Mural in Georgia: Tupac and Biggie for Peace

Original: “Rapper mural promotes peace” · Associated Press, reprinted in the Las Vegas Sun · no byline · April 27, 1997

In April 1997, two slain rivals gazed down from a building facade in the U.S. state of Georgia. On the brick wall of the One Stop Music record store in Macon, giant portraits of Tupac Shakur and The Notorious B.I.G. had recently gone up. Beneath them stood the demand: “Increase the Peace.”

Two Murders, No Arrests

The mural was painted by airbrush artist, rapper, and hip-hop choreographer Carl Dudley and his partner Larry Newton of Atlanta. What prompted them were the parallels between the two murders: two stars, two drive-by shootings, no arrests. Dudley said just one sentence about it: “It shouldn’t take death to stop violence.”

He knew what he was talking about: Dudley was one of the organizers of the NUTS initiative (“Neighborhoods United to Survive”), which worked in the neighborhoods against turf mentality and gang violence.

Deadly Serious After March 9

The mural captured the mood in the spring of 1997. Following Biggie’s death on March 9, 1997, it was clear to many in the scene that the war of words between East and West had turned into something deadly-or at least appeared that way. Rappers had already publicly called for a truce in February; after Biggie’s death, the appeals multiplied.

Since then, murals featuring Tupac have appeared everywhere, often alone, often alongside Biggie, from Los Angeles and New York to Europe. The painting in Macon is among the early examples of this fan art.

A Flawed Parallel That Remains

With what we know today, equating the two cases seems flawed: according to the 2026 verdict against Duane “Keffe D” Davis (not final, as of October 2026), Tupac’s murder was triggered by a Compton gang feud; Biggie’s murder remains unsolved.

There was also an error in the original archive text: Tupac was not shot “last November.” He was shot in Las Vegas on September 7, 1996, and died on September 13. Still, the mural’s message hits home.