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Complex's recent Earl Sweatshirt expose, which many in the blogosphere are hailing as the greatest piece of investigative journalism since MediaTakeOut uncovered Havoc's proclivity toward Cosby sweaters and online dating, inspired me to give a shot at resolving another one of hip hop's great mysteries: Where's Tupac?
Thirty Three Jones has done this type of investigative reporting before, and tracking down Pac's whereabouts required just as much time arduously surfing the internet as previous ventures. After stalking random facebook users and trolling through youtube comments, we finally made up some answers.
Like most, well, everyone, we've heard numerous conspiracy theories about Tupac's whereabouts. Is he dead, is he hiding out from Suge and/or the IRS, or is he plotting a revenge against Bad Boy that will be revealed on some numerically significant date in the future? All of these theories have made their way around the internet, but an apparent slip of the tongue during a freestyle by noted 2Pac disciple Marshall Mathers offered up a clue: "Hip hop ain't been the same since Tupac moved to Cuba on us."
Eminem freestyle
After trolling through various social networks, trying to find a connection between Tupac and Cuba, we came across this Facebook post that appeared to give us a starting point for our inquiries. In the February 6, 1988 post, a Baltimore School for the Arts alum says Tupac was "at the program in Baltimore" with her. But what program?
A quick search through Youtube turned up this exclusive footage from their time together at this program, with Youtube commentary hinting at it being the "Baltimore School for the Arts":
Tupac at Baltimore Program
Once we discovered that our unnamed thespian had been in Baltimore with Pac, we looked at more recent posts in her Facebook feed in the hopes of finding more opportunities for conjecture. These wall posts show an apparent awareness of Tupac's Cuban residency, as she reached out to a rapper living in Miami, a city with a high concentration of Cuban Americans:
We contacted the rapper, who goes by the name of Meek Millz, and he told us that the woman first contacted him with a personal message after he posted some of Rick Ross' music. After no reply, she publicly states that she was friends with Paris Leshane (2Pac's government name) "at the program." Time for us to find this program.
...or it would've been if we had more time to waste with Photoshop. As it turned out, though, the answer was right in front of us! An analysis of the photo from Complex, in which a smiling Earl Sweatshirt is seen eating an ice cream cone surrounded by laughing Samoans and an elderly woman apparently running from the camera's flash, revealed the following:
Case closed!
Update: An intrepid commenter pointed out the fact that Tupac's last name, "Shakur," may indicate a link to Mutulu Shakur, an important member of the Republic of New Afrika. Due to the ethical implications of revealing Tupac's familial relations, however, that comment has been removed.
4/19/2011 6:30:00 PM posted by Fresh