The Source Magazine November 1996

Tupac Death Issue

When I first moved to NYC I hopped back on FB marketplace after not having anything of the kind for a few years. Immediately looking for books and magazines, I found this guy selling some old issues of The Source from the 90s for a fair price and this is one of them. He said he used to have more because he was subscribed but had been stolen in a move years prior. Enjoy this journey back in time to the golden era of hip hop in the second half of the 90s. With Tupac’s murder taking place in mid September 1996, it was only right for The Source to dedicate their November issue to the rapper’s life and career.

The fashion editorials in music publications are always so under-appreciated especially since they frequently feature popular artists and brands. In these images, photographed by John Halprin, rap groups and emcees like Lost Boyz, Crucial Conflict, the then recently split PMD & Das EFX, Suga aka Sweet-T, A+, and The Almighty RSO. The editorial focuses on the latest Winter gear from brands like Maurice Malone, Helly Hanson, Mossimo, Echo Unlimited, FUBU, PNB Nation, and more.

Lil’ Kim was debatably the queen of hip hop at this point in the 90s with this “Momma Superior” editorial and interview to solidify that. The article talks in depth about Kim’s relationships with Bigge, Faith Evans, and the rest of the Bad Boy team, but its main focus is to highlight her up and coming debut solo album “Hardcore” which released in December of 1996.

Alright now lets get into the real meat of this issue, Tupac’s murder. Born June 16 1971, to Afeni Shakur, a proud Black Panther Party member who was at one point jailed while pregnant with Tupac. First making his musical debut with alongside Vallejo’s Ray Luv forming the group “The One Nation MC’s” in the late 80s but it was until 1991 that Tupac released his first solo album “2Pacalypse Now”. Songs like “Trapped” and “Brenda’s Got A Baby” highlight Pac’s poetic and meaningful lyrics. At first there wasn’t really any problems among East and West coast hip hop with Pac and Bigge being friends and had been seen together on numerous occasions. Drama really ensued during the 1995 Source awards held in NYC when Suge Knight representing Death Row, Tupac, and the West Coast, dissed Bad Boy in his award speech literally being boo’ed off stage by the NYC audience. Rubbing salt in the wound, a slightly intoxicated Snoop Dogg bum rushes the stage later grabbing the microphone exclaiming “East Coast don’t got love for Death Row?” and something along the lines of “Fuck the East Coast".

As time passed and rumors spread around, the beef grew more and more violent. Tupac was robbed and supposedly shot in NYC and subsequently convinced that Bigge and Bad Boy were behind the hit. Due to label requirements of dropping new music, Bigge unbeknownst to the drama that would ensue, claiming no ill intent, released his now infamous song “Who Shot Ya?” shortly after Pac was shot. Pac’s paranoia and lack of people to trust got the better of him as he then released “Hit ‘Em Up” which has gone down in history as one of the most ruthless diss tracks in hip hop history. The song opens with Pac claiming to have slept with Faith Evans, Bigge’s longtime partner, and ends the song with a roughly 2 minutes of what can only be described of straight disrespect to a ton of East Coast rappers. “Fuck Mobb Deep, fuck Bigge, fuck Bad Boy as a records label and as a motherfucking crew and if you wanna be down with Bad Boy, then fuck you too.”

Things all take a turn for the worst on September 7th 1996 when Tupac was shot in a drive-by shooting in Las Vegas leaving the Tyson vs. Seldon heavyweight boxing event ultimately passing away from wounds sustained in the shooting after 6 days of fighting to stay alive. Bigge was later shot and killed in March of 1997, potentially as some sort of retaliation for Tupac’s murder, while in LA promoting his new album “Life After Death”.

Fast forward to 2023, and Tupac’s murder was finally solved in an interesting turn of events. Spearheaded by a now retired LAPD detective, Greg Kading had been investing the murder of Bigge and pinned Duane Keffe D. Davis as a potential person of interest. Upon digging deeper, Kading found that Davis was involved in both Tupac and Bigge’s murders. In September of 2023, nearly 27 years after Tupac was killed, Duane Keffe D. Davis was arrested for orchestration of Tupac’s murder.

That about finishes it up for the free subscribers, as usual if you’re a paid subscriber you can download the full PDF file of this issue of The Source below!