society, many Hollywood actors/actresses, business execs and entertainers laud the wisdom of the book. I will include here a sample of the ideas espoused in the book; “I lay on the boat and felt that I had united with Tao; I had become one with nature. “The spirit is no doubt the controlling agent of our existence. This invisible seat controls every moment in whatever situation arises. It is thus, to be extremely free never “stopping” in any place at any moment, preserve this state of spiritual freedom and non-attachment as soon as you assure the fighting stance. Be “master of the house.” I totally agree with Lee that “the spirit” is the controlling force; the point of departure is in what spirit do you employ in your practise? Since every spirit
has a source do, you consort with demons or the Holy Ghost. And that is the crux of the matter.
Image: Tupac Shakur and his then “keeper”, Jacques Agnant aka Haitian Jack. (Agnant was indeed a federal informant “a rat” all along. He lives comfortably in the Dominican Republic in the US government's witness protection program).
Shakur famously known for quoting from some of the books above seemed to live by their tenets. Shakur is in the photo above with Jacques Agnant aka “Haitian Jack”, (a.k.a Nigel). Agnant the son of Haitian immigrants grew up in Brooklyn. Agnant gravitated to the streets, and was a known stick up kid and strong-arm shakedown artist, who cultivated relationships with movie stars and pop stars. Agnant moved with seeming Chameleon like fluidity, within street circles in the criminal underworld that he inhabited, and the world of the celebs that he wanted to get close to. Agnant did not shy away from shaking down celebrities. Tupac in Vibe interviews in 1995 candidly stated, that “Nigel”, bought him his first Rolex and introduced him to “a bunch” of, gangsters from Brooklyn. What has been established from the mouths of some of Shakur’s intimates, and Shakur is the following, Shakur was involved with criminal elements in New York “for protection”.
When Shakur was accused of rape, which court documents prove was inaccurate, since he was actually charged with, “forcibly touching”, his accusers’ buttocks. The case is well known and I only allude to it, as a means of establishing, the cause for the shooting and robbery of Shakur, in 1994 at the Quad studios in Times Square New York. The fact that Shakur named James Rosemund, Agnant and others in his inner circle publicly in magazine interviews, as the persons who either attempted to, or raped the female accusing Shakur of rape. Some of Shakur’s inner circle specifically Randy “Stretch” Walker, had knowledge that Shakur was targeted for robbery and didn’t warn him was proven. Walker was murdered exactly two years to the date of the Quad studios shooting. The shooting was said to be an attempt at “disciplining”, Tupac for “snitching”, and not an assassination attempt. Shakur in video, audio interviews and in his lyrics stated numerous times that Jacques “Haitian Jack” Agnant James “Jimmy Henchman” Rosemund Puff Daddy, Biggie Smalls and their inner circle, set him up to be robbed and murdered. Presently Rosemund is serving a life sentence stemming from a case wherein, he was found guilty on all counts on June 2013 in the United States Federal Court.
Image: James Rosemund aka Jimmy Henchman the Haitian-American CEO of Czar Entertainment. Rosemund at the pinnacle of his career as CEO of Czar Entertainment was instrumental in honing the careers of The Game, Brandy, Gucci Mane, Akon and many others.
Rosemund was accused of heading up a drug organization ring. James Rosemund was indicted on various charges, including but not limited to, drug trafficking, money laundering, witness tampering, and conspiracy. Given the fact, Shakur throughout his career, relied on the criminal element to protect him, while he moved in the streets says a lot about his mind-set. Shakur the classically trained actor and ballet dancer, hardly seemed a candidate for “Thug Life poster boy”, yet there he was posturing, and making it believable, no doubt employing a bit of his acting ability, somehow talent and bravado blended, phantasy and reality became a maelstrom, resulting in his first shooting, and his eventual jail sentence. Before the 1994 Quad Studios , incident which resulted in Shakur being shot five times and robbed of $40,000 worth of jewelry ,Shakur recounted the scene vividly numerous times in interviews and on record’s it is worth recounting the events that led to his near-fatal shooting that night here: Shakur said that on the fateful night in question he and his entourage including Randy “Stretch” Walker, who in Shakur’s words was “towering over those nigga’s” ,were on their way to the Quad Studio’s facility in Manhattan New York. Tupac related how when he entered the downstairs lobby in Quad, that he saw two men dressed in the signature Brooklyn street garb of army fatigues and Timberland boots. The men completely ignored him, Shakur-related that anywhere in America that he traveled, black men never failed to show some form of recognition, whether in a positive greeting, or to express disgust or jealousy, the seeming oblivion of the two men in the presence of his celebrity alarmed Shakur. When him and his entourage got into the elevator, the men suddenly got up and rushed the elevator, Shakur’s worst fears were realized. He narrated how the one seeming to be in charge, told everyone to “get on the floor”, but he didn’t budge since he was in shock, when the man reached for his chain, he reacted instinctively and tried to pull out his Glock, Shakur never got out his weapon, he was shot several times about his body, and severely pistol whipped about the head.
The public image of Shakur as a “gangsta” was firmly cemented in the public’s collective consciousness when the movie at right bottom debuted.
The movie Juice, which saw Shakur portraying the character of a college student, with psychotic tendencies, first subtlety then overtly and violently, take control of the lives of several of his peers ,then systematically began to violently kill them in wanton fashion, for the slightest infraction, or perceived disloyalty. Shakur’s public life and his rap alter ego were inseparable in the media and in the public’s eyes, after the film Juice, in the aftermath of his shooting, the media attempted to foist blame, solely on Shakur’s “lifestyle” and image, an image that the corporate media, were co-creators of. The following report from All Hip-Hop.com sums up the matter of Tupac Shakur’s Quad Studio’s shooting quite succinctly: “A convicted murderer, long suspected of involvement in the 1994 Quad Studios shooting of Tupac Shakur, has finally admitted to committing the crime, and has accused Game‘s manager, Jimmy “Henchman” Rosemond — founder of Czar Entertainment — of masterminding the botched robbery, which left the legendary rapper shot five times.
“I want to apologize to his [Tupac's] family and for the mistake I did for that sucker [Rosemond],” Dexter Isaac told AllHipHop.com today (June 15), on the eve of Tupac’s 40th birthday.
In an explosive confession dedicated to his former friend, whom he helped to launch entertainment company Henchmen Entertainment in 1989, Isaac explained that he has “stayed silent in prison for the past 13 years, doing a life sentence like a real soldier should,” but that he is “tired of listening to your [Rosemond's] lies.”
“In 1994, James Rosemond hired me to rob 2Pac Shakur at the Quad Studio,” said Isaac, who is currently housed in Brooklyn, N.Y.’s Metropolitan Detention Center. “He gave me $2,500, plus all the jewelry I took, except for one ring, which he wanted for himself. It was the biggest of the two diamond rings that we took. He said he wanted to put the stone in a new setting for his girlfriend at the time, Cynthia Ried. I still have as proof the chain that we took that night in the robbery.”
While Tupac survived the shooting, which took place on November 30, 1994, in Manhattan’s Quad Recording Studios, and left him shot twice in the head, the incident directly instigated the deadly East Coast-West Cost rap feud, which resulted in the shooting deaths of both Tupac and his East Coast rival Biggie Smalls.
Isaac’s shocking statement goes on to hint at future revelations regarding the fallen rappers, even drawing Bad Boy honcho-turned-entertainment mogul Diddy into the fray, claiming that Rosemond will “flip” on Biggie’s former cohort for his involvement in the shootings.
“Now I’m not going to talk about my friend Biggie’s death or 2Pac’s death, but I would like to give their mothers some closure. It’s about time that someone did, and I will do so at a different time,” Isaac continued ominously. “Jimmy, you and Puffy like to come off all innocent-like, but as the saying goes: You can fool some of the people some of the time, but you cannot fool all of the people all of the time. Mr. Rosemond, I ask you: Are you going to flip on Puffy when the feds get you? To save yourself like you have done in the past?”
Rosemond, who manages rapper Game, singer Sean Kingston and Mike Tyson, among others, is currently still on the lam, facing federal cocaine conspiracy charges, and has been accused of being a government informant by the New York Daily News, 50 Cent and others.
