There will always be a segment of our population that will buy into conspiracy theories. After all, believing conspiracies requires less rational thinking and studying than believing the truth; and any substantiated evidence that opposes the conspiracy can simply be brushed off as “just part of the conspiracy� . Richard Bond’s “Tupac: Assassination� is no exception.

Stripped down to its core, the DVD rests it’s conclusion of Tupac’s (Tupac Shakur) “assassination� being orchestrated by Suge Knight (Hip hop mogul and CEO of Death Row Records) and Reggie Wright (owner of Wrightway Security) on one single premise: the rumor that Tupac (2Pac) was planning on leaving Death Row. The “lack of bodyguards� issue, the “disarmament� issue and the “boxed in� issue (all of
which aren’t true) all are traced back to their original premise of Tupac’s “plans� on leaving Death Row to start Makaveli Records. It’s too bad that this single assertion, however, is wrong.

The answer to this untrue theory is fairly simple: Makaveli Records was going to be distributed through none other than Suge Knight’s “Death Row Records� . This fact is undisputed by everybody besides conspiracy theorists – even Tupac (2Pac) himself! Richard Bond apparently is unable to comprehend the notion of starting a record label that will still be connected to a bigger record label it branched from. Shortly before Tupac (2Pac) died, he conducted an interview with Rob Marriott where he explained that under the auspices of Death Row, he was going to start Makaveli Records. Also, just 3 days before Tupac got shot, Tupac, with Suge Knight beside him, gave an explosive, energetic interview about “Death Row East� , and the amount of work, he, himself, put into it. After watching the interview, how anyone can claim he was about to leave Death Row is beyond me. When asked by Sway, a San Francisco DJ, where Tupac sees himself in five years, Tupac (2Pac) bluntly answered, “I see myself having a job with Death Row� . The DVD attempted to “prove� Tupac was leaving Death Row due to a supposed confrontation between Tupac and Suge Knight – however, the contents of the confrontation contradicts their own theory. Tupac allegedly got angry with Suge for not getting Snoop Dogg to represent Death Row enough! This is just one example of the extremely weak “arguments� the DVD made.

I bought the DVD with vigorous excitement, hoping to learn many substantiated facts I had previously not known, but instead, I was ransacked with unverified asinine theories about how the guy sitting inches from Tupac, while the car got shot at randomly with 14 bullets and himself grazed in the head and back of the neck, was the one who was in on it.


To watch my detailed rebuttal to the film, going point by point, please go to

Part 1:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-H8c7...le.php?t=95236

Part 2:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gyPMS...eature=related

Anton Batey

*Anton Batey can be contacted at Anton_Batey(at)yahoo.com for feedback and comment.
http://www.streethop.com/forums/article.php?t=95236