The Covert War Against Rock

by Alex Constantine

  In an interview two years ago at the federal prison in Lewisburg, Pennsylvania, where he was being held at the time, Dr. Shakur would not say if he saw Tupac during the years he was on the run from the Brinks charges. But it must have been painful for adolescent Tupac to know agents were scouring black neighborhoods all over the country looking for his stepfather. During this time, Afeni and Tupac moved from Harlem to Baltimore. In an added trauma for Tupac, Lumumba Shakur, who remained on good terms with the family, was found dead in Louisiana several days before Mutulu was arrested. Mutulu says he suspects Lumumba was murdered by someone (perhaps a police informant) who learned of Mutulu’s whereabouts and decided to kill two birds with one stone, taking the two brothers out of circulation.

  By this time, at age 15, Tupac must have been thoroughly convinced that to be a Shakur was to confront the possibility of death at an early age. He was learning such lessons almost before he could walk. In 1973, when Tupac was a toddler, his uncle, Zayd Shakur, was traveling on the New Jersey Turnpike with his companion, Assata Shakur, when they were stopped by a trooper. In a shoot-out that followed, Zayd and Trooper Werner Foerster lay dead. Assata, once known as Jo Anne Chesimard, was wounded and later charged and convicted in the killing of the trooper. Taking the legend of the Shakurs to new heights, Assata escaped from prison in 1979 and fled to Cuba, where she is living now under a grant of asylum from the government of Fidel Castro. Assata, dubbed the “soul” of the Black Liberation Army, is arguably the most famous member of Tupac’s extended family. Even as he climbed the ladder of stardom and fought publicized battles with the law—including the sex assault case and an allegation that he wounded a police officer in Georgia—Tupac stayed in close contact with his stepfather Mutulu, talking with him by phone and seeking advice from him. Mutulu (born Jeral Wayne Williams) maintains he was having an impact on the young man, guiding him from street instincts and post-adolescent confusion, into a more coherent use of his energies.

  Mutulu praised the tender songs that Tupac would write, the ones with positive messages about family life and responsibility, like “Brenda’s Cot a Baby.” Together, the step-father and -son team drew up a “Code of Thug Life,” which was a list of rules discouraging random violence among gansta rappers. All of this was done away from the glare of media attention, and perhaps there was good reason why Tupac did not want to publicize his relationship with Mutulu. He was already taking enough heat from local police around the country. Why aggravate the situation by further provoking federal agents who might have been monitoring Mutulu and his revolutionary associates? After all, federal authorities were known to be still interested in capturing Assata, who was close to Mutulu. Assata says she escaped from jail in 1979 because she had learned of a plan to have white prisoners assassinate her. Federal authorities said Mutulu was part of the team that broke Assata out of prison. It is perhaps difficult for some to remember the passion that Assata and her associates inspired in the law enforcement community. After I first wrote about Assata in 1987, I did a phone interview with FBI official Ken Walton, who was prominent in the effort to capture her after her jail break. He told me in measured, angry words that he “or somebody like me” will one day capture Assata and bring her back to the States.

  Esysni Tyehimba, Tupac’s personal manager, has long been a friend of the Shakur family. Tyehimba recalls that they dealt extensively with COINTELPRO issues. “We worked around a lot of political prisoners and . . . the black liberation movement over the years in different locations. This [shaped Tupac into] the person that he was.” Tyehimba’s family operated the Center for Black Survival “We had a youth group called the New Afrikan Panthers, and [Tupac] became the chairperson of that organization.” The very first song Tupac recorded was “Panther Power.” Karen Lee, a publicist and friend of the Shakur family, recalls early attempts by authorities to discredit the rap singer when he was coming to terms with his growing popularity. “Tupac couldn’t understand why it was front-page news when he was arrested that time in Atlanta” for shooting a pair of white, off-duty cops on October 31, 1993. Lee told reporters in the rap press that when the charges were dropped, “and one police officer involved was found guilty [of firing at Shakur and making false statements], it was a story on, like, page 85 that nobody knew anything about.”11

  Tupac was booked on a rape charge the following year. During the trial in November 1997, he was robbed on the street and shot five times. Tupac checked out of the hospital the same day and appeared in court the next. He was sentenced on February 5, 1995 to four-and-a-half years at Rikers Island Prison in New York, but was released when Knight posted a $1.4-million bond eight months later. Charles Fuller, the band’s road manager and a codefendent in the sexual assault case, maintains that they’d been set up by the legal system. “Right before we got sentenced,’’ he recalls, “Tupac said that he felt like an injustice was being done to us.”12