Isaac is currently serving life in prison for the robbery and murder of a Brooklyn taxi-cab driver”. The song “Against all Odds”, sung by Shakur naming Jacques Agnant, James Rosemund aka Jimmy Henchman, Christopher Wallace aka Biggie Smalls, and Sean Combs aka /Puff Daddy P Diddy/Puffy/Diddy as Principals, in the botched robbery that nearly ended in his death, was really him “dry snitching”, on a record.
“I heard he was light skinned, stocky with a Haitian accent
Jewelry, fast cars and known for flashing
Listen while I take you back and lace this rap
A real live tale about a snitch named Haitian Jack
Knew he was working for the feds, same crime different trials
Niggas picture what he said, and did I mention?
Promised a payback, Jimmy Henchmen, in due time”
In the world that Shakur inhabited publicly naming, your partners in crime would have been immediate grounds for being murdered, like the Mafioso that Tupac and his cohorts so admired a “snitch” or “rat”, is the worst thing anyone could be in that world. Tupac had already begun to name the men mentioned previously as principals in the major and minor Hip-Hop magazines about his near fatal shooting and robbery in the Quad Studios. His words ring true today since Dexter Isaac publicly named all the individuals accused by Shakur as being involved in the near fatal robbery on Shakur.
Even more telling is the book by Dexter Isaac: “From Friends to Enemies”. In the book Dexter Isaac the Trinidad born Isaac detail’s his childhood growing up in Trinidad , to his close association’s with, Jimmy Henchman aka James Rosemond , Jaques Agnant aka Haitian Jack, King Tut and all of the key player’s involved in the Quad Studios incident. Here are some telling excerpts from Isaac’s book: “Before I got settled into the backseat of the car Paulie said. Jimmy needs you to do a job for him. He wants you to rob rapper Tupac Shakur to teach him a lesson about respect. Everybody knew Tupac had a big mouth and he had seriously crossed the line with Jimmy.”
Isaac gave a key statement in the book that is true to the “West Indian” or Caribbean people’s reality to this day. He stated that: “The Flatbush area had a mixture of West Indians there were Jamaicans, Trinidadians, Guyanese, Panamanians and Haitians all over the place”. In the book Isaac detail’s how him and James Rosemond aka Jimmy Henchman, Jimmy Ace grew up together, he also describes how later in life he acted as a “hitman and muscle”, for the drug kingpin Jimmy Henchman.
Dexter Isaac went into intimate details in his book in establishing the motivation for the Quad Studios incident, which I think are worthy, of mention herein: Jimmy Henchman managed Salt n Pepa and Brandy in 1994 and was dating Salt. During the filming of “Above the Rim”, Henchman wanted Shakur to pay for “protection”. Shakur and Jimmy were already at odds since Tupac named Jimmy as one of her rapist’s. Henchman was extorting P Diddy, Mobb Deep, Andre Harrell and a host of other celebrities and wanted to add Tupac to the gravy train”. Isaac detailed in his book how he was paid $2500 dollars by Henchman, he told Isaac “don’t shoot him”, they were to “catch him by surprise and just pistol whip him, then take his biggest diamond ring”. In the book he claims that Puffy knew of the planned robbery beforehand.
He also detailed how he wanted to set up and rob Puffy at the Tunnel, but Anthony Jones aka Wolf, told him Puffy got a pass, since he (Wolf) was a minority owner in Bad Boy (Puffy’s recording company). While on the town in LA Puffy and Wolf ran into Suge Knight and about 50 Bloods, Puffy’s security detail was minuscule compared to Suge’s huge entourage, after the incident Puffy asked one of Jimmy’s associates Zip, to arrange for protection anytime he was in California, that protection turned out to be a Crip set with Keith Davis aka Keefe D as its main shot caller.
Dexter claimed that Suge Knight was in a sexual relationship with Misa the mother of Puffy’s son Justin. Suge had pictures of him and Misa along with Justin sitting on Suge’s lap. Puffy became enraged upon learning of the aforementioned. Puffy was feverishly attempting to do all in his power to obtain the photos. In his rage Shawn Combs aka Puff Daddy placed a bounty on every single Death Row medallion, that bounty fuelled the Lake Wood mall incident in which Trayvon Lanes aka “Baby Lane”Death Row chain and medallion was snatched from his neck by Orlando Anderson and company. He also details how award winning writer Linda Bruck, accused the police of a “pathological hatred of Tupac”. He went into detail on how Tupac was set up by Agnant and Henchman to take the fall in a rape case orchestrated by the police.
He was lauded by film critics and media pundit’s as being “his generations James Dean”, “cinematic”, “iconographic”, “compelling”, “gorgeous”, ‘a natural method actor” and other euphemistic descriptions, accurate as well as some in the overcompensating category and others outright too bigoted and racist to include here. Suffice it to say that Shakur was an immensely
polarizing character, who inspired his detractors i.e. “haters”, to constantly spew their vituperative spiels that seemed to erupt from some cauldron, scalding and palpable in their sheer hatred and racism. On the other hand he inspired the admiration and was adapt at inspiring millions of his adoring fans, across the globe from a cross section of backgrounds, testament to his broad charismatic appeal. Unfortunately he was used as fodder in the vast corporate media controlled “entertainment”, industry to sell magazines and movies, his eclecticism was a convenient ingredient used to sell time-slots, and gain TV ratings for BET, MTV and many others too numerous to mention and in the end, talented as he was where will his eternal soul rest? Nuff said.
The Vibe magazine cover, with Shakur on the front, strapped in as if he is a patient in a mental asylum with the caption: “IS TUPAC CRAZY OR JUST MISUNDERSTOOD?” is one example of media, duplicity in the creation of and perpetuation of dangerous caricatures, for public consumption regardless of the consequences. The photo at right of this page is one of many which were not popularized in the media, nor by Shakur himself, Shakur is in a very upscale restaurant here with, pop-superstar icon Madonna and her then female lover and the famous Hollywood actor Mickey Rourke.
That Shakur counted some of the brightest stars, of the Hollywood jet-set and glitterati, as personal friends and intimates is undeniable. He has been romantically linked to, or rumored to have been involved with, many of Hollywood’s most famous female personalities including Madonna herself, Jada Pinkett Smith, Rosie Perez, Mary G Blige, and many others. The point Iam making here is that Shakur was a pop icon himself; he was no thug by any stretch of the imagination, talented actor yes thug never. Shakur’s celebrity status, and actual finances set him apart from the average African American, he was a part of the black bourgeoisie, in America, even his choice of girlfriends, were mostly celebrities and his intimates were some of the most celebrated and iconic personalities in the Hollywood and music entertainment industries.
Shakur was a “sex symbol” before he signed to Death Row Records.
Above Shakur and Jada Pinkett Smith wife of Will Smith, the hugely popular star of many box office smashes. Shakur middle in Milan for fashion week can’t get more mainstream than (that). Tupac and Rosie Perez below. Perez recently left the day time talk show “The View”, a show immensely popular in America and other western markets. I include the more “mainstream” aspects of Shakur’s life, since some writers focus all too often on his so-called “outlaw”, persona. Shakur was a witty navigator of the American media created halls and corridors of fame.
Those attempting to cast him in the dye of gangster or thug exclusively are themselves testament, to the success of his artful creation and personification of characters that he created, precisely for achieving his overall goals, some of those goals were purely hedonistic while others were arguably, philanthropical and social in nature, precisely the reason, a writer attempting to affix the gangster and thug persona exclusively to Tupac, always fail abysmally. Shakur’s was a complexed, troubled, sometimes tortured persona, extremely passionate and sensitive, both as a human being and artist; he wore his gangster persona awkwardly, to say the least. He was at his most prolific best, when championing the causes, that he so intimately identified with, which was the cause of the downtrodden, both in America and internationally.
The main character in “Above the Rim” Birdy was purportedly loosely based on Jacques Agnant aka “Haitian Jack”.
