Hip-Hop Stars Remember Tupac 15 Years After His Death

Today marks the 15th anniversary of Tupac Shakur’s death. Tupac was shot multiple times during a drive by shooting after attending a Mike Tyson fight in Las Vegas on September 7th, 1996. The enigmatic street poet would die at the hospital a few days later.

Tupac was just 25-years-old when he was killed, but the rapper left a lasting impression on the hip-hop world. Today, stars like Drake, Snoop Dogg, RZA and Busta Ryhmes took a moment to reflect on one of the most influential rappers in hip-hop history.

Snoop Dogg: “His legacy is deeper than people could ever imagine. I been all over the world and the Tupac legacy is so deep. You got people believing that he’s still here. He gave people a different train of thought. You can be a thug, but be an intelligent thug. I see gangsters now walking around with laptops and becoming smarter. I attribute that to him because he was a thinker. He made people that were around him think.”

RZA: “Tupac continues to influence and inspire artists every day. Most of these big rappers are emulating him, emulating his style, his persona. You see me acting in movies, he was one of the first guys that was able to rap and act and break those barriers. Tupac is [an] icon for hip-hop, for music and for black people.”

Kurupt: “He’s an icon. He was a great man, he had a great heart, a passion for this music. He taught me so much; he taught a lot of people so much. He changed our whole work ethic in the studio, changed the way we look at this game. We took it serious all off the way ‘Pac was. Before then, we were just running amok.”

Drake: “If there was anybody that I wish I could be a little more like, it’d probably be ‘Pac. He was somebody who was a free spirit and he did not care, he just did what he felt. I wish I could have a little more ‘Pac to my persona. I’m working on it.”

After Tupac’s death, the rivalry between the east and west coast intensified. Orlando Anderson, who some believe was the one who shot Tupac, was murdered in 1998. Biggie Smalls, who some also believe was involved in Tupac’s death, was also shot and killed in 1998. Both Tupac’s and the Notorious B.I.G’s deaths remain unsolved.

A few months ago a jailed felon, Dexter Isaac, admitted to shooting Tupac in 1994. Isaac said that he was not involved in Tupac’s fatal shooting in 1996, but the 1994 shooting is believed to have been partially responsible for setting off a chain of events that ended in Tupac’s death.

Tupac only released 5 solo albums during his short career, but over the last 15 years, another 8 albums have made their way to record shelves. Tupac has released 8 posthumous albums, which has given a few people hope that the rapper is still alive.

According to Pop Crush, Tupac Shakur is the best selling hip-hop artist of all time with more than 100 million records sold, and he is one of few rappers to have his music immortalized by the Library of Congress.