  The agony of the rap industry was exacerbated on March 9, 1997 by the killing of 24-year-old Brooklyn rap artist Christopher Wallace, otherwise known as Notorious B.I.G., in Los Angeles. On March 10, MTV News reported:

  The 24-year old Brooklyn rapper, whose real name was Christopher Wallace, had attended the annual Soul Train music awards and was sitting in his GMC Suburban after leaving a post-ceremony party thrown by Vibe magazine at Los Angeles’ Petersen Automotive Museum. Police say an unidentified gunman riddled the vehicle with bullets, and Wallace was then rushed to Cedars Sinai, where he was pronounced dead. The killing of B.I.G. was the second in the last six months, the first coming with the shooting death of Tupac Shakur in Las Vegas last September. . . . Despite the fact that the shooting occurred outside a party that reportedly boasted 1,000 guests, police told reporters they have few leads in the case. . . .

  Biggie Smalls was a central figure in the alleged ongoing feud between the East coast and West coast rap camps, and particularly between Bad Boy Entertainment and Suge Knight’s Death Row Records. Despite the fact that Bad Boy head Sean “Puffy” Combs and Death Row rapper Snoop Doggy Dogg made a very public statement recently announcing that there is no feud, Smalls’ death led many to speculate that the shooting could have been related to the perceived ill-will between east coast and west coast rappers. However, sources close to Bad Boy and Death Row quickly dismissed the speculation in a Los Angeles Times report. “This was a professional hit,” an unidentified source told reporters for the newspaper.

  Law enforcement officials and the media speculated that the shooting was the culmination of a supposed East Coast-West Coast rivalry. But Phyllis Pollack, a publicist with Def Press in Los Angeles offered that the “feud” was but a publicity stunt. “It’s unfair to speculate that the deaths were the result of a coastal feud,” she insisted. “Sure, there’s been this competition, but that’s been since day one, We don’t have artists on the West Coast saying, ‘Let’s kill off all of those East Coast rappers so we can sell more records on the East Coast.’” Jesse Washington, managing editor of Vibe magazine, noted there was some enmity between the rappers, but cautioned against writing off the murder as a result of it. “It’s too early to attribute this to a coastal rivalry, Tupac revenge or anything else because there [are] just so many different possibilities and aspects to this whole situation,” he said. “The saddest thing about all of this is they have literally generated tens of millions of dollars in sales of records, magazine sales and ratings,” he said. “I mean, these were two popular artists.”13

  Once again, there were no suspects and police were reportedly stymied. But Mutulu Shakur lived with political assassinations his entire adult life, and looked elsewhere for the identities of the culprits in a letter to the Wallace family under the heading, “The Shakur Family Extends Our Sympathies to Ms. Wallace, Sister Faith, and Brother Biggie’s Son and Daughter.”

  To Biggie’s Family:

  We believe the loss of Biggie and Tupac will have a tremendous impact on our younger generation. When all the facts are received and analyzed, i
t will show through all the negative and false accusations. . . Brother Biggie acted in a principled way toward our son and his public actions were principled by their very nature which was true to the life game in which he lived. Our family has not come to any final conclusion as to who killed our son, Tupac. Nor why he was killed. His murder and the death of Yafeu “Kadafi” Fula, son of Yaasmyn Fula and P.O.W. Sekou Odinga, a month after Tupac, and the senseless murder of Javana Thomas, the daughter of Freedom Fighter Innie Thomas and the late B.L.A commander John Thomas, has our family and extended family in constant grief as well as searching for the truth in all matters. . . .

  We are continuing our investigation as to determining the truth. . . . We do know that Brother Biggie was a part of an industry that has been under attack from the highest form of government officials. They have targeted Tupac, Sister Souljah, Ice T, Ice Cube, and Snoop Dogg to just name a few. The object of this attack reportedly was the lyrics’ contents and the connection to crime. “If” this was the only case, why would devil worshipers (music and artist) not be hounded out also? Since they openly worship the devil in a so-called God-fearing country. (Their music and profane religion outright denounces the government while preaching mayhem, destruction and even death to their parents, government and even nonbelievers in their philosophical satanism). Yes, we must take responsibility for our own actions.