The most recent admission by a “high profile” celebrity female dating Tupac comes from Madonna from the AOL.com website March 12th 2015: “Madonna has confirmed a rumor that spans more than twenty years, admitting she dated rapper Tupac Shakur. The 56-year-old superstar sat down with shock jock Howard Stern Wednesday, and he pressed her about her past interviews with "Late Show" host David Letterman. Stern noted she sometimes seemed a bit annoyed at him, especially in one 1994 interview where she dropped the F-bomb fourteen times.
"I was in a weird mood that day," she told Stern. "I was dating Tupac Shakur at the time and the thing is he got me all riled up on life in general. So when I went on the show I was feeling very gangsta."
Stern was surprised to hear she dated the rapper. However, Madonna felt those rumors had been out there. The 2007 unauthorized biography "Madonna: Like An Icon" claimed Madonna and the rapper briefly dated before his death in 1996, and "Do The Right Thing" actress Rosie Perez told Wendy Williams last year that she introduced the two celebrities after the 1993 Soul Train Music Awards. Madonna's comments to Howard Stern mark the first time she's ever directly responded to the rumors”. As I have indicated previously Shakur himself was part of the mainstream, and he was used as a convenient figurehead, by the dominant culture as his generation’s anti-hero.
Shakur and Christopher Wallace aka Biggie Smalls. According to both men they were friends and would “hang out” anytime Shakur was in Brooklyn.
Poetic Justice saw Tupac in a role that was a far cry, from his usual gangster persona’s on screen.
Yo Yo the west coast female MC (her generation’s Lil Kim) and Tupac.
Shakur, sporting Karl Kani’s, the “official” brand at the time for street hustler’s, black college students, and Hip-Hop head’s all over the world.
Shakur and Sway of (Sway in The Morning), formerly Sway and Tek. Sway is originally from the Bay area in Oakland California, he is one of the few media personalities, including Kevin Powell who enjoyed almost exclusive access to Tupac.
Shakur and Wallace shared a student teacher relationship, where Shakur likened himself, “a big brother”, to Biggie. Shakur was incensed that his former student, was part of the inner circle, of those responsible for his shooting at Quad Studios in New York.
Taking into account human relations and the reality of close personal relationship’s Shakur was definitely hurt and felt betrayed and humiliated, that someone he actually helped to perfect his craft as an MC would know of, or at the very least, had a pretty good idea that he was going to be robbed, and kept silent. Given the realities of street culture and ‘hood” life, it’s almost impossible that Biggie was totally unaware of the plot on Shakur’s life, since the principles who plotted, carried out and instigated the near fatal attack, were all intimately linked to Biggie, either through the street’s or in legitimate business.
After Shakur was shot at the Quad Studios in New York, he convalesced at the home of Jasmine Guy, described as an “intimate family friend”, of the Shakur’s. The relationship that most branded Shakur as a part of the African American jet-set was his romantic relationship with Kidadah Jones, daughter of world renowned producer Quincy Jones, who is considered to be pop-culture royalty. Shakur and Kidadah often hinted in the media, that they were planning on getting married, again my point here is to paint Shakur not as a “real gangster”, but as someone who had created an alter ego, that he may or may not have been trying to shed and who sometimes, to his detriment deliberately blurred the lines between his lived reality and his “media created alter ego”.
The CD insert above this one is of Shakur while he was in Jail on the rape charge. Strictly for my Niggaz, a recording that was arguably more political and thought provoking than any of his other works. On Strictly Shakur waxed eloquent, with well-crafted verses , his original music was poetic and highly politicized, in his later years, specifically after he was shot and sent to prison on a rape charge he drastically altered his lyrical content and leant more to the “gangsta” persona, that he had crafted. To truly examine the Hip Hop culture and not include the “conscious” rappers, would be to paint an unbalanced and biased picture, hence the inclusion of the Tupac Shakur prior to Death Row Records. Shakur was not only the son of Afeni Shakur, but he was himself politically inclined, given the preponderance of evidence bearing up such a claim. His political involvement went beyond mere words, and is evident in that, he hired New Afrikan People’s Organization (NAPO), national chair Chokwe Lumumba as his consulting lawyer in the beginning of 1992. Tupac hired that year his “mentor”, Watani Tyehimba an ex- Black Panther Party member and NAPO security director, as his business manager. Shakur referenced NAPO, its leaders and their philosophy repeatedly in his earlier years, (conscious years) as a recording artist. In 1992 Tupac and Mutulu Shakur attempted to politicize the Bloods and Crips street gangs, along Black Nationalist lines. Ex Black Panthers helped broker a truce between the largest Bloods and Crips chapters in April of 1992.
http://nazaritze-lionzman.blogspot.com/2013/03/rap-cointelprosubverting-power-of-hip.html.
In the video on the link shared above, Mutulu Shakur, Tupac’s step father states repeatedly, that he and Shakur were instrumental in politicizing the Crips and Bloods gangs. Mutulu and Tupac established what they called the “Thug Code”, which was a code of conduct according to Mutulu, similar to the “Ten Points” program of the Black Panthers. Mutulu claimed that the involvement of him and Tupac with the gang truce in LA, led to the incarceration of Tupac in the rape case in New York. Mutulu also said something quite telling, he stated that Shakur consciously took on the persona of a “gangster” as a means of endearing him to actual gang members, in his words “people in the life” in order to politicize them using rap music as a vehicle. In other words Shakur was acting a part. He took his act to an extreme during his Death Row years and paid the ultimate price.
Makaveli the don killuminati the 7-day theory. The mentality that spawned the artwork above, was revealed by Shakur in one of his last interviews on the set, of the aptly titled movie “Gang Related”: “I got shot five times and I got crucified in the media, and I walked through with the thorns on, and I had shit thrown on me, and I had the word thief at the top; I told that nigga I’ll be back. I’m not saying that I am Jesus, but I’m saying we go through that every day. We don’t part the Red Sea, but we walk through the hood without getting shot”.
At right Nas with album cover art, portraying his back thorn from a whip shaped like an N. Both depictions are inspired by the suffering of Jesus, who died for the atonement of the sins of the human race. The two rappers’ monumental misunderstanding of what, the death, burial and resurrection of Jesus represents, reveals not only warped, vividly narcissistic personalities, but reflects the general narcissism at work in contemporary culture globally.
In another candid peak into Shakur’s psychological makeup, a poem written by Shakur reveals his preoccupation with death: “I will die before my time, because I feel the shadow’s depth so much I wanted to accomplish, before I reached my death”. It goes without saying that Shakur displayed characteristics of a tormented soul, possessed of a monumental ego that at times bordered on the delusional. In the days prior to his untimely demise Shakur said of himself Knight and his organization: “Suge is the boss of Death Row, the Don you understand? But I’m the under boss, the Capo. That’s my job, to do what’s best for all of Death Row”.
The bare faced ,delusional element, is there in its stark, paradoxical dimensions, there you had an African American entertainer, in dead earnest comparing himself ,his boss and label mates to an Italian mafia organization. The absurdity in the latter is enormously hilarious, and given the fatal outcome of such a mentality, all the more compelling a reason for, honest civic minded individuals to sound the alarm, in clear and lucid language, that marketing gang culture as entertainment, sets society back as a whole. The monetary gains for the few are far outweighed by the cost to society.
While he was on Rikers Island in 1994 Shakur declared in interviews that, “Thug Life is dead”.
When Suge Knight the CEO of Death Row Records, and Bloods gang affiliate, offered him the chance to work at Death Row and a 1.4million dollar bond, Shakur jumped at the chance to be free and to record his type of rap again. Suge Knight, Shakur stated in public interviews, “used to come see me while I was locked up, I needed a house for my moms, he bought my mom’s a house”. Shakur said in magazine interviews and in public that: “nobody was scared of me before, since I got with Death Row everybody’s scared, cause everyone’s scared …..(expletive) of Suge”.
Shakur was clearly living in fear and felt that Knight and company were up to the task of protecting him. It is within the midst of his Death Row dalliance, that the talented actor would meet his early, violent demise.
A gangster as defined by the Webster Dictionary is one who lives from criminal enterprise. Money that is generated, whether legally or illegally in order to promote criminal enterprise is gangsterous activity.
Many in the Caribbean have no idea of the Los Angeles gang culture, that they apishly mimic and what it represents.
