Solving murder mysteries is a complex and time taking process with many things to take into account. Gathering information and deducing multiple possibilities, following up on leads is an arduous task. I learned that there are many obstacles to solving murder mysteries. Lack of evidence, gathering witnesses and questioning them, and the involvement of corrupt police officers are examples of such obstacles. I discovered that the Tupac murder case is practically a giant web that has even more killings to cover up previous killings and to silence people who have evidence. There is the involvement of corrupt police officers who acted as gang members for the Bloods. The murder of Tupac Shakur was like a domino effect – one thing leading up to another and ultimately the shooting that took Tupac’s life.
The first event that set this in motion was the stolen death row pendant and chain belonging to a Blood member. These were stolen by Orlando Anderson, a member of the Crips, a rival gang of the Bloods. This caused Tupac to confront Anderson at the MGM Grand Arena and along with the Blood members, beat Anderson up on the night of his death. This caused the head of the Crips, Keefe D, the uncle of Anderson, to retaliate and seek revenge. He accompanied Anderson and went after Tupac, which caused a shooting resulting in the death of the American hip-hop artist. This gave birth to a series of killings, the Bloods waged war on the Crips, and a witness was also killed. This murder also resulted in the alleged retaliation of Suge and the murder of rival Biggie Smalls. The prime suspect, Anderson was also shot in a drug deal.
It was a challenge to gather information regarding this murder case as there was a lot of conflicting, uncertain, or unreliable information. Narrowing down how the events transpired and the people involved were demanding. Trying to crack open this entangled murder case was not easy as there are so many factors, people, and events that unfolded leading up to the climax – the murder of Tupac. One thing lead to another and trying to organize the information accurately was problematic. Reviewing multiple interviews, and checking the validity of statements released by the people involved from reliable sources was troublesome. It also made me realize the effort that goes into the actual investigation of murder cases. There was a subtle admiration for the detectives that crack down on these confusing cases.
Although it was challenging to develop an understanding of the case when approaching it thoroughly I was able to gather valid information regarding the case. It was a scintillating case that aroused my interest in every aspect. The complexity and twists at every step were a thrill to review. It has made me appreciate murder mysteries and develop a keen interest in how they are approached and solved. Going through the statements of everyone involved made me experience the events from different perspectives. Different views enabled me to find angles that were not visible to me initially.
If I could do this project all over again, I would choose a different approach to this case. Reviewing this case has broadened my horizons a lot and I have gained valuable experience on how to gather information on topics such as this. When I started this project, I overwhelmed myself with a lot of different sources and varying information. It made the project unnecessarily challenging. It took me a lot of time to make sense of all the information that was provided. This made time consumption a great factor when it should not have been that big of a problem. A different approach that I would make next time is that before reading from different sources, I would watch some sort of video documentary as they really make the cases easier to review. Watching interviews and statements released made the case much more digestible. Reading the related texts and making sense of the flowing events was simpler. The entwined occurrences seemed to unravel themselves. I think it is important to have a good understanding of the approach one is going to take as it makes the review of murder mystery cases cleaner. Bar, rushing into the project made it a bit haphazard for me. Trying to rush to the core of the problem was the exact opposite of what I initially should have done. So, next time I would try to tackle the events one at a time to make information garnering affluent.
Conclusively, it can be stated that this project has broadened my horizons on murder mysteries. It has made me recognize the effort that goes into gathering information, and the risk and calculations involved. A murder mystery can have so many varying factors, and the correct way to approach these factors is an art form. Furthermore, the correct approach can make things simpler, and the wrong approach can entangle you in a perplexing situation. The understanding developed from evaluating different aspects made me really enjoy the murder mystery and this project overall. Starting, the project seemed to be strenuous as I was overwhelmed, however calmly analyzing the issues enabled me to enjoy the research and develop an interest in the proceedings of murder mysteries. It made me pick up the knowledge approaching a task head-on is sometimes detrimental and can cause productivity to fall. It can make you tunnel-versioned and miss important pieces of information. A broader approach, or a different approach to the one you initially thought of, can have better results and make the task more enjoyable.
Works Cited
Craig Shufelt. “Notorious C.O.P.: The Inside Story of Tupac, Biggie and Jam Master Jay Investigations from NYPD’s ‘First Hip-Hop Cop.’” Library Journal, vol. 131, no. 11, 2006, pp. 72-.
djvlad. Keefe D on 2Pac, Orlando Anderson, Suge Knight, Puffy (Full Interview). 2019. YouTube, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=43oKS6aXh3E.
Hess, Mickey. Icons of Hip Hop: An Encyclopedia of the Movement, Music, and Culture. ABC-CLIO, 2007.
Raftery, Brian M. “A B.I.G. Mystery: The New Documentary Biggie & Tupac and an L.A. Times Report Offer Conflicting Accounts of the Rappers’ Murders.” Entertainment Weekly, no. 674, 2002, pp. 19–19.
Sullivan, Randall. LAbyrinth: A Detective Investigates the Murders of Tupac Shakur and Notorious B.I.G., the Implication of Death Row Records’ Suge Knight, and the Origins of the Los Angeles Police Scandal. Grove Press, 2002.
The Infographics Show. Who Actually Killed Tupac Shakur. 2021. YouTube, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4y-KDVdCASY.