  We must acknowledge that we have powers to shape minds and souls. Tupac, Biggie and Yafeu all could bring us closer to the real deal or turn us in upon ourselves. That power is not easy to comprehend when your only goal is to “come up.” The struggle of saving and speaking has been a tremendous task for most if not all leaders. But this government, and those who have profited from the music culture of Black people, really know “power” and how to utilize it both internally and externally. Their goal has been long range and very specific to their economical survival and political agenda. Whereas our loved ones, our rappers, wanted to explain their pain and identity from where they came, and describe their present life and at times asked us to hope for a better tomorrow, if all things were fair. If our family’s (SHAKUR’s) lack of response to rumors and allegations contributed to any confusion as to what principle we stand on, let it be known and clear!! We do not believe in COINCIDENCES. We believe history has demonstrated that the murders of Black people (young and old) who can have a profound impact, those who refuse to “bow down,” even if they themselves are not clear on the reasons why, have and will be targeted by the government at its highest level. These murders have historically proven over time to have the hand of government secret agents or the stimulation by the government for negative response, and was initiated by these agents working on behalf of the government and their secret agendas.

  We mourn Brother Biggie and Tupac with the rest of the Black Nation because they (our son, brother, father and leader in their own rights) have clearly been victims of a set of circumstances . . . implemented outside of their control [or] ability to influence. I disagree with the method of discussing issues of our internal contradictions in the entertainment media. Tupac in his Makaveli record clearly changed his wrongful view of who shot him [in 1994] and who was heading it in New York, and why?

  That’s not to say that we know the Makaveli allegations [are] correct, only that any “fan” of Tupac’s would surely have known that Tupac revised his wrongful [stance] against Biggie’s involvement concerning his shooting in New York. And he wanted his “fans” to know it. It is common knowledge that Brother Biggie was under surveillance by the FBI or other government agents. And his every movement was reportedly being watched concerning a parole or possible parole violation. How come those agents did not protect him, or at least apprehend or pursue the people who did the shooting (and the same must be said for my son Tupac)? The tactics by law enforcement agencies in the past have been to arrest these high profile artists on gun violations. Leaving them in a “Catch 22” situation to violate parole by defending themselves. Or leaving themselves defenseless, making them easy prey for a would-be assassin and stick-up kid. Surely, the FBI was at the party. . . .

  What we must understand is that our warriors are needed when it has been proven beyond contradiction that the CIA were principal importers of Crack Cocaine and Cocaine period into the hood, initiating the newly created drug laws that were blatantly racially motivated to set into motion tactics of genocide to destroy and lock away our brothers and sisters for the rest of their lives.

  They have also created conditions that breed the worst in us. Look at how long the struggle in South Africa was extended because of the fighting of (African on African) Zulas against A.N.C and P.A.A.C. Rap music and the Hip-Hop nation is a movement unclear of its final objectives, but a movement nevertheless, with potentials this government already fully understands and is prepared to destroy. If we look back in our history on the Black Nationalist Movement, the assassination of Bunchy Carter and John Huggins, two great Panthers on the West Coast, by the members of US organizations run by Mr. Ron Karanga.

  After years of my investigation as a member of the National Task Force for COINTELPRO Litigation Research, in connection with Geronimo Ji Jagas’ [Pratt] trial, [I am aware that] the motivation and participation in the murders by the FBI has been proven beyond a doubt. The murder-assassination of Robert Webb, a West Coast Panther functioning out of New York, killed on 125th St. and 7th Ave., sparked a vengeful killing of another great Panther, Sam Napier. The assassination of Robert Webb was revealed to be FBI motivated as well as their direct participation in his assassination which in design was to split the East Coast and West Coast connection. At that time, many of us functioned out of our emotions and ignorance and played into it. These types of specified killings helped to destroy our movement, accomplishing the governments’ goals. Don’t go for it!!! Learn from our past mistakes. Act at all times by rationale and reasoning. We do not want the death of Tupac or Biggie to be used as a base for internal fractional side contradictions. Nor for Biggie and Tupac to be used to fuel further strife, dissension and destruction internally by the Federal/Mass Media governing the situation. In the name of Biggie and Tupac, stop playing yourselves, and start putting resources into the real struggle.