The L.A. gang’s deal with much Swahili symbolism, in the office of Suge Knight there was a Doberman Pincher attack-guard dog, called Damu, Damu is Swahili for blood.
The infamous L.A. Bloods gang is a gang that Knight maintained a very close relationship with; he paid members of the bloods gang to work as security guards in his offices, and at his club 662, which naturally was a known Bloods hangout.
Reporters often commented on the fact that upon entering Knights Offices at Canam Studios, to conduct interviews Knights offices, were a deep blood red, everything from the cabinets, to the chairs, to sofa and matching chairs were a “striking blood red”. The photo above shows Knight posing for a Source cover with a pair of matching red Rolls Royce’s.
According to Ronin Ro in his book Have Gun Will Travel; The Spectacular Rise and Violent Fall of Death Row Records, the seed money for Death Row came from a convicted drug dealer named Michael Harris who put up $1.5 million. Death Row went on to make hundreds of millions of dollars, but allegedly, Harris never saw a return on his investment.
“As the prime mover behind gangsta rap, Suge Knight was able to walk the walk, reportedly doling out beatings to whoever crossed him. Though he had avoided the Bloods when he was growing up, he embraced them when he became head of Death Row, allying himself with the Mob Piru Bloods (named after Piru Street in Compton) and proudly wearing the Blood color, red. He had red suits and fedoras made for himself, Knight even had his house painted red".
Tupac Shakur Death Rows most prolific mascot was also a Bloods affiliate, when he was murdered on September 7th1996 in Las Vegas. After having crossed the line by participating in what was essentially, a gang dispute, where a Deathrow affiliated Blood had his Death Row pendant snatched by Orlando Anderson and a few Crips at Lake Wood Mall, before or after having been beaten by Anderson and his friends.
A copy of the police report detailing the chain snatching at Lakewood Mall.
Shakur placed himself as an actual gang member, by physically assaulting Orlando Anderson in the lobby of the MGM grand. A line was crossed, when Shakur attacked Anderson, in gang culture, retaliation is necessary, and Shakur’s life was forfeited on that fateful night. Testament to the fact that Shakur was an affiliate in good standing of the Bloods was the fact that, retaliatory shootings were reported in both Las Vegas and Los Angeles amongst the Blood and Crip factions allied to Death Row and Orlando Anderson his alleged killer. Shakur’s death was avenged, not because he was a celebrity, it was because he had actually “put in work”, publicly for the gang cementing and solidifying his ties to the Bloods.
Death Row Artist Confirms Puffy Put A $75,000 Bounty On Death Row Medallion. The headline above was posted on ItsAGVtv.com on February 12 2016; the following is quoted from that website:
“Danny Boy who was formerly signed to Death Row Records spoke to us and confirms during the west coast / east coast feud that the mogul Diddy put a $75k award out for anybody who can get him a Death Row chain, Which is what lead to the fight between Tupac Shakur and south side Crips member Orlando Anderson in Las Vegas at the MGM hotel in 1996”.
In photo the Death Row pendant seized by police in the raid on Orlando Andersons apartment. Anderson was a popular Crip from the Southside of Compton. The pendant being held by the police officer is the pendant Anderson snatched from, the neck of Trayvon Lane, a Mob Piru Blood. Lane and several Piru’s were in a Lakewood mall, when they met Anderson and several Crips who were with him. In the ensuing gang fight the pendant, was stolen, it was a personal, very expensive gift from Suge Knight, the pendants were dispensed to Knights inner circle, within the Death Row organization, which was peopled by high level Bloods gang members, Lane happened to be one such Blood. Suge Knight at that time portrayed himself as a Blood in good standing with the gang; Trayvon Lane’s pendant being stolen was seen as a personal affront to Suge Knight since it was known that only Death Row employees or persons intimately connected to Knight wore the Death Row pendants. Writers, bloggers and the average Joe on the street have speculated, whether Tupac was a Blood gang member or not, even if he was not, his close affiliation to Suge Knight, who publicly, in interviews, stated that he is affiliated with the Bloods gang, resultantly Tupac though not a full member, would still be considered an ‘affiliate”, of the Bloods and specifically the Mob Pirus. In his song “against all odds” Shakur rapped: “(expletive) the rap game nigga dis M.O.B so believe me we enemies ", the fact that he had an M.O.B. tattoo seems to escape some people, the numbers 662, Knights club also spelled out M.O.B. on a telephone directory pad.
Above key highly placed members of the MOB Piru set of which Suge Knight claimed membership and Tupac was affiliated with. Above right Buntre, middle “Neckbone” far right Trayvon Lane. Tupac ‘repped/shouted out”, the set in “To live and Die in LA” in the following lyric’s: “Neckbone, Heron, Buntre too, Big Rock got knocked but this one’s for you”.
The Mob Piru is the gang that Knight personally is aligned to. Shakur was Knights “little brother”, according to Knight, given the public allegiances of these two men, in gang culture and gang politics, the murder of Tupac Shakur had to be avenged, and indeed, he was avenged as the mounting body count in the aftermath of his death proved. The Tupac apologists want to portray him as a crusader attempting to bring unity in the African American community, while he admittedly early in his career, espoused a politicized worldview that was decidedly pro-black, his later works attest to his gangster affiliations and leanings. This is not an attempt at vilification, but an attempt to honestly draw conclusions from a very public, very tragic, Faustian dilemma, that was Shakur’s lifestyle and the aftermath of his death, which has influenced the youth culture of the world in both negative and positive ways. While many, writers, journalists, Tupac fans and others have posited a US government COINTELPRO type method, in explaining Tupac Shakur’s demise, the facts clearly point to his close M.O.B gang ties and his physical assault of Orlando Anderson at the MGM Grand as the definitive cause for his death. This work leans in the direction of a possible P Diddy connection, which I will discuss in subsequent portions of this work. No doubt US intelligence has had a hand in the systemic, oppression and imprisonment of Shakur’s family members for decades and that aspect of their familial legacy was explored herein. The forces active in engineering Shakur’s ultimate demise were a confluence of socio-political realities that diverged, converged and ultimately clashed, resulting in not only Shakur’s death but numerous other death’s all gang members or gang affiliated young black males. Yet the poisonous atmosphere leading up to his death, was fuelled and magnified by the corporate media outlets in an attempt to profit off of a very public feud that initially began as a falling out between once close comrades i.e. Christopher Wallace aka Biggie Smalls and Tupac Shakur. Shakur’s condition in jail and his exorbitant bail (1.4 million US dollars) undoubtedly were contributing factors in his signing to Death Row records, which was at the time the preeminent record label on the planet. Suge Knight’s ties to the Bloods gang and his business relationship to Harry “O” Harris, make for a spine tingling, spellbinding narrative that has yet to grace the silver screen. Shakur’s is a tale with all the perfect ingredients that make compelling Faustian drama, the handsome, brave, young, yet flawed hero, his evil sidekick surrounded by a diverse cast of characters, from killers, to wannabe gangsters, to shot-callers and a host of artists and musicians trying to make a living and get rich in the process add to the decotelage the inevitable entourages and female groupies, mixed in with the high financed world of corporate America and Hollywood fragile egos bruised quickly and plots and schemes real and imagined are concocted on a daily basis. All of the aforementioned formed the lived atmosphere, that Tupac and his cohorts inhabited daily in the months, days and hours leading up to his demise, herein I try to portray as honest and nuanced a view into that world, notwithstanding the fact that it has been done ad-infinitum, his narrative no doubt makes for highly interesting writing and even more interesting reading, which are some of the primary reasons for their continued re-enactment , yet for all the negativity there are teachable moments within the narrative in its entirety. This work seeks to unearth some of those jewels, dust them off and present them to the public for renewed and fresh contemplation. Within days of Shakur having signed to Death Row Records, his bail was paid and he was released from jail.
Image: Shakur in the last known photograph of him taken literally minutes before his death. Knight and Shakur were on their way to Knight’s club 662 pronounced Six Six Deuce.
