The family of the late Tupac Shakur has hired New York attorney Alex Spiro to investigate an alleged link between the rapper’s death and Sean “Diddy” Combs, Billboard can confirm.
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Shakur was 25 years old when he was shot and killed while driving Las Vegas in September 1996. The legendary rapper ultimately succumbed to his injuries six days later on Sept. 13, 1996. Former gang leader Duane “Keefe D” Davis was arrested in September 2023 and charged with one count of murder with a deadly weapon in connection to the attack. Davis, whose trial begins in March 2025, has previously claimed that Combs offered him $1 million for a hit on Shakur.
Since then, the alleged connection between the two has appeared in pop culture, most recently in Eminem’s 2024 collaboration with JID, “Fuel,” in which he raps, “Notorious B.I.G.’s death was the domino effects of Tupac’s murder, like facial tissue, who’s clock should I clean next? Puff’s? ‘Til he’s in police handcuffs, guilty, will he step up?”
Back in 2008, Diddy denied any connection to Tupac’s attack. “The story is a lie,” the hip-hop mogul said in a statement, following a report from the Los Angeles Times reporting that Diddy’s associates were responsible for the incident. “It is beyond ridiculous and completely false. Neither (the late rapper Notorious B.I.G.) nor I had any knowledge of any attack before, during or after it happened. I am shocked that the Los Angeles Times would be so irresponsible as to publish such a baseless and completely untrue story.”
Once one of the most powerful and influential figures in music, Combs was indicted by federal prosecutors last month on multiple charges that allege he was the figurehead of a massive criminal operation for decades aimed at satisfying his need for “sexual gratification.” To date, 12 victims have filed civil sexual abuse cases against Combs over the past year.
