Nine Years After Nipsey Hussle and Bino Rideaux Recorded it, ‘Prolific’ is Ready

The cover of “Prolific,” the collaborative album from Nipsey Hussle and Bino Rideaux, due Aug. 14, 2026. Hussle selected the photograph used for the artwork while the pair were working on the project in 2017. (All Money In/Out The Blue/Atlantic Records)

Posthumous albums often come with an unavoidable question: How much of what listeners are hearing did the artist actually choose?

“Prolific,” the new Nipsey Hussle and Bino Rideaux album arriving Friday, comes with an unusually clear answer.

Hussle and Rideaux recorded the music together during an intensive three-month stretch in 2017, nearly two years before Hussle’s death. They also sequenced the project during his lifetime, and Hussle personally selected the photograph that became its cover, according to a Los Angeles Times interview published Wednesday with Rideaux and Hussle’s older brother, Samiel “Blacc Sam” Asghedom.

The 15-track “Prolific” is scheduled for release Aug. 14 by All Money In & Out The Blue Records under exclusive license to Atlantic Recording Corp. The date falls one day before what would have been Hussle’s 41st birthday.

For Hussle’s family, the long delay was intentional.

Asghedom, his brother’s longtime business partner and estate administrator, told the Times that people began pressing the family to release unreleased Nipsey music after the rapper’s death in 2019.

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He resisted.

“When we drop the music, we gotta feel like it’s the right time,” Asghedom told the newspaper.

The distinction matters because “Prolific” is not being presented as an album constructed years later from unrelated Nipsey verses.

Its foundation was already there.

Hussle and Rideaux began working together in 2016 after Hussle heard Rideaux’s music and invited the younger South Los Angeles artist to his studio. Two songs from that early session appeared on Hussle’s “Slauson Boy 2,” and the partnership grew into their 2017 collaborative mixtape “No Pressure.”

That same year, Hussle rented NoName Studios in Tarzana where he and Rideaux effectively moved in for about 90 days.

They slept there. They showered there. Producers and engineers rotated through. Music was made constantly.

During those sessions, the pair worked on “No Pressure” and the body of music that would eventually become “Prolific.” Rideaux described the atmosphere to the Times as part frat house, part summer camp, with the studio operating around the clock.

That history also requires one important qualification.

Although the recordings and sequencing date to Hussle’s lifetime, Asghedom has previously estimated that the project was about 80% finished when his brother died. The team later did finishing work using unreleased verses and other music Hussle had already recorded with Rideaux.

That is different from saying nothing was touched after 2019.

It is also different from constructing a new album around orphaned vocals.

Asghedom has repeatedly drawn that distinction, describing “Prolific” as a project Hussle deliberately created with Rideaux rather than a collection assembled by the estate after his death.

Even the artwork predates the tragedy.

Hussle chose a blue-tinted photograph showing him and Rideaux with friends at the Hollywood Roosevelt, a hotel they frequented while making the project. The album carried another name during the original sessions; the team later settled on “Prolific,” taking the title from the word Hussle famously had tattooed on his right temple.

The completed track list also reaches well beyond the two Los Angeles rappers.

Guests include Cardi B, Ty Dolla $ign, Leon Thomas, James Fauntleroy, Buddy and BH. The 15-song album includes the previously released “Reckless” featuring Static Major, “Sacrifices” featuring Fauntleroy, “All Summer” featuring BH and “I Just Wanna Know” with Cardi B and Ty Dolla $ign.

Several producers involved with “Prolific” also worked on Hussle’s 2018 major-label debut, “Victory Lap,” including Mike & Keys and Larrance “Rance 1500” Dopson.

Musically, Rideaux told the Times that “Prolific” is more vulnerable and experimental than “No Pressure.” Relationships play a larger role in the subject matter, and the production sometimes moves beyond the West Coast palette most closely associated with Hussle. One song, “Miami Off the Plane,” uses a Caribbean riddim-inspired beat, a sound Rideaux said neither artist had previously explored.