That Puff Diddy was somehow involved in the shooting of Shakur in Las Vegas has been suggested and outright stated by many people throughout the years, one of the more vocal voices in that case is detective Greg Kading, who just two days ago stated that, the police had solved the case years ago and were already certain who Shakur’s killers were. While it may be impossible to implicate Shawn Combs in Shakur’s death, Combs did maintain an alliance with high ranking Crip gang members who were known killers at that time. One of those gangsters was Keith Davis “Keefe D” or “Keffe D”, the uncle Orlando Anderson Shakur’s killer. Keefe D can still be seen in one of Usher’s earlier video’s driving Combs and Usher around in a low-rider. Years later the same man Keefe D would be implicated as one of the men involved in Shakur’s murder.
The following is quoted from Chuck Phillips.
In Death, as in Life, Zip made his exit in style, an impeccable suit, an ornate casket, a horse-drawn carriage, leading a star-studded procession up and down the streets of Harlem to Benta’s Funeral Home.
With Lil Kim and Cameron among the celebrities gathered for the wake, many wondered whether Zip’s favorite “Nephew” would show: that Bad Boy CEO of many names: Sean John Combs, Puff, Puff Daddy, P-Diddy, Diddy, Iam Diddy, Swag, Chairman Of The Board, and (who has recently started referring to himself as) Ciroc Obama.
Back in the day, Puff and Zip were tight, logging long days at Bad Boy and longer nights at Daddy’s House. Although Diddy had not seen Zip in ages, he blew in to pay tribute to his “Uncle” – and said a few words in honor of the magnanimous OG who literally saved his life.
Not only was Zip the godfather of Biggie’s son, he was a Harlem music aficionado who owned a nightclub on Adam Clayton Powell Jr. Blvd.: Zip Code. While his contributions to Bad Boy are unclear, he co-executive produced records with Puff’s close friend, Czar Entertainment chief Jimmy Henchman and Blackground boss Barry Hankerson, including the soundtrack for “Exit Wounds,” a film that starred Steven Seagal and DMX.
Following in the footsteps of his mentor, Ellsworth “Bumpy” Johnson, Zip semi-ruled Harlem’s underworld on and off for decades. He knew every OG on the East Coast and practically every new kid on the block across the nation. Zip drove a bulletproof Mercedes, operated offices on both coasts, and moved effortlessly in and out of both entertainment and underworld circles.
In fact, it was Zip who introduced Puff to the Southside Crips, a formidable street gang based in Compton, CA, with whom Zip had operated a profitable pharmaceutical business for nearly a decade. A fortuitous introduction indeed.
The Crips came to the rescue when bad blood broke out between Bad Boy Entertainment and Death Row Records, where Suge Knight employed Compton Blood gang members as bodyguards. (Crips and Bloods have long been mortal enemies and warring factions.)
The Crips say Zip worked out a deal with Puff for the gang to guard Bad Boy whenever they traveled West. The shot-caller of the gang has intimated that the arrangement commenced in Anaheim following a 1995 Jodeci concert.
Bad Boy partied with the Crips in Vegas, the gang says, after Mike Tyson’s 1995 prizefight with Peter McNeeley. Members of the gang attended West Coast recording sessions and, according to the Crips, Zip brought Big into Compton that year to check out South Park.
An argument erupted in March 1996 backstage at the Soul Train Awards. Crip gang members drew guns to defend Big and Bad Boy against Pac and his Death Row Blood bodyguards. A fierce standoff ensued, but no shots were fired.
The Compton Police Department, LAPD, Las Vegas Police and FBI conducted an early morning raid in Compton in October 1996, locking up dozens of Crip and Blood gang members. According to the search warrant, the cops were trying to quell a gang war sparked by Pac’s murder. Some of the Crips arrested in that sweep, the cops alleged, had provided protection for Bad Boy.
According to “Murder Rap,” a book published last year by ex-LAPD Det. Greg Kading, a Crips shot-caller said Puff offered to pay the gang $1 million for the murders of Suge and Pac. Puff allegedly ordered the hit after dinner at Greenblatt’s Deli on Sunset Blvd, according to LAPD records.
The Crips shot Pac Sept. 7, 1996 in a drive-by about a block from the Las Vegas Strip following a Mike Tyson/Bruce Seldon championship bout. (He died 9/13/96.)
Six months later, Biggie was gunned down in an identical drive-by outside the Petersen Automotive Museum, about a block from the Los Angeles County Museum of Art.
Several witnesses inside the Petersen party told police they saw Southside’s shot-caller approach Puff and ask if he needed security, after which they saw him approach Lil Cease, and ask the same question. Witnesses then saw the shot-caller approach Biggie, who told his bodyguard to let him through. “He’s cool. I know him,” Big said. The two spoke briefly. Moments after leaving the party, Big was murdered.
Zip was there at the MGM, when Pac got lit up. With Keyshawn Johnson on Fairfax Avenue, before Big wound up in the morgue.
These are facts you won’t find on Sean Combs’ Wikipedia Page.
Zip is mentioned nowhere. And he’s not the only omission. The almost Forbes billionaire photo-shops out every undesirable who helped pave his way to fame and fortune – no matter how important a role they played.
Unlike you and me, Diddy need not be defined by pesky inconvenient facts. In the tradition of a cheesy Bad Boy B.I.G. repackage, Diddy “re-mixes” his past to remove socially unacceptable figures as Uncle Zip, as well as recently convicted crack kingpin James Rosemond, AKA “Jimmy Henchman” – a long-time friend and business associate.
Diddy History deletes any reference to his former best friend, murdered felon Anthony “Wolf” Jones, and incarcerated elementary school buddies and business partners Corey “Buck” Jacobs and Kenneth “Big L” Kemp, as well as Black Mafia Family drug lord Demetrius “Big Meech” Flenory.
Zip was very much alive the day he called me 15 years ago, out of the blue, after I wrote his name in an article about B.I.G’s stalled LAPD murder probe. He didn’t like the piece, and let me know.
Zip and I first met in 2000, on a brisk winter evening in Manhattan. I offered to buy him a drink at The King Cole, my favorite bar. As I waited for him to arrive, my cell rang. Zip asked if I could meet him out front of the St. Regis instead.
The second I walked through the door, a tricked-out Escalade rolled up, with Zip behind the wheel, decked out in a plush full-length mink coat and matching pork-pie hat. The passenger window rolled down. Zip signaled for me to jump in.
We drove around Manhattan, talking through our misunderstandings, listening to music, discussing art, crime, and the quality of California hemp. Zip stopped at a liquor store, bought some provisions, and kept driving. An hour later, he dropped me back at the St. Regis. We shook hands, and off he drove, down 55th Street.
Over the next 10 years, I took the A Train up to Harlem every time I traveled East. One evening, at Zipcode, over scotch, Zip bitterly complained about how Puff had stabbed him in the back – for no apparent reason, just abandoned him, kicked him to the curb, as if Puff suddenly got Altzheimer’s. “Look, you come all the way from California. 3,000 miles. You make a point to stop by and see me,” Zip said. “Puffy has never once set foot in this club.
Zip’s health deteriorated swiftly. He spent years in and out of the hospital, battling cancer. Plus, he suffered incapacitating bouts of severe back pain, following a serious car accident, in which he had been rear-ended.
Last week, artists, cops and criminals across the nation were abuzz about Zip’s passing.
"A barrel-chested black man with a front tooth missing, relaxed yet instinctively cautious, is seated across from four spellbound cops in a glass-walled conference room at 8200 Wilshire Blvd."
So begins today's LA Weekly expose on new revelations in the double murder investigation of L.A. rapper Tupac Shakur and his New York competition, Biggie Smalls.
For West Coast hip-hop loyalists, the confession of interest is that of Duane Keith "Keffe D" Davis, who says Sean "Diddy" Combs offered him $1 million to kill Tupac and his manager, Suge Knight. But that's just the tip of the iceberg:
Detective Kading: "OK. ... Keffe, today what we're going to do, we're just going to go over with a fine-toothed comb the Las Vegas incident. ... But we do have to emphasize to you that everything in this report has to be right on, because if down the road it's determined that some of these details are incorrect, then everything's off the table. So everything in this report cannot be like that report."
