Duane "Keffe D" Davis, a 63-year-old former gang leader, will appear in court charged with the murder of Tupac Shakur, the rap superstar who was shot on 7 September 1996 in Las Vegas. Davis has pleaded not guilty to the charge of murder with a deadly weapon with intent to promote, support or aid a criminal gang. If found guilty, he faces life imprisonment without possibility of parole.
The shooting, which ended the rapper's life at age 25, changed the trajectory of hip hop for three decades marked by mystery, conspiracy theories and anger. That night, after attending a boxing match between Mike Tyson and Bruce Seldon at the MGM Grand hotel, Tupac was travelling in the passenger seat of Suge Knight's BMW, the chief executive of Death Row Records, when a white Cadillac pulled up and opened fire. Tupac was hospitalised and died six days later.
The prosecution's case rests almost exclusively on a book that Davis co-authored, which he claims is partly a work of fiction. The case will include several high-profile witnesses, among them Knight, who is considered the last living witness to the murder. Jury selection began in early August and opening statements were scheduled for 17 August.
Tupac, born in New York in 1971, became one of the most influential figures in hip hop. He released his debut album in 1991 and remains one of the best-selling artists of all time, with more than 75 million records sold worldwide. His double album "All Eyez on Me", released months before his death, cemented his place in gangsta rap history and sold more than 5 million copies.
The musician was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2017 and also found success as an actor in films such as "Juice", "Poetic Justice" and "Gridlock'd". Later artists such as Kendrick Lamar have cited him as a source of inspiration, and 50 Cent went so far as to say that "every rapper who grew up in the nineties owes something to Tupac".