The experimentation adds another dimension to music Hussle was making as he prepared for the breakthrough that would come with “Victory Lap.”

Hussle, born Ermias Asghedom, was fatally shot outside his Marathon Clothing store in South Los Angeles on March 31, 2019. He was 33.

By then, “Victory Lap” had transformed years of independent momentum into mainstream recognition. The album earned a Grammy nomination for best rap album, and Hussle won two Grammys posthumously in 2020: best rap performance for “Racks in the Middle” and best melodic rap performance for his appearance on DJ Khaled’s “Higher.”

Recordings featuring Hussle have surfaced since his death, including his 2021 collaboration with Jay-Z, “What It Feels Like,” from “Judas and the Black Messiah: The Inspired Album.” But his estate has been notably restrained about turning his unreleased recordings into a full posthumous project.

That restraint is part of what makes “Prolific” notable.

Rather than rushing an album into the market while attention surrounding Hussle’s death was at its peak, his family waited more than seven years — and nearly nine years after the sessions themselves — before deciding this particular body of work was ready to be heard.

Rideaux, now 33 himself, told the Times he understands that releasing music involving an artist as revered as Hussle invites scrutiny. He also made clear that carrying forward what his mentor began has become inseparable from his own career.

The album arrives Friday, Aug. 14.

One day later, Nipsey Hussle would have turned 41.

After years of saying no to pressure for a posthumous album, his family is finally saying yes to one Hussle had already helped shape.

Faith Evans Loses Key Ruling in Fight With Biggie’s Former Manager Wayne Barrow

A Delaware Court of Chancery opinion issued Aug. 7, 2026, opens with a reference to the Notorious B.I.G.’s “Ten Crack Commandments” before ruling for Wayne Barrow on claims involving the Voletta Wallace trust’s membership and distributions from Notorious B.I.G., LLC. (Delaware Court of Chancery)

The Notorious B.I.G.’s famous warning about mixing family and business has found its way into a Delaware courtroom, this time in a fight over the company created to protect his legacy.

A Delaware judge has ruled that a trust established by Biggie’s late mother, Voletta Wallace, is a full member of Notorious B.I.G., LLC, handing the rapper’s former manager Wayne Barrow a significant
victory in his dispute with Biggie’s widow, Faith Evans.

Chancellor Kathaleen St. J. McCormick granted partial summary judgment Friday, Aug. 7, in favor of Barrow, who is the sole trustee of the Voletta Wallace Revocable Trust. The ruling also dismissed a
counterclaim by Evans and the company that sought a declaration that the trust was not a member.

That distinction carries real financial consequences. McCormick ruled that the trust qualifies as a permitted transferee under the company’s operating agreement and is entitled to the membership and distribution rights that belonged to Voletta Wallace.

The judge opened her 16-page opinion by invoking Biggie’s 1997 song “Ten Crack Commandments” and its warning against mixing relatives and business. She then noted that Wallace and Evans ultimately did exactly that when they formed Notorious B.I.G., LLC in 2007 to manage intellectual property belonging to Christopher Wallace, better known as Biggie Smalls.

The structure behind the dispute is more complicated than a simple fight over who “owns Biggie.”

Voletta Wallace and Evans each held 50% of the membership units in Notorious B.I.G., LLC under a 2023 operating agreement. Each also assigned half of her distribution interest to one of Biggie’s children — Ty’anna Wallace and Christopher Jordan “C.J.” Wallace. The arrangement left Voletta, Evans, Ty’anna and C.J. each entitled to 25% of company distributions, according to the court.

The agreement specifically listed the Voletta Wallace Revocable Trust as a party permitted to receive membership units.

That became crucial after Voletta Wallace amended her estate documents Feb. 6, 2025, just weeks before her death. The amendment removed C.J. Wallace and longtime friend Carol Sampson as successor trustees and left Barrow as the trust’s sole successor trustee. A related change to Wallace’s will made Barrow the sole executor of her estate.

Wallace died Feb. 21, 2025. Barrow formally accepted his appointment as trustee the following month.

