The rapper – full name Tupac Shakur – was gunned down after watching a boxing match in Las Vegas, succumbing to his injuries six days later on 13 September 1996. He was just 25 years old.
Nearly 30 years on from the killing and Shakur’s death remains a point of fascination in popular culture, with conspiracy theorists even going as far as claiming he survived the shooting and is still alive somewhere. Tupac if you’re reading this feel free to get in touch.
Tupac died at the age of 25 after being shot in Las Vegas (Raymond Boyd/Getty Images)
Before his untimely death it appeared Shakur had been thinking a lot about what he’d like the rest of his life to look like – with a recently resurfaced clip from his prison interview revealing the rapper’s heartbreaking final wish.
Originally published as part of a news report in 1996, a previously unreleased track was accompanied by the rapper talking about his future while incarcerated at Clinton Correctional Facility in September 1995.
“Prison gave me so much knowledge and put me on such a right track that I would like to do a whole tour of prisons,” he explained in the clip.
Shakur was arrested and imprisoned for eight months on sexual abuse charges, however he was later released pending an appeal of his conviction.
“Thug life is like the twelfth grade,” he explained. “Some people graduate from high school and don’t seek to do anything else, so they continually live the thug life.
“You can live your whole life with a high school diploma but you’re always going to be missing something.”
Shakur then went on to explain that while the concept of ‘Thug Life’ would always be with him he also wanted to ‘graduate’ and move forward with his life.
Tupac died just a year later (2PAC/X)
“I wanted to move up. I wanted to do something different, to expand and grow,” he explained. He also touched on being shot five times outside of Quad Studios in New York City in November 1994, telling the interviewer: “I already took five bullets and if I can help it, I don’t plan on taking no more.”
Following his release from prison eight months into his sentence Shakur signed to Suge Knight’s Death Row Records. Knight would be with Shakur in Las Vegas on 7 September when he was fatally shot at by an unknown assailant.
