A utility pole beside a busy Las Vegas intersection is a strange site for a shrine. But for Tupac Shakur’s millions of fans that gray concrete pillar was all they had.
The rapper was gunned down there on September 7, 1996. He died in a hospital, at the age of 25, six days later.
His mother Afeni had him cremated: there was no grave, and no real memorial. At least, that was what the world was told. But it wasn’t the full story.
Almost thirty years after Tupac’s death, it has emerged that his remains were indeed buried, and, what’s more, there is a grave – one whose existence has largely been kept a secret.
‘I don’t really know why this place was hidden from the public,’ said Jeff Pearlman, author of a new book, Only God Can Judge Me: The Many Lives of Tupac Shakur. ‘I just think they made the decision not to make this a thing, right? Maybe it’s out of respect.’
Pearlman told the Daily Mail that stumbling upon the grave was the biggest revelation from three years of research for the book, and conversations with almost 700 sources.
He had flown to Lumberton, North Carolina – a remote town of almost 20,000 people, 100 miles south of Raleigh – hoping to find more information on Tupac’s mother, who was born there.
He thought, at the time, that he knew what had happened to Tupac’s remains: Some of his ashes were scattered in Los Angeles, some near her home in Georgia, and some taken to the South African township of Soweto. Some, his stepbrother Mopreme said, were handed around in a bag; mixed with marijuana; and smoked by his friends.
Tupac Shakur, who died in 1996, was not known to have a gravesite – until now
Tupac’s headstone in Lumberton, which reads: ‘Tupac Amaru Shakur; June 16, 1971–Sept. 13, 1996; Beloved son, brother, nephew, uncle, cousin and friend; Always in our hearts’
Tupac Shakur’s grave, which was not widely known about until the publication of a new book
‘I guess we were trying to feel close to him, just being in his space,’ wrote Mopreme in his memoir. ‘Pac always talked about it, that’s what he told us to do. He said it often enough that we knew this was his wish: “Y’all smoke my ashes. Y’all get higher than a mothaf**** smoking my ashes.”‘
Suge Knight, the Death Row Records founder who was in the car with Tupac when the rap icon was killed, confirmed their story, saying earlier this year: ‘You’ve got to understand, that’s what made sense. It was symbolic. It’s like… you keep part of him.
‘I was so happy to say I was on probation – I couldn’t smoke. I told his mother, “Moms, I’d love to, but if I hit that, I’ll get in trouble.” I was probably the only one who didn’t hit him.’
In 2000, four years after Tupac’s death, Afeni Shakur bought a 56-acre plot of land on the outskirts of Lumberton and built an expansive house down a long driveway, set back behind wrought iron gates.
She lived there from 2002, marrying in 2004 a local preacher, Gust Davis. But by March 2016 the marriage had collapsed and Afeni had moved to California, where she took up residence on a houseboat in Sausalito.
She died in May 2016, at the age of 69, and the Lumberton home has remained empty ever since.
Pearlman told the Daily Mail: ‘I was interviewing one of Tupac’s cousins, Dante Powers, in Lumberton and he mentioned that he’s the caretaker of the house, and he’s like, “I have to let a maintenance person in, do you want to come with me and have a look?”
‘He let me just walk around the house. It’s empty, except for boxes with her stuff in it. And then he’s like, “do you want to see where Tupac is? Do you want to see the grave?”
‘I don’t remember how I responded, but in my head at least, I was like, I don’t even know what you mean, because I knew he’d been cremated and his ashes had been set free.
‘And he said, “No, no, no, his mom buried some of his ashes on the property.”‘
Pearlman described walking to the front of the house and being shown the headstone, buried under leaves and nearly hidden in the overgrown grass.
He said that finding the grave was ‘a breathtaking moment’, adding to Powers that it would be sad if the house were to be sold and the new owner did not appreciate what was in their front yard.
‘Hopefully if they do [sell the property], they will get him from there,’ said Powers. ‘Bury him somewhere else.’
Afeni Shakur, Tupac’s mother, is pictured in 2006. She died in May 2016, aged 69
Dante Powers is pictured showing the author the site of Tupac’s grave in Lumberton
How is it possible that this is the final resting place of one of the most celebrated rappers in history, whose five-year recording career saw him sell 75 million records worldwide – almost double that of Snoop Dogg, and triple that of Dr Dre.
Why is there no Graceland or Paisley Park – how has his tomb remained hidden, while Jim Morrison’s Paris grave and Seattle-born Jimi Hendrix’s hometown mausoleum have become places of pilgrimage?
Pearlman speculates that it’s partially because of Lumberton’s remoteness, and partially because the family did not want to create a scene.
Tupac’s surviving relatives include his father Billy Garland, now 76, who was largely absent from his son’s life; his half sister Sekyiwa, 50, born to Afeni Shakur and her second husband Mutulu Shakur; and his stepbrother Mopreme, 58, Mutulu Shakur’s son born before Afeni’s marriage.
When Tupac’s estate agreed to work with his childhood friend Staci Robinson on the 2023 authorized biography, there was no mention of the grave.
The estate is managed by Tom Whalley, who in 1991 signed the young rapper to Interscope Records. He was challenged in court in January 2022 by the rapper’s half sister Sekyiwa Shakur, who runs the Tupac Shakur Foundation, over allegations of financial mismanagement: Whalley said the allegations were baseless, ‘disappointing and detrimental to all beneficiaries of the trust.’ Whalley’s lawyer Howard King did not respond to the Daily Mail’s request for comment.
Wrangling over the New York-born musician’s death is continuing, too.
Duane Davis is seen in a Las Vegas court in November 2023. His trial begins in February
The bullet-riddled car in which Tupac was travelling on the night of his killing is pictured
Next year the trial is scheduled for the only man ever charged in his killing, Duane ‘Keefe D’ Davis. Davis was one of four people in a white Cadillac that pulled alongside Tupac’s BMW on the night he was shot: Davis is accused of orchestrating the hit on behalf of his nephew Orlando Anderson, who was punched by Tupac hours before. Anderson was murdered in 1998; DeAndre Smith, another passenger, was shot dead in 2004; and the driver, Terrence Brown, was killed in 2015.
Davis has pleaded not guilty and claims he was in Los Angeles on the night of the murder.
Despite the ignominy of the rapper’s death and final resting place, Pearlman said visiting the rundown site was still moving.
‘Finding it was this completely unexpected revelation,’ he said. ‘Standing there and actually looking at it… It was a real occasion.
‘I’m not very spiritual, but it did feel like a spiritual moment.’