LAPD Detective Daryn Dupree: "We know you, man. We know what you can and can't do."
Keffe D: "Keep me calm. Keep me from hurting people, man."
Keffe D describes the moment his nephew, Orlando "Baby Lane" Anderson, allegedly shot Shakur.
Detective Kading: So Orlando shot across Dre?
Keffe D: "He leaned over, and Orlando rolled down the window, and popped him. If they would have drove on my side, I would have popped them. But they was on the other side."
Federal agent: "Where does [Baby Lane] get the gun from?"
Keffe D: "A little secret compartment that popped up."
Federal agent: "In the armrest?"
Keffe D: "Yeah."
Detective Kading: "Was it a Glock?"
Keffe D: "Yeah."
Detective Kading: ".40?"
Keffe D: "Yeah. And I ain't ever told nobody that story, man."
Keffe D says he was introduced to Combs through another Crip named "Zip," who was also in on the million-dollar deal. However, Keffe D adds that he personally got on Combs' good side by lending him his car to use in Usher's first music video.
Keffe D: "We met the boy [Combs] at the -- he gave a BET party, or the BET awards, it’s like '92 or '93, at the club on Santa Monica. And uh, Mary J was [there]. And the tall dude, used to have the dreads, he's with Aftermath now, what's his name?"
Federal agent: "Busta Rhymes?"
Detective Dupree: "Which car was that?"
Keffe D: "A '64 Chevy I had."
Detective Dupree: "What color was it?"
Keffe D: "Brown. "Usher, he had Usher... It was Usher's video, and Puff [Combs] was driving the car."
Detective Dupree: "You remember the song?"
Keffe D: "'Can I Get With It.' That was his first song ever -- Usher's first song ever. He was in a Lakers uniform, and [Combs] had the little kid dancing on the car. When I got it back, it was f@# up, and he paid to get it repainted. He sent me $2500 for that."
Investigators ask Keffe D when the animosity between Bad Boy Entertainment and Death Row Records first began to fester.
Detective Dupree: "Did Puffy have a place out here [in Los Angeles]?"
Keffe D: "He used to stay if Shug was outta here. ... He was scared shitless."
Detective Dupree: "So that beef had started by then?"
Keffe D: "No, it started when they went out to that award show..."
By Keffe D's account, Zip, Combs and himself discussed the hit on Shakur once at a concert in Anaheim and "a couple of times" at Greenblatts Deli on the Sunset Strip.
Detective Kading: "Tell us what happened that made it something other than just him frustrated and boasting -- 'Man, I'll give you guys anything.' What made it specific, like, 'Hey, I'm serious, I want you guys to kill these guys'?"
Keffe D: "When he told me at Greenblatts."
Detective Kading: "How'd that go, like what was the conversation?"
Federal agent: "And who's 'he'?"
Keffe D: "Puff."
Detective Kading: "How's the conversation go? ... We need really specific details regarding that."
Keffe D: "We wanted a million."
Detective Kading: "All right, so you meet him at Greenblatts. For lunch or dinner or what?"
Keffe D: "This was dinner, in the evening."
Detective Kading: "Who else was there?"
Keffe D: "All of us -- Corey, everybody. All our crew."
Detective Kading: "Everybody's hearing this conversation between you and Puff?"
Keffe D He took me downstairs and he's like, 'Man, I wanna get rid of them dudes, man.’... I was like, 'We'll wipe them out quick, man. It's nothing.'"
3. The motivation behind Combs' alleged order to kill Knight and Shakur, says Keffe D, was fear that the other side would strike first.
Detective Dupree: "When [Combs] asked about [Shakur and Knight], would he always say both of them?"
Keffe D: "He added the boy [Shakur] on after he made a record."
Detective Dupree: "Before that it was just Suge? And then after 'Hit 'Em Up' came out?"
Keffe D: "Yeah, yeah, that pissed [Combs] off."
Keffe D says he's known Suge Knight since childhood, growing up on the streets of Compton.
Keffe D: "We came up Harmon, got to Las Vegas Boulevard, and, here he come in that BMW. ... Broads like, 'Tupac! Tupac!' and we like, 'There they go!' Made a U-turn, we wasn't supposed to make a U-turn. ... And they was in the middle lane, and we just pulled up on the side and checked every car to see where they was."
Detective Kading: "So Lane starts blasting and Suge looks over and sees you?"
Keffe D: "Yeah."
Detective Kading: "He looks right at you?"
Detective Kading: "He looks over at you, and then, Tupac's busy getting shot -- story is Tupac’s either trying to get out of the way..."
Keffe D: "He's in the backseat or something."
Detective Kading: "What do you see happening?"
Keffe D: "I see the bullet go in Suge's head. I thought he was dead. I thought he was dead. It must have scraped him or something, in the head or something. ... I thought he was dead."
Most ironically, Keffe D says he never got the money Combs had allegedly offered him. Word on the street, according to Keffe D, is that Combs gave half the reward to Zip (seeing as Suge Knight was still alive), and Zip never relayed it back to its rightful owner. This might have been the fateful mistake that led to Keffe D's confession:
Detective Kading: "Since you've been out of prison, have you talked to Zip?"
Keffe D: "Not one time."
Detective Kading: "What about Puffy?"
Keffe D: "Not one time. I tried to call them several times though ... If he would have just given us half the money, I would have stayed strong." (From the LA Weekly).
Certain black gangsters revere the African god of war, iron, and fire Ogun, Shakur in his adaptation of gang culture also began to revere this demon god.
There is a seven deity pantheon that is revered some people know that there are actual Vaudon links in both systems of worship.
I will reveal a little known secret and I hope that the young people reading this won’t take my word for it but they would research the material themselves.
The Hindu demon god Kali is also a war god this demon is also portrayed as a god of iron, fire and war people must understand that the source of mythology is not human beings, but familiar spirits, that bring information to particular persons at particular times in order to influence nations and people into a particular way of life. The dominant lifestyle amongst young people worldwide today is the gangster lifestyle.
Alternative titles: sthaga; ṭhag; ṭhag; ṭhagī; thags; thuggee.
Thug, Hindi ṭhag, Sanskrit sthaga (“thief,” “rogue”, “concealment”, “deceiver”), member of a well-organized confederacy of professional assassins who traveled in gangs throughout India for several hundred years. (The earliest authenticated mention of the thugs is found in Ẓiyāʾ-ud-Dīn Baranī, History of Fīrūz Shāh, dated about 1356.) The thugs would insinuate themselves into the confidence of wayfarers and, when a favorable opportunity presented itself; strangle them by throwing a handkerchief or noose around their necks. They then plundered and buried them. All this was done according to certain ancient and rigidly prescribed forms andafter the performance of special religious rites, in which the consecration of the pickax and the sacrifice of sugar formed a prominent part. Although the thugs traced their origin to seven Muslim tribes, Hindus appear to have been associated with them at an early period; at any rate, their religious creed and practices as worshipers of Kālī, the Hindu goddess of destruction, showed no influence of Islam. The fraternity possessed a jargon of its own (Ramasi) and signs by which its members recognized each other.
There are young children globally perpetrating what Tupac and his peers made palatable to the children of the world, today the main gangster idol is, Fifty Cent. The video game Grand Theft Auto a popular series available on most of the well-known consoles is a great example of gang and street culture made palatable for mass consumption.
The game is a virtual role-playing game in which the player can play a variety of roles including the criminal role. In the game, a player can kill police, innocent civilians, some games the player can commit rape (in graphic detail) and other physical assaults on civilians, thus remaining true to the criminal friendly theme of many games on the market today. The effects that such games are having on young children today are manifold and negative, aside from their desensitizing children to violence they actually allow children to acclimate themselves psychologically to violence and to view this as normal.
