New Info on Tupac Shooting of '94
Unidentified informant's testimony may corroborate Tupac's claims of Diddy's involvement.
New information has been revealed on the most infamous of celebrity feuds: that of rappers Notorious B.I.G. and Tupac Shakur. Their feud led to an East Coast v. West Coast hip-hop war, which culminated in the death of both figureheads, Tupac in '96, Biggie in '97.
Shakur was ambushed and shot at the Quad Recording Studio in New York City on November 30, 1994, where Christopher "Notorious B.I.G." Wallace was allegedly working on new material with Sean "Puff Daddy" Combs, now known to the public as "Diddy." In one of the most infamous images in hip-hop, Shakur can be seen being carried to an ambulance on a stretcher, having been shot and beaten, sticking his middle finger in the air for the swarm of paparazzi that surrounded him. He blamed the attack on Biggie and Combs, though no perpetrator has ever been identified.
In the months preceding the attack, Shakur and Biggie, two former friends, had a falling out. Tupac released a track that dissed Biggie, and implied that he had sex with Biggie's wife, Faith Evans. Shakur believed associates of Biggie's producer and friend, Sean "Diddy" Combs, orchestrated the attack in retaliation.
The newly discovered information, however, lends credence to Shakur's claims. An unidentified informant names two hip-hop figures involved with the attack: talent manager James Rosemond, aka "Jimmy Henchman," and promoter James Sabatino, who is in jail for unrelated crimes. Other interviews with people who were present at the studio on the night of the shooting corroborate the informant's testimony.
Supposedly, Rosemond and Sabatino lured Shakur to the studio by offering him $7,000 for a vocal track on their record, and hired three assailants to attack and rob the rebellious, irreverent rapper. Accounts and recordings of Shakur's subsequent statements reveal that he suspected Rosemond, Combs, and their associates. He promised to get even, inciting a bicoastal rap war.
Rappers mourned the loss of two of its greatest poet/MCs, and their deaths influenced later MCs to call for the end of violence in hip-hop, and warn of the swaying power of the media.
