Rapper Tupac’s late mother, Afeni Shakur, said a little over a decade ago that she wanted the world to remember her son as a true artist and someone who cared deeply for others.
In 2011, Afeni spoke fondly about her son, describing the “Dear Mama” hitmaker as an exceptional Black man.
“I would describe Tupac as an extraordinary human being who was very ordinary. He was my son, so I knew him and loved him as a human being…as a mother would a son. He was a good person, and I think that the beauty of him was in his humanness,” Afeni, who passed in 2016 at the age of 69, spoke passionately about his son.
Her words have resurfaced following reports on Friday, Sept. 29 that a grand jury has indicted Duane Keith “Keffe D” Davis on charges of murder with the use of a deadly weapon in connection with the 1996 killing of the rapper.
Las Vegas authorities announced that 60-year-old Davis has been charged with one count of murder with the use of a deadly weapon with a gang enhancement.
Tupac was shot and killed while leaving a boxing match on the Las Vegas Strip, but his death has been the subject of conspiracies.
Sheriff Kevin McMahill of the LAPD believes the breakthrough arrest of one of the last living witnesses to the fatal drive-by shooting of the rapper will put the many doubts to rest.
“Many people who did not believe the murder of Tupac Shukar was important to this police department, I am here to tell you: that was simply not the case,” McMahill said at a news conference Friday afternoon.
Afeni Shakur wanted her son to be remembered as the true artist that he is.
“When my son died in 1996, people were trying to remember him differently but time has emboldened him to be [the poet, artist and rapper that he’s known as today]…I always want people to understand that Tupac was an artist and I always want people to appreciate him as a true artist and to appreciate all of his work, rather than to pick and choose lies from somebody’s work.
“I think the most important thing is when people view him as an artist, a humanitarian and as a person who felt other people’s pain,” her words echo in time.
Meanwhile, retired Los Angeles police detective, Greg Kading, who spent years investigating the Shakur killing and wrote a book about it, said he is not surprised by Davis’s indictment and arrest.
“It’s so long overdue,” Kading told The Associated Press during a recent interview.
Kading has said he interviewed Davis in 2008 and 2009, during Los Angeles police investigations of the killings of Shakur in Las Vegas and the slaying of Biggie Smalls.