Evans then became the sole manager of Notorious B.I.G., LLC. According to the court record, she stopped making distributions to the trust and disputed whether the trust remained a member of the company after Wallace’s amendments.

Barrow sued in Delaware Chancery Court in July 2025.

At the center of the case was a seemingly technical question with large consequences: Did changing the terms and trustees of Voletta Wallace’s trust transform it into something different from the trust specifically named in the company agreement?

McCormick said no.

The judge found that amending a trust does not create an entirely new legal entity. Because the same Voletta Wallace Revocable Trust remained in existence, it remained a permitted transferee under the LLC agreement.

The court also rejected Evans’ objection to a written consent Barrow signed in December 2025 assuming Wallace’s rights and obligations under the company agreement.

The operating agreement required such an instrument to be “reasonably satisfactory” to the company manager. McCormick found that Barrow’s consent met that standard objectively, regardless of whether Evans personally approved it.

The ruling, therefore, grants Barrow summary judgment on his claims that the trust is a member of Notorious B.I.G., LLC and is entitled to distributions.

Barrow’s attorney, Jay W. Freiberg, called the decision “a total victory in a dispute that never should have happened” in a statement to Rolling Stone. He said Wallace wanted Barrow to help steward her son’s legacy after her death.

An attorney for Evans did not immediately respond to a request for comment from People following the ruling.

The stakes surrounding Biggie’s intellectual property have increased substantially in recent years.

In March 2025, Primary Wave Music announced a partnership with the Notorious B.I.G. estate. The Wall Street Journal reported that Primary Wave acquired a 50% interest in an estate valued at more than $200 million. Primary Wave has since described its relationship with the estate as encompassing publishing, master recordings, film and television rights, name and likeness rights, brand management and archival material.

The Delaware decision does not, however, end every dispute over Wallace’s estate plan.

C.J. Wallace filed a separate case in Pennsylvania Orphans’ Court in February challenging his grandmother’s decision to remove him as a trustee and executor. His petition alleges that Barrow exerted undue influence over Voletta Wallace and had conflicts with her heirs. Those allegations have not been decided.

Evans and Notorious B.I.G., LLC had asked McCormick to put the Delaware case on hold until the Pennsylvania challenge was resolved. She refused, finding that Barrow currently has legal authority to act for the trust unless a Pennsylvania court orders otherwise.

McCormick also stressed that the Pennsylvania case does not change the separate Delaware question of whether the trust itself is a member of Notorious B.I.G., LLC. Under both versions of Voletta Wallace’s estate plan, her membership units passed into the trust.

That makes Friday’s ruling important but narrower than some headlines about the dispute suggest.

It does not decide C.J. Wallace’s allegations about the circumstances surrounding his grandmother’s final estate changes. Nor does it hand Barrow sole control of Biggie’s catalog; Evans remains manager of the LLC.

What it does establish is that the Voletta Wallace trust cannot simply be treated as an outsider to the company. It has membership rights, and it is entitled to its distributions.

Kurupt Reveals Eminem Stepped In to Pay for His Rehab

West Coast rap veteran Kurupt is opening up about a private act of generosity from one of hip-hop’s biggest superstars that helped save his life.

​In a newly published interview, the former Death Row Records artist and Tha Dogg Pound member revealed that Eminem quietly paid the full cost of his medical rehabilitation treatment following a severe struggle with alcohol addiction.

 

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Speaking on SiriusXM’s "Sway in the Morning," Kurupt, born Ricardo Brown, detailed how his addiction led to multiple seizures and a three-week medically induced coma. While recovering from the life-threatening ordeal, he received unexpected outreach from two iconic architects of hip-hop.

​The 53-year-old rapper explained that Dr. Dre initially reached out to offer moral support and guidance.

​"It was Dr. Dre that called and was just giving his support and just let me know that, you know, we all go through these things," Kurupt told the radio hosts. "He was just giving me that game."

