2 days ago
- Entertainment
- San Francisco Chronicle
Suge Knight says Tupac begged for death and friends smoked his ashes
Marion 'Suge' Knight, the embattled former CEO of Death Row Records, has come forward with bombshell claims about the death of rapper Tupac Shakur, revealing in a new jailhouse interview that Shakur asked to be killed in the hospital after being shot — and that his friends later smoked his cremated remains.
Knight, 60, the only living witness to Shakur's final hours, recounted the chaotic night of Sept. 7, 1996, when their black BMW came under fire in a drive-by shooting near the Las Vegas Strip.
After the pair were rushed to the University Medical Center of Southern Nevada, Knight said Shakur, fearing prosecution for a gang-related assault earlier that night, begged to be killed.
'Kill me. Shoot me,' Shakur allegedly pleaded, according to Knight's interview with People.
Shakur's mother, Afeni Shakur, a former Black Panther, allegedly gave her son pills to ease his suffering, Knight claimed.
When doctors attempted to revive him, Knight says she intervened: 'Don't ever do that again ... Let him go.'
Shakur was declared dead six days later, on Sept. 13.
According to Knight, Afeni insisted on an immediate cremation. He paid $1 million in cash to have it done. That same night, in what Knight described as a symbolic tribute, several of Shakur's close friends allegedly rolled his ashes into a blunt and smoked them.
Knight, on probation at the time, says he abstained.
Despite a tumultuous music career that spanned just five years, Shakur made an indelible mark on the world of hip-hop. He sold more than 75 million records worldwide, including the diamond-certified album 'All Eyez on Me,' which included the hits 'California Love (Remix),' 'I Ain't Mad at Cha' and 'How Do U Want It.' He also found success as an actor, starring in the films 'Poetic Justice,' 'Juice' and 'Above the Rim.'
Although Shakur was born in New York and spent his youth in Baltimore and Marin City, he credited Oakland with launching his music career after he connected with the East Bay rap outfit Digital Underground.
In 2023, the Oakland City Council unanimously approved the renaming of a section of MacArthur Boulevard to Tupac Shakur Way in honor of the rapper. In 2016, the city also issued a proclamation naming June 16 as Tupac Shakur Day.
'I give all my love to Oakland, if I'ma claim somewhere I'ma claim Oakland, even if I don't live there,' Shakur said in a 1993 interview.
The new revelations come amid renewed scrutiny over Shakur's killing.
He has claimed Sean 'Diddy' Combs ordered the hit, an allegation Combs has repeatedly denied and which authorities say has never led to Combs being considered a suspect.
Afeni Shakur died at the age of 69 on May 2, 2016. The cause was believed to be cardiac arrest, according to the Marin County Sheriff's Office.
Nearly 30 years after the shooting, Knight says he still can't bring himself to listen to Tupac's music.
'It was a part of me that changed my life forever,' he said. 'When Pac died, I saw the whole sky turn a reddish orange.'