  Show love to your warriors, pay attention to the game that’s being played on/against us. SEARCH FOR TRUTH!!! Don’t look at who shot Biggie and Tupac, but WHY they were shot. Don’t be fooled by the media that (seldom if ever had a kind word for rappers) has never shown real concern for [our] welfare. STOP FAKING TUFF ... BE TUFF!!!

  To all the Thugs, Live by the code, protect yourselves at ALL times. Failure to do so could cost us all.

  SINCERELY,

  DR. MUTULU SHAKUR, STIFF RESISTANCE14

  Mutulu Shakur’s deduction that secret police assigned to the surveillance of Biggy Small must have witnessed the murder proved correct. Unfortunately, none of the undercover agents from Los Angeles and New York who saw the killing stepped forward to provide investigators with a description of the gunmen—a violation of law regardless of their failure to intercede in the killing or pursue gunmen. As the Las Vegas Sun reported in April: “At least one police officer and possibly as many as six acted as security guards for The Notorious B.I.G. and may have witnessed his slaying. . . . However, none came forward to say they were there, including the one off-duty officer who was in a car directly behind the rapper.” Damion Butler, Small’s road manager: “If they were there all that time ... it just seems impossible to me that they didn’t see the incident. Where did they go?” It so happened that plainclothes police officers from New York were in the area, according to spokesmen, during the shooting as part of “a federal investigation of the Rap industry.” But the Justice Department and police in Los Angeles and New York have all refused to comment on the presence of undercover officers at the murder scene.15

  On February 5, MTV News reported that the Las Vegas Police Department was skeptical an arrest could be made unless more witnesses stepped forward—yet all of t
he undercover officers at the murder site participated in a conspiracy of silence. They would doubtless have offered to give depositions and attend line-ups if the killers had been gang-bangers. Mutulu Shakur’s conviction that secret police killed his stepson and Notorious B.I.G. proves increasingly feasible.

  Any civilian witness would have quite possibly been prosecuted for withholding evidence in an ongoing homicide investigation, but only one of the officers who witnessed the killing and stonewalled was disciplined. In August, an off-duty cop moonlighting as a bodyguard for Smalls the night of the murder, was threatened with a 24-day suspension. Inglewood Police Chief Alex Perez told the press that the unnamed officer’s violations “ranged, on the low end, from failure to obtain a permit to work off-duty, ranging all the way to conduct unbecoming an officer.” Furthermore, it emerged that the police officer hired to work the rapper’s security detail had “a criminal record.”16

  The blue wall of silence encircles a leading suspect in the Smalls case, David A. Mack, a former LAPD officer since convicted of bank robbery and currently serving a 14-year sentence. Police files contain a note that an eyewitness had placed Mack at the murder scene. Another reports that Mack hired an old friend to shoot Smalls. Amir Muhammad, alias Harry Billups, the old friend, had been a classmate of Mack’s at the University of Oregon. He disappeared after visiting Mack in prison on December 26, 1977, and police are still searching for him.17

  Periodically, LAPD officials hint that Death Row’s Suge Knight may have had a hand in the killings of Notorious B.I.G. Robin Yanes, Knight’s attorney, emphatically denies police claims of a connection to Mack: “A year ago it came and they’re recycling it to cover their butts. Suge doesn’t know Mack.”18 The same tactics used to shift suspicion from undercover agents to Orlando Anderson in the Shakur case have been hauled out to connect Knight to the “retaliatory” hit on Smalls. In April 1999, it was widely reported that Knight was “under investigation.” Search warrants were handed around at the record label’s headquarters and other locations, and a purple Chevrolet Impala owned by the company was impounded. But there were no arrests, and no charges have been filed. Police spokesmen refused to comment on why Knight was considered a “suspect.” “He was in custody at the time, so he didn’t pull the trigger,” Lieutenant Al Michelena, speaking for the LAPD’s robbery-homicide unit, told reporters. “We are investigating the possibility of him being implicated in this. We would certainly consider him a possible suspect.” More police “word play”? Michelena refused to discuss a possible motive and all documents related to the search warrants were sealed. The purple Chevy was owned by Death Row, but hadn’t been registered for about two years and was believed to have not been used during this period, Michelena explained. To date, no evidence has surfaced linking Knight to the shooting of Biggie Smalls, he has not been prosecuted, yet police spokesmen continue to imply that he is a “suspect.”19