​That phone call quickly opened the door for direct financial and logistical help from Eminem. According to Kurupt, the Detroit rapper arranged treatment through his own trusted contacts and covered the entire expense to ensure the rehabilitation remained entirely private.

​"And it was Em who came to the table like, 'I'm gonna put Kurupt with my folks, and I'm going to put some money into getting him into like, a rehab situation to where he can sit down and enjoy [himself] and be out the way. Nobody will know he's there,'" Kurupt recalled.

​"You know, these things cost bread, so Em put the cheese up for it and said, 'Tell Kurupt I love him,'" the rapper added. "Dr. Dre relayed the message, and then he put me with Em's folks."

​The revelation underscores a long-standing, quiet brotherhood between 1990s and 2000s rap legends. Eminem famously listed Kurupt among his favorite MCs of all time on his 2002 track "Till I Collapse". Furthermore, Eminem has been highly transparent about his own past struggles with prescription pill addiction and a near-fatal overdose, treating his hard-won sobriety as a point of pride.

​For Kurupt, whose 1990s dominance was anchored by legendary West Coast releases like Dr. Dre's 1992 album "The Chronic" and his own 1998 solo debut "Kuruption!", the unexpected gesture left a lasting mark.

​"So, you know, that was real special to me," he said. "I appreciate both of them so much. And it's like, damn, you know? He just came out the blue from nowhere. Like, 'OK, Kurupt going through that? Bam. Boom. I'ma do that for him, man. Tell Kurupt get well, we love him.' That's deep."

Thousands Sent Home as Earth, Wind & Fire Show is Postponed Over Medical Emergency

Earth, Wind & Fire appear in a promotional photo. The R&B and funk group postponed its Aug. 6 concert with Lionel Richie at San Francisco's Chase Center minutes before showtime after a medical emergency involving a band member. The affected member has not been publicly identified. (Jabari Jacobs/Live Nation)

A medical emergency involving a member of Earth, Wind & Fire forced the legendary group to postpone
its San Francisco concert with Lionel Richie just minutes before showtime Thursday night.

The band and Chase Center announced the postponement shortly after 7:20 p.m., about 10 minutes before the scheduled 7:30 p.m. start. Thousands of concertgoers who were already inside the arena or waiting outside were directed to leave, according to local reports.

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“We are unable to perform as scheduled tonight at Chase Center in San Francisco due to a medical emergency involving a member of our band,” Earth, Wind & Fire said in a statement posted to social media.

The group has not identified the member or publicly disclosed the nature of the medical problem.

The San Francisco Fire Department received a medical call at Chase Center at approximately 5:30 p.m., spokesperson Capt. Mariano Elias told the San Francisco Chronicle. One person was taken to a hospital by private ambulance. Elias did not identify the patient or tell the newspaper what prompted the emergency response.

TMZ reported Friday morning that Elias separately described the call to the outlet as a “cardiac incident” and said the patient was transported in critical condition.

Neither Earth, Wind & Fire nor its representatives had confirmed those additional details as of Friday morning, and the identity of the patient remained undisclosed. The band's representatives referred TMZ to Earth, Wind & Fire's original statement.

ABC7 in San Francisco also reported Friday morning that officials had not released the affected band member's identity or current condition.

The abrupt postponement came as Earth, Wind & Fire and Richie near the end of their 26-city “Sing a Song All Night Long” North American tour.

According to Earth, Wind & Fire's official tour announcement, the Live Nation-produced run began June 24 in Saint Paul, Minnesota, and is scheduled to conclude Aug. 14 at Moody Center in Austin.

The tour's next scheduled performance is Saturday at Acrisure Arena in Palm Desert, California, followed Sunday by a show at Intuit Dome in Inglewood. As of Friday morning, those dates remained listed on the official tour schedule, and no further postponements had been announced.

The San Francisco show will be rescheduled, the band said. Ticketholders were told to keep their tickets, which will be honored on the new date. Refunds will also be available through the original point of purchase.

“We sincerely apologize for the unexpected change and appreciate everyone’s understanding,” the group said.

