Duane ‘Keffe D’ Davis, charged with organizing the 1996 killing of Tupac Shakur, is on trial. The man who prosecutors say orchestrated the fatal drive-by shooting in Las Vegas faces a single count of murder with a deadly weapon.
Davis, 63, has pleaded not guilty and has been jailed since late 2023. For decades, Shakur’s unsolved killing has gripped hip-hop fans, who consider him one of the most influential rappers of all time.
The Trial
The trial, which is expected to last about a month, likely won’t reveal who pulled the trigger. Instead, prosecutors hope to prove that Davis was the shot caller and provided the weapon. Gunfire came from the Cadillac that Davis was in, and he’s one of the only people there that night who is still alive.
Prosecutors say if Davis hadn’t written explicitly about the killing, or talked about it in interviews, it’s likely no one would have been charged. Davis published a tell-all memoir in 2019, which revived the police investigation.
Cold Case Revived
On Sept. 7, 1996, Shakur was in the passenger seat of a black BMW and Marion “Suge” Knight was driving. They had just watched Mike Tyson knock out Bruce Seldon and were headed to a nightclub where Shakur was scheduled to perform.
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But at a red light near the Las Vegas Strip, a white Cadillac pulled up beside them, and gunfire erupted. Shakur was shot multiple times and died six days later, while Knight survived with minor injuries.
Davis’s defense attorneys argue there is no evidence he directed the shooting and the state relies on witnesses who weren’t there. The defense said Davis left the narcotics trade in 2009 and worked a steady job before illness forced him to retire in 2014.
Family’s Hope for Justice
For Shakur’s family, the last 30 years have been exhausting and stressful, his stepbrother Maurice “Mopreme” Shakur said. Sitting through the trial will be retraumatizing, Shakur said, but he’s “cautiously optimistic” justice will come.
“I hope that the trial is fair, and we find out the truth,” he said. Shakur’s death was a result of a longstanding gang feud, witnesses say.
Gang Feud
Hundreds of pages of grand jury transcripts portray Tupac Shakur’s shooting as a culmination of a longstanding feud between rival record labels — Death Row Records and Bad Boy Records — and rival gang sects Mob Piru and South Side Compton Crips.
Witnesses said South Side Compton Crips hung out with and provided protection to Bad Boy Records, which was founded by Sean “Diddy” Combs and included rappers like The Notorious B.I.G., or Christopher Wallace. Mob Piru, part of the larger Bloods gang, was associated with Death Row Records, which featured rappers like Shakur, Snoop Dogg, and Dr. Dre.
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The rival gangs fought and retaliated against each other both before and after Shakur’s death. Prosecutors allege Davis orchestrated the shooting to get revenge after Shakur and his entourage beat up Davis’s nephew, Orlando “Baby Lane” Anderson, at the MGM Grand hours before Shakur was killed.
Davis’s book will be front and center at the trial. The prosecutors’ case relies on “Compton Street Legend,” the book Davis co-authored about the shooting and his time in the Crips, as well as police and media interviews he participated in.
As the trial begins, Shakur’s influence in the music industry endures. He sold over 75 million records worldwide with hits like “California Love,” “Changes,” and “Dear Mama.” His songs spanned from party anthems to deep social commentary, and the issues he discussed still resonate with people 30 years later, history professor Jeffrey O.G. Ogbar said.
“I can’t think of anyone else in the history of hip-hop who’s had a greater impact in such a short period of time,” said Ogbar, who is the founding director of the University of Connecticut’s Center for the Study of Popular Music.
The trial could bring closure — or more questions. Mopreme Shakur said nothing would bring back his stepbrother. “That would be justice for me,” he said. “But we all know that is unattainable.”