Two weeks after the drive-by shooting death of Tupac Shakur near the glittery main strip of Las Vegas, a very public murder that no one present can seem to recall much about — a memorial service for the trouble-prone rapper and actor was held in New York City last Sunday by the Nation Of Islam.
It was called „A Hip-Hop Day of Atonement,“ apparently intended as a mass meditation on the black on black violence that now claims so many young men’s lives. It was originally scheduled to be held at Harlem’s Mosque Number Seven, a venue presided over in the sixties by the fiery black leader Malcolm X, who was himself gunned down by fellow black Muslims after he split with Nation of Islam Leader Elijah Muhammad. The memorial service wasn’t open to everyone, but here’s what we saw on the scene.
FEMALE MEMORIAL PARTICIPANT: I wish I had a chance to actually meet Tupac. His music meant a lot to our people.
MALE MEMORIAL PARTICIPANT: Tupac is just one of many who die on the streets everyday, this is an opportunity to — another coming together for the community.
MTV: Due to a larger than anticipated turnout organizers were forced to move the event across the street to the more spacious Dempsey multi-service center where neither cameras nor white people were allowed. However, the message being delivered inside was broadcast to the hundreds waiting outside.
MALE MEMORIAL PARTICIPANT: Whether I go inside and actually hear the words that are being spoken, or if I’m out here feeling the energy from people around here and other people just standing on line that want to see more positive things happen in our community, then my mission has been accomplished.
MTV: Out on the street, event organizer Conrad Muhammad of the Nation of Islam and some hip hop reformers reiterated some of the sentiments being expressed inside.
Q-TIP, A Tribe Called Quest: Hopefully, this will be a wake up call to motivate some of the youngsters — because that’s what this is all about. To do something more in a positive light.
MINISTER CONRAD MUHAMMAD: We will commit ourselves, from this day forward, to stop the negativity, to work hard to use brother Tupac’s life, not in vain, but to be a turning point for the hip hop nation.
SPINDERELLA, Salt N‘ Pepa: We want the media to know, you know, being that you guys were not inside that this is something that we’re trying to do constantly and our kids that are writing those lyrics are living that life.
GRAND MASTER FLASH: It’s a black owned art form but it was made for the whole world to listen to, and if we as a community do not take responsibility for what this is then it’ll be gone.
While everyone in Tupac’s entourage the night he was murdered appears to have been looking the other way when the shots were fired, Las Vegas police say they are now getting phone tips from other possible eye-witnesses. As for Tupac’s musical legacy, Death Row Records says that, contrary to some reports, Shakur left behind only a handful of unreleased tracks, six of which will be released on November 5th, on an EP called „Machiavelli.“ His latest album „All Eyez On Me,“ meanwhile, pole-vaults to number 6 on Monday’s „Billboard“ albums chart up from 18 this week, and 69 two weeks ago.