The health scare follows an earlier interruption of the same tour involving Richie. During the June 24 opener in Saint Paul, Richie became dizzy during his performance and later postponed two dates before returning to the tour June 30 in Pittsburgh.

Earth, Wind & Fire remains anchored by longtime members Philip Bailey, Verdine White and Ralph Johnson. The group, founded by the late Maurice White in Chicago, has remained one of R&B and funk's most enduring touring acts more than five decades after its breakthrough.

Earth, Wind & Fire has won six Grammy Awards from 18 nominations and received the Recording Academy's Lifetime Achievement Award in 2016. Its catalog includes “Shining Star,” “September,” “Reasons,” “After the Love Has Gone” and “Let's Groove.” The group was inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame in 2000 and became the first Black group to receive Kennedy Center Honors in 2019.

No new information about the affected band member had been released publicly as of Friday morning.

​E-40 Sets August Release for 40-Song Quadruple Album ‘Turning My Money Over'

 

Official artwork for E-40's upcoming quadruple album, "Turning My Money Over." Dropping Aug. 28, the 40-song project features a sprawling lineup of guest appearances spanning multiple generations of hip-hop and R&B. 

More than three decades after establishing Northern California’s independent rap blueprint, E-40 is setting another industry milestone.

​The Vallejo rap veteran has officially announced "Turning My Money Over", an ambitious quadruple album featuring 40 tracks spread across four discs. Scheduled to arrive on Aug. 28, 2026, the project is divided into four themed sections: "Turning My Money Over Once," "Twice," "Thrice," and "Cuatro".

​E-40 unveiled the massive project through his social media platforms, declaring, "The greatest game spitter of all time is BACK!".

​The 40-song tracklist confirms appearances from a sprawling lineup of West Coast staples, Southern legends, and R&B veterans. The guest list includes long-standing collaborators like Too $hort and B-Legit, alongside Busta Rhymes, Killer Mike, Anderson .Paak, Al B. Sure!, and Larry June. The album’s lead single, "Sumn Ain't Right" featuring Juvenile, is already available.

​Among the most anticipated tracks are "Trunk Is Alive" featuring Too $hort and B-Legit, "Play If You Want" with Busta Rhymes, and "Night In The Bay" pairing E-40 with Anderson .Paak and Al B. Sure!.

​The expansive format continues a long tradition of multi-disc releases for E-40. Throughout his career, he has repeatedly challenged standard album structures with massive, multi-volume drops like the "Revenue Retrievin'" and "The Block Brochure" series. Delivering exactly 40 songs directly ties the album's concept to the rapper's iconic stage name.

​BMI Honors Nas with Icon Award for Three Decades of Hip-Hop Influence

​Grammy-winning rapper Nas poses for a portrait. Broadcast Music, Inc. announced that the Queensbridge lyricist will receive the BMI Icon Award during the 2026 BMI R&B/Hip-Hop Awards on Aug. 26 in Los Angeles. (Photo courtesy of Mass Appeal)

Broadcast Music, Inc. will celebrate three decades of lyrical innovation by bestowing one of its highest individual honors on Queensbridge rap titan Nas.

​BMI announced that the Grammy-winning rapper and songwriter will receive the BMI Icon Award during the 2026 BMI R&B/Hip-Hop Awards. The private ceremony is scheduled for Wednesday, Aug. 26, in Los Angeles.

​Nas, born Nasir Jones, is being recognized for his prolific songwriting and his immeasurable influence on hip-hop and popular music.

​“Nas has both defined and elevated hip-hop through his groundbreaking storytelling, lyrical excellence and a lasting commitment to artistic innovation,” Catherine Brewton, BMI Vice President, Creative, Atlanta, said in a statement. “From his earliest works to the music mogul that he is today, Nas is a true icon whose legacy continues to inspire artists, influence culture and shape the sound of hip-hop for generations.”.

