Suge Knight, the chief executive officer of the now-defunct American record label, Death Row has spoken about what happened in the hours following Tupac Shakur’s death, including a strange ritual involving the rapper’s ashes.
Speaking from prison in a phone interview with People, the former Death Row Records boss shared that after Tupac’s death, the late rapper’s mother, Afeni Shakur, had him cremated almost immediately. Knight said he spent over $1 million in cash to ensure the process was done quickly, as requested by Afeni.
According to Knight, Tupac’s friends rolled his ashes into a blunt and smoked it. “A bag with his ashes was passed around. His homies rolled him up. They smoked him,” Knight said, adding that it was seen as a symbolic gesture to keep a part of him with them. “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.”
Knight also gave fresh insight into the night of the shooting on September 7, 1996. He was driving the car with Tupac in the passenger seat after attending a Mike Tyson fight in Las Vegas when gunmen pulled up beside them and opened fire. Shakur was hit four times, while one of the bullets grazed Knight’s head.
Despite his injury, Knight said he managed to drive the vehicle, even with two blown-out tires, and later helped pull Tupac from the car. “I had to go over there bleeding everywhere, take the seat belt off him,” he recalled.
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Tupac underwent multiple surgeries at the University Medical Center of Southern Nevada and had one of his lungs removed before he was pronounced dead six days later, on September 13, 1996, at the age of 25.
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Tupac’s murder remained unsolved for decades until Las Vegas police arrested Duane ‘Keefe D’ Davis in September 2023. Davis — a former gang leader who has claimed he was present during the shooting — pleaded not guilty and is currently in custody awaiting a trial set for February 2026.
