In a new interview with People Magazine, former Death Row Records CEO Suge Knight shared that late rapper 2Pac Shakur begged his mother to let him die.
The revelation comes as part of an exclusive interview with People Magazine from California’s Richard J. Donovan Correctional Facility, where Knight is serving a 28-year sentence for a 2015 fatal hit-and-run.
According to him, 2Pac was in so much pain and requested that his mother let him die. His mother, Afeni Shakur, then proceeded to give him some pills to hasten the process.
“The doctors came in and brought him back. And his mom said, ‘Don’t ever do that again. If he’s having complications, don’t touch him,” Knight claimed of Afeni’s message to doctors after seeing enough of her baby fighting for his life. “Don’t bring him back. Let him go.’”
Following his mother’s request, 2Pac passed away shortly after in he evening on Sept. 13, 1996, at University Hospital, Nevada, from injuries sustained from four gunshots 5 days earlier.
Although the legendary rapper was quickly cremated as per his mother’s request, Suge Knight alleges that 2Pac had different plans for his funeral.
“[2Pac] told me, ‘When I go, I want every rapper at my funeral to grab the mic. I want them to kiss me head to toe. Just like in ‘Life Goes On.’ He didn’t want to be cremated,” he claimed. Knight told People Magazine, while adding that he ended up paying an affiliate $1 million in cash for Pac’s cremation.
Knight further revealed that some family and friends smoked the late rapper’s cremated ash.
“I was so happy to say I was on probation — I couldn’t smoke,” Knight says. “I told his mother, ‘Moms, I’d love to, but if I hit that, I’ll get in trouble.’” He laughs. “I was probably the only one who didn’t hit him,” he told People Magazine.
While this news is surprising, it also reflects the gangster spirit that shaped 2Pac’s life and the bond he shared with his associates, who chose to go the extra mile to honour him.
While no evidence suggested a conection, 2Pac’s death was believed to have been connected with his beef with West Coast rapper The Notorious B.I.G which would involced the the Bloods and Crips gangs from the respective coasts.
The Notorious B.I.G. would also be murdered just 6 months later in a drive-by shooting in the early hours of March 9, 1997, in Los Angeles, California.
Twenty-seven years after 2Pac’s murder, Duane “Keffe D” Davis was arrested in September 2023 and is facing a murder charge. He remains in jail awaiting trial, which is slated to begin in February 2026.