​Nas burst onto the national scene with his 1994 debut album, "Illmatic", which helped redefine East Coast rap through its vivid storytelling and intricate lyricism. The landmark project was inducted into the Library of Congress’ National Recording Registry in 2021. Since his debut, Nas has released 17 studio albums and sold more than 35 million records worldwide.

​The evening will also salute the songwriters, producers, and publishers behind the past year’s 35 most-performed R&B and hip-hop songs.

Lecrae-Co-Founded Reach Records Clears Early Hurdle in Capitol CMG Lawsuit

Lecrae, who co-founded Reach Records with Ben Washer in 2004, appears in an undated promotional photo. Lecrae is not individually named as a plaintiff in the label’s lawsuit against Capitol Christian Music Group, which a federal judge has allowed to proceed. (Photo courtesy of Reach Records)

The label co-founded by Lecrae alleges Capitol CMG abandoned a multimillion-dollar acquisition after representing that the purchase price had been approved.

A federal judge has refused to throw out a lawsuit from Reach Records, allowing the influential Christian hip-hop label to pursue claims that a Universal Music Group division backed away from a multimillion-dollar acquisition after representing that the price was final.

U.S. District Judge Waverly D. Crenshaw Jr. denied Capitol Christian Music Group’s motion to dismiss the case July 21 in the Middle District of Tennessee.

The decision keeps alive Reach’s claims of breach of contract, intentional misrepresentation and negligent misrepresentation. It is not a finding that Capitol CMG violated a contract or misled the label.

At this stage, the judge was required to accept Reach’s properly pleaded factual allegations as true and determine whether they presented legally plausible claims. Crenshaw found that all three claims met that standard.

Reach Records LLC and The Reach Group LLC filed the lawsuit Dec. 10, 2025. Lecrae, who founded Reach with Ben Washer in 2004, is not individually named as a plaintiff.

According to the judge’s summary of the allegations, Capitol CMG President Brad O’Donnell told Washer on June 14, 2025, that a UMG investment committee would need to approve the proposed acquisition.

Reach alleges O’Donnell told Washer several days later that the committee had approved both the transaction and the final purchase price.

The companies signed a letter of intent Aug. 8, 2025. The document treated the purchase price as binding and said it could not be renegotiated unless final due diligence uncovered materially adverse information, according to the opinion.

The agreement also established a process through which the companies could mutually approve a price adjustment after due diligence.

READ THE FULL COURT RULING

The companies then completed five rounds of due diligence.

Reach alleges Capitol CMG did not identify or communicate any materially adverse finding that would have activated the price-adjustment provision.

Drafts of a final purchase agreement moved between the companies during August and September, with the proposed price unchanged, according to the court’s account.

Reach says the deal unraveled Sept. 12.

The label alleges O’Donnell said another level of internal approval was required and that the agreed price was too high because of the earnings multiple used to calculate it. The acquisition was never completed.

Capitol CMG argued that the letter of intent was not a completed acquisition contract, but part of the continuing negotiations toward a final purchase agreement.

Crenshaw found that argument insufficient to end the case.

Although other parts of the proposed transaction remained unfinished, the judge said the letter of intent expressly identified the purchase price as one of its binding provisions.

“Reach has plausibly alleged the existence of an enforceable contract and CMG’s breach,” Crenshaw wrote.

The judge also allowed Reach’s two misrepresentation claims to continue.

Capitol CMG argued that Reach had not sufficiently alleged that O’Donnell knowingly made a false statement or that the label reasonably relied on what he said.

Crenshaw ruled that Reach had provided enough detail about the disputed statements, who allegedly made them, when they were made and the financial injury the label says it suffered.

Reach alleges it lost time and work preparing for the closing, along with the money it expected to receive from the sale. The proposed purchase price has not been publicly disclosed beyond the court’s description of it as a multimillion-dollar amount.

Capitol CMG will have an opportunity to dispute Reach’s account and present evidence as the case continues.

The conflict places one of Christian hip-hop’s foundational independent labels opposite the faith-based music operation of the world’s largest music company.

