Gawker’s Black Bag column is celebrating Illuminati Month by considering all sorts of theories, from crackpot to crazy. Today, Black Bag picks up one of pop culture’s more recent enduring secret plots; the beloved “Tupac Shakur isn’t really dead” conspiracy. This particular theory takes things a step further, and posits that not only is Shakur alive, he’s chilling in Cuba. The column goes into great detail providing clues that give the faithful reason to doubt Pac’s death (clues that are easily explained by those who don’t buy into his faked murder). You can read the whole article over at Gawker, but some of the evidence is below, along with alternative explanations in italics.
In regards to the circumstances of Tupac’s shooting:
- “If Tupac was shot on 9/7/96, why does the photo indicate it was taken on 9/8/96?” Probably because somebody programmed the date stamp incorrectly.
- “14 shots were fired, four of which hit Tupac. Knight, who is a considerably large man, was not hit once.” Counterpoint: Tupac was the target, and 10 shots missed both of them entirely.
- “The [Las Vegas] strip was likely congested with traffic that night. And yet, nobody spotted the white Cadillac?” White Cadillacs are among the most ubiquitous vehicles in Vegas.
- “Afeni [Shakur] says, ‘In the end, he chose to leave quietly.’ Was she implying Tupac had a hand in his removal from the spotlight?” That, or after suffering for days, her son died with peaceful dignity.
The theory then takes a hard left into crazy-town, presenting numerology evidence (prophesying that Tupac would return in the distant future of 2014), warming diplomatic relations between the U.S. and Cuba, and the recent move to monetize everything Shakur ever did. None of this really proves that Shakur is still alive, but sometimes it’s nice to imagine one of hip-hop’s greatest artists wasn’t tragically gunned down in his prime.