Tupac’s ‘Murder’ Car and a Dishonour of Memories

Yinka Olatunbosun

A symbol of the morbid memories of 25 years ago, when one of hip-hop’s fiercest lyricists of all time, Tupac Shakur was killed, is up for sale. Death Row Records is trying to sell the car in which he had been shot for almost $2m. The black BMW 750il, with 121,000 miles on the odometer, is listed on a site for celebrity automobiles at a starting price of $1.75 million. The car was- or maybe still is- an exhibit in the murder case which remains unsolved till today. The 1996 BMW 750Il was driven by Suge Knight while Tupac sat on the passenger side where he was struck in the chest, arm and thigh by multiple gunshots. Tupac would have been 50 years old on Monday September 13, 2021 but for the hip-hop rivalry that culminated in his murder and later, that of Notorious B.I.G, his former friend-turned-foe six months later.

The car had been restored to its original condition, retaining some tell-tale bullet holes. The purported sale of it sounds like a misappropriation of an object of historical value from a moralist perspective. One would have thought it would be acquired by the state or donated by the recording label itself to an institution like The National Museum of African American History and Culture at the National Mall in Washington D.C or turned into an installation in a public space around the scene of the shooting.

Or maybe Tupac, in death, is still a potential cash cow for the recording label. From the rapper’s philosophy shared through music, Tupac was not exactly a moralist as his music glorified the thug life that fuelled gangster rap and saluted that existential streak in the black neighbourhoods. Drug dealing and stealing are the bi-products of poverty and unemployment, that is, in Tupac’s summation. But is selling the car Tupac rode in the night he was shut an antidote to poverty?

Keeping the car as an installation would be a reminder of the hip-hop rivalry that should never be repeated in history. Losing two top-ranking rappers -Tupac and Biggie- within the spate of six months on a childish spat-gone-too-far could be discouraged in music using the medium of art installation.

Better still, the proceeds from the car sale may be used to advance music through endowment funds or grants for artists, especially rappers. That would be a great way to honour the memories of Tupac rather than selling it off to the highest bidder with an offensive lifetime boasting right.