Tupac had as his icon or medallion an angel clasping in one hand an Uzi and a snake in the other (the logo for his Euphanasia label).This angel was not simply a pendant but was a representation of the African god of war/the Angel of Death. The area of L.A., is gang infested, most established gangs are often well developed consisting of well-educated, structured and disciplined individuals. Shakur above right wearing the Euphanasia logo as a medallion on his chain, with his bourgeois girlfriend Kidadah Jones, Kidadah Jones and her class are considered to be African American aristocracy not unlike Janet Jackson and her ilk. Shakur would have never been able to woo, someone like Kidadah Jones, had he not been considered, by her and her family to be a suitable mate, Jones grew up wealthy, Jones is also the product of a bi-racial relationship namely an African American father and a Caucasian American mother. Quincy Jones was already famous in the late sixties and early seventies; resultantly his daughter was already accustomed to luxury and didn’t need Shakur for financial reasons. What Shakur certainly was is a person, who had achieved, enough thus far in the worldview of Jones to make him, in her eyes an appropriate companion. Given the reality of Shakur’s life, his involvement in gang culture seems all the more insane, taking into consideration his privileged position, access to huge sums of money and all the trappings of wealth, from the perspective of what is considered the high life in contemporary western culture.
My personal take on Shakur is this, in his earnest and desperate attempt, to keep it real he flaunted his life in the face of death one time to many and lost his eternal soul, the Faustian dichotomy that was Shakur’s life, makes for great material for psychologist’s, students of psychology and the average man or woman, who has a penchant for studying what drives and motivates their fellow human beings.
Reducing someone like Tupac Shakur to simply a “thug”, would be to oversimplify his reality, focusing only on him as an actor is equally unrealistic, the middle ground is somewhere, between him being the son of a former Black Panther, an intelligent and ambitious student, an accomplished recording artist, poet and actor, who himself was highly politicized and was arguably a humanist, who had a fatalist narcissistic character, that was defined by some of his early childhood experiences, later refined and hardened in adulthood. For all his flaws it is impossible to write about him and to oversimplify him as a subject, he by his nature was possessed of a highly complexed chameleon like character, that bordered genius, therefore in my own “keeping’, it real” style I have tried to, given my own failings and inadequacies, sum up one of my generations iconic figures for better or worse, irrespective of those who would flee, the reality of Shakur’s destructive actions on his community and family, and at the same time I cannot in good conscience reduce him, herein by only highlighting his negative actions. I feel duty bound to also highlight the complexed reality that was his life, in so doing I hope to have made some contribution in the area of literature that can offer a helpful positive direction to those who may read this book, and not only read it but understand the spirit in which it is being written.
Some L.A. gangs have incorporated variant forms of African nature worship into their lifestyle, transforming themselves from simple street gangs into an actual culture of influence, with a very pronounced corporate structure.
For a real study of the true mentality of the above average street gang, I recommend the autobiography of Monster Kody, a now infamous former gang member; he has written several books and is a very eloquent defender of the downtrodden of the inner cities. Here is a piece from his autobiography: “Helicopters hover heavily above, often no higher than the
treetops that dot the battlefield. Staccato vibrations of automatic gunfire crack throughout the night, drowned out only by explosions and sirens. People hustle quickly past, in a dangerous
attempt to get anywhere the fighting happens to be heaviest. There is troop movement throughout the city, and in some areas the fighting is intense. The soldiers are engaged in a “civil war.” A war without terms. A war fought by any means necessary, with anything at their disposal. This conflict has lasted nine years longer than Vietnam. Though the setting is not jungle per se, its atmosphere is as dangerous and mysterious as any jungle in the world. Neither side receives funding from any government, nor does either side claim any allegiance to any particular religion or socioeconomic system of government. There are no representa-
tives from either faction in the United Nations, nor does either side recognize the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. Recruitment, or conscription, begins at eleven years of age.
Squads of five usually make raids into neighboring territories pre-emptive strikes or retaliatory hits on enemies and targets useful to the opposition. Although both armies are predominantly made up of males, there are many females involved in the fighting. These infrastructures were built initially on robberies and extortions. Today, however, they are maintained by
proceeds from major narcotics deals and distribution throughout America. Each army has a distinct territory––the boundaries of some very large areas are broken by enemy cluster camps. Each army has a flag, to which total allegiance is pledged. Each army
has its own language, customs, and philosophy, and each has its own GNP. (Approximate Grade Range).
The war has been raging on for twenty-two years. The death toll is in the thousands––wounded, uncountable, missing- in-action unthinkable.
No one is keeping a tally. No one has noticed, except for those recently involved in the fighting and those indirectly drawn in by geographical location, economic
status or family association. Other than this, the war has been kept from the world,
hidden like an ugly scar across the belly of an otherwise beautiful woman.
Under the guise of being a showpiece for the world where prosperity is as easily found as water in a stream, America, for all her ostensible beauty, has an ugly scar across her belly
that she has tried repeatedly to suppress and keep hidden from curious onlookers. More than a few times she has almost been exposed, and this ugliness brought to light, but always another
garment would quickly be thrown over the rough spot and all the turmoil and ugliness again blanketed. But not this time. On April 29, 1992, the world witnessed the eruption of
South Central Los Angeles, the concrete jungle-battlefield of the Crips and Bloods. The scar of over twenty years that had been tucked out of sight and passed off as “just another ghetto problem” burst its suture and spewed blood all across the stomach of America. People watched in amazement as “gang members,” soldiers of the Crip army, pelted cars with rocks, sticks, and bottles, eventually pulling civilians from their vehicles and beat- ing them. This was hours after they had routed a contingent of LAPD officers. Troop movement escalated, and Los Angeles was
set ablaze. All this began on Florence and Normandie in South Central, the latest Third World battlefield. I have lived in South Central Los Angeles all my life. I grew
up on Florence and Normandie. This is part of my territory. I was recruited into the Crips at the ripe old age of eleven. Today I am twenty-nine years old.
I am a gang expert––period. There are no other gang experts except participants. Our lives, mores, customs, and philosophies remain as mysterious and untouched as those of any “uncivilized” tribe in Afrika. I have come full circle in my twenty-nine years on this planet, sixteen of those with the Crips. I have pushed people violently out of this existence and have fathered three children. I have felt completely free and have sat in total solitary confinement in San Quentin state prison. I have shot numerous people and have been shot seven times myself. I have been in gunfights in South Central and knife fights in Folsom state prison. Today, I languish at the bottom of one of the strictest maximum-security state prisons in this country.
I propose to take my reader through the life and times of my own chilling involvement as a gang member with the Crips. I propose to open my mind as wide as possible to allow my
readers the first ever glimpse at South Central from my side of the gun, street, fence, and wall. From my initial attraction and recruitment to my first shooting and my rise to Ghetto Star
(ghetto celebrity) status, right up to the South Central rebel- lion and the truce between the warring factions––the Crips and the Bloods. Although no longer aligned with gang or criminal
activity, I still draw a great deal of support from this quarter. Come with me then, if you will, down a side street lined with stolen cars and youngsters armed with shotguns and .38
revolvers, lying in wait for the enemy, all members of a small gang. Then return with me five years later as the street is lined with luxury cars, dope dealers, and troops with AK-47 assault
weapons, the gang now an army. Let me tell you of funerals that have been overrun by enemy
forces and the body stolen and “killed again” for reasons of psychological warfare.
Think not that this war is some passing phase to be ironed out with a truce in five days––impossible!
Sophistication has not, by any means, passed the gangs of Los Angeles. Surveillance, communication, and technology have now found their way into the military build-up of these two
army factions. It is not for glory that I write this. It is out of desperation for the survival of the youths and civilians who are directly and indirectly involved in the fighting.
I will attempt to draw serious analytical conclusions designed to bring about a better, more
in-depth over standing of this malady, so as to help reach work- able solutions for all concerned. As with my life, I propose to bring the reader full circle to show the reality of a city gone mad
in an attempt to rank as the nation’s murder capital longer than the District of Columbia and more consistently than Detroit. Look then, if you dare, at South Central through the eyes
of one of its most notorious Ghetto Stars and the architect of its most ghastly gang army––the Crips”.
If “Monster Kody’s” narrative is to be believed then, the more compelling for citizens of every nation to, not want “gangsta rap”, in their communities and record stores. The freedom of speech argument is imbecilic to say the least, since gang-culture is a lived reality; it follows that portraying such on a CD or in a Music Video, is tantamount to criminal activity and is influencing millions of youth globally, into street life and early graves.