Reach began in 2004 and developed a catalog that helped move Christian rap beyond a narrowly defined religious market. Lecrae’s 2014 album, “Anomaly,” became the first release to top the Billboard 200 and Billboard’s Gospel Albums chart in the same week.

Capitol CMG is UMG’s Christian and gospel music operation. Official company materials identify O’Donnell as its longtime president and list a roster that includes Tasha Cobbs Leonard, Tye Tribbett, TobyMac, Amy Grant and Chris Tomlin.

The case now moves deeper into discovery, allowing the parties to seek documents, testimony and other evidence about the negotiations and the internal approval process.

Discovery is currently scheduled to close Dec. 4. Motions seeking a judgment before trial are due March 30, 2027, and a trial is set for Sept. 14, 2027. Those dates could change, and the case could be settled or resolved without a trial.

For Reach, the ruling is a procedural victory rather than a final judgment. It gives the label an opportunity to pursue evidence supporting its claim that Capitol CMG walked away from a price the companies had already agreed would be binding.

Trial for Suspect in 1996 Killing of Tupac Shakur Begins Aug. 10

​Duane "Keffe D" Davis, shown in this booking photograph provided by the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department. Davis is scheduled to stand trial starting Aug. 10, 2026, on murder charges in connection with the 1996 killing of rapper Tupac Shakur.

For nearly three decades, the Sept. 7, 1996, drive-by shooting of Tupac Shakur has stood as hip-hop'smost notorious unsolved murder. On Monday, that officially changes.

​Jury selection and trial proceedings are scheduled to begin Aug. 10 in Las Vegas for Duane "Keffe D" Davis, the 63-year-old former gang leader accused of orchestrating the ambush that claimed the life of the 25-year-old rap icon.

​The trial represents a surreal collision of past and present. Shakur was killed at the absolute peak of his commercial power, riding the massive success of Death Row Records' "All Eyez on Me." His death — followed six months later by the murder of Christopher "The Notorious B.I.G." Wallace in Los Angeles — effectively ended the East Coast-West Coast rivalry that defined 1990s hip-hop, leaving generations of fans without legal closure.

​Davis faces a single count of murder with a deadly weapon with the intent to promote, further or assist a criminal gang. He has pleaded not guilty and has remained jailed since his arrest in late 2023.

​Prosecutors are not attempting to prove that Davis pulled the trigger. Instead, they allege he was the shot-caller who provided the firearm and directed the hit from the passenger seat of the infamous white Cadillac that pulled alongside Suge Knight’s black BMW at a red light near the Las Vegas Strip. Knight survived the shooting with minor injuries; Shakur died six days later.

​According to grand jury transcripts, prosecutors maintain the shooting was direct retaliation. Hours earlier, Shakur, Knight and their Death Row entourage were seen on casino surveillance footage beating Davis' nephew, Orlando "Baby Lane" Anderson, following a Mike Tyson fight at the MGM Grand. Authorities have long characterized the violence as a tragic extension of a feud between the Mob Piru Bloods, associated with Death Row Records, and the South Side Compton Crips, tied to Davis and aligned with Bad Boy Records.

​The case famously sat cold for decades. It was ultimately revived by Davis himself.

​In recent years, Davis began giving high-profile interviews and published a 2019 tell-all memoir, "Compton Street Legend," openly detailing his presence in the Cadillac and his role as a South Side Compton Crips leader. Prosecutors have bluntly stated that if Davis had not written explicitly about the killing or spoken about it on camera, no one would have likely ever been charged.

​Davis' defense team plans to argue that the state is relying on unreliable witnesses due to the sheer amount of time elapsed since 1996. The defense has also suggested Davis' public confessions were fabricated for entertainment value and financial gain, attempting to capitalize on the enduring mythology surrounding Shakur's death.

​With a reported witness list of more than 200 names — including Knight, who is currently serving a 28-year prison sentence in California for an unrelated fatal hit-and-run — the Las Vegas proceedings are expected to draw massive international media scrutiny.

​Nearly 30 years after the Vegas strip went dark for one of music's brightest stars, the culture is finally going to court.