A two-part Los Angeles Times article about the murder and investigation of rapper Tupac Shakur has more than a few people up in arms, including the Hip-Hop Summit Action Network and the family of slain rapper Notorious B.I.G.
The article, written by Chuck Phillips, follows a yearlong investigation into the fatal 1996 shooting of Shakur in Las Vegas. It claims that Notorious B.I.G., aka Christopher Wallace, purportedly gave a gun to a member of the Southside Crips gang and agreed to pay $1 million to kill Shakur.
It also faults the Las Vegas police for their failure to bring in a special LAPD unit that focuses on gangs and for ignoring other incidents that occurred on the day of the shooting.
Variety reports both Wallace’s family and Russell Simmons, chairman of the hip-hop network, issued statements Friday denying the accusations and claiming Wallace was in his home in New Jersey, not in Las Vegas, on the night of the shooting.
Simmons said in the statement, “[the Times article] does more to inflame passions and emotions than to clear the air with actual facts concerning the tragic murder of Tupac Shakur six years ago.”
Ironically, Wallace was murdered in Los Angeles six months after Shakur‘s death. While neither case has been solved, Wallace’s family has filed suit against the Los Angeles Police Department for never investigating his murder.