The dynamics of gang life are lost on today’s youth.
These youth have no idea of the unspoken laws of gang life, laws of an eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth a life for a life.
Tupac Shakur died, as a result of his personal involvement in gang culture, not because of a noble ideal.
The fact remains that, Tupac served the demon god Ogun, god of war that was his patron saint. Many people from countries such as South America, Haiti and Suriname, even some in the Antilles serve Ogun, the god of war this god requires a sacrifice of blood to quench his thirst. The demon Ogun is sometimes portrayed in the form of a skull.
Tupac lived amongst many cultures in New York he was closely linked to numerous Caribbean criminal elements; in any event, the demon that was his patron saint was not able to protect him from death.
Many youth today cling hopelessly and vainly to a myth that Shakur staged his death. Unfortunately: the body of the young man by the name of, Tupac Amaru Shakur, was identified by his aunt, who bore witness that it was indeed her nephew that lay dead on the operating
table at Bellevue hospital in L.A.
Shakur succumbed to gunshot wounds on September the 13th 1997.
Youth today must learn to think for themselves stop looking for heroes be your own hero realize your dreams set goals and achieve them then you will find that others will want to be like you.
The gangster lifestyle never could and never will be a way out of poverty, it is a system of enslavement, and death all you have to do is look at a drug addict to see the truth.
Drug addiction is a consequence of the gangster lifestyle entire communities hooked on drugs are as a direct consequence of the destruction that the criminal elements have wrought on society.
What has the culture of crime done to elevate the Caribbean from negative to positive developments? If a don is feeding the community and sending poor children to school in
order to employ those same youth later in legal as well as illegal enterprise, what has the gangster really achieved?
Dons make themselves the only source of income in a community hereby insuring future recruits for their criminal enterprise and the fealty and loyalty of an entire community of young as well as older people, (it is after this pattern that Suge Knight operated).
When the community becomes dependent on criminal enterprise for its sustenance church as well as government must be called to task, how can you claim to be a true leader if entire segments of your most valu
able resource, young people are dependent on criminal enterprise for their sustenance?
Sadly, the fact remains that internal government corruption, has created the environment for criminal enterprise to flourish, and no wonder for the game of politics allows for such. A culture in which the means justifies the end is Machiavellian. Machiavellian, philosophy is the political culture of the entire planet. The true leaders of the earth must come forth the criminals who claim to be leaders and the government officials who are themselves dubious assumed leaders cannot lead the nation the god-ordained government the church must take up it’s mantle of leadership and put these elements in their rightful perspective.
Government is for civil order the body of Jesus the messianic community is god ordained order spiritually this is true government and just governance out of such a community true leadership and character is developed.
One must only look to all the giants of the 20th century and farther in the past in the western hemisphere one will notice that specifically in the black community they either came out of a church environment or were closely associated either fraternally or otherwise in a messianic community.
Many of the inventor’s black or otherwise were Christian the Wright brothers who invented the plane were Christians. The African American doctor who discovered the technique for the preservation of life, through blood transfusion while in surgery was a Christian.
George Washington Carver the man who invented the technique for the mass production of every product that we have today from peanuts was a Christian.
The list goes on and can fill volumes; the few facts mentioned above were simply to put in perspective for those who are yet seeking the place of true leadership. Martin Luther King Junior died, for the civil liberties ideology that he espoused his sacrifice reaped benefits that are still being enjoyed by his people in America today. Luther’s legacy is an example of true leadership, leadership to the point of selfless sacrifice compare the leadership of Martin Luther King to a popular artist like Tupac what did the ministry of Martin Luther
King birth does his legacy live on? The answer is yes nation builders, who erected universities and colleges that educated young black men and women to become leaders of nations.
What did the legacy of Tupac birth out of his legacy are there universities, colleges, schools of thought I am only aware of a community center built out of his legacy the actual impact of such an institution can only be adjudged in the future, for now his short term legacy has birthed death and destruction of such we can be certain.
That said I will resume my portrayal of criminal culture and its reality.
In places like Suriname Winti is practiced (Winti is a religious practice that incorporates ancestor worship). Many drug dealers and gunmen from the Caribbean region go to an Obeah man who they pay to cast a spell or an incantation of protection in order to shield them, from being detected by the surveillance cameras in the airports. The Caribbean drug trade is inextricably linked to Cocaine which brings in huge sums of money that in turn fuels the burgeoning illicit arms market. Moving contraband throughout the Caribbean has given way to well-travelled routes that are increasingly used to facilitate, human trafficking of every hue including child prostitution and slavery of every variety. The weak and corrupt governments in the region are seemingly impotent in the face of the growing threat of terrorism in the region. The regional terror threat is facilitated by the drugs and arms trade, which has seen the emergence of sophisticated gangs in the region, who are now using terrorist tactics to achieve their goals.
HAITIAN JACK SPEAKS ON 1994 TUPAC SHAKUR SHOOTING, INSINUATES JIMMY HENCHMAN’S INVOLVEMENT
ROCKO RATHON FEBRUARY 6, 2015
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Haitian Jack finally speaks.
By now, many rap fans are familiar with the 1994 shooting of iconic rapper Tupac Shakur in New York City’s Quad Studios. The incident is what sparked the now infamous East Coast-West Coast feud after Shakur accused Puff Daddy and Notorious B.I.G. of being involved in his attack. On his posthumous 1996 album “The Don Killuminati: The 7 Day Theory”, Shakur penned a track titled “Against All Odds”, where he name-drops several of his adversaries including Nas, Mobb Deep, Jimmy Henchman, and Haitian Jack.
On the song, Tupac not only accuses Henchman and Haitian Jack of orchestrating the 1994 shooting, but also alleges that Jack is a government informant for the FBI. Having been a notorious figure in New York City during the 90s, Jack, real name Jacques Agnant, was eventually deported back to Haiti in 2007. Henchman went on to have massive success in the music industry, even managing Compton rapper The Game at one point. In 2014, Henchman was sentenced to life in prison in connection with a string of murders and narcotics trafficking.
HipHopWired caught up with the ever elusive Haitian Jack and spoke about that faithful night in 1994. He disassociates himself from the incident but seems to implicate his former comrade Henchman.
“Whenever it comes to ‘Pac, it feels like I’m blamed,” Jack says. “I know who’s behind it and we’ll get into that one day. But the person that’s behind it is serving life right now. Let me tell you man, whenever you go out of your way to get someone killed, put in jail and slander their character, all those things end up coming back to you – especially a person who has nothing against you or has done nothing to you.”
When explicitly asked about his thoughts on Jimmy Henchman, he replied “He is who I thought he was – a b*tch,” And as far as Shakur’s claims that he was an informant, “Well it’s funny, they all want to claim that I’m linked to the government, but if I was linked to the government I would be in America [now].”
In summary given the background of the Shakur’s the colonial, imperialist and now ever expanding globalization led by the principal nations , who were the leaders of imperialism, slavery and colonialism. The Manichean reality of African heritage people’s in the western hemisphere have not changed much, given the preponderance of police murders of blacks in the US and elsewhere in the western hemisphere. Shakur the “performing art’s school kid”, who in the genesis of music career came out as a socially conscious rapper, whose political message was colored by Black Nationalist rhetoric, indicative of his upbringing would morph into the antithesis of Black Nationalism the corporate media created “gangsta rapper”.
Shakur certainly achieved the American dream in that his musical catalogue will, handsomely provide for his family and their offspring for generations to come if properly managed. In the fashion of Bob Marley, Elvis Presley, Michael Jackson and other’s Shakur’s legacy is now part and parcel not of American popular culture but global pop culture. Unfortunately lasting meaningful change in the condition of African heritage people’s in the western hemisphere will not be transformed by entertainers. The only meaningful change can only be enacted by the people of African heritage themselves. This is a minuscule aspect of that process, for in the provision of offering accurate, fact based information on a broad variety of subjects; I endeavor to “educate” people and hopefully eventually influence behavior pertinent to voting. The most effective change for any people can be attained by effective, manipulation of and eventually mastery over the political machinery of western society, only then will they be able to influence, and eventually dictate their affairs and position in the global arena. Give Thanks.
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