Sep 20, 1996395 words · 2 min
Suge Knight talks about Tupac's last hours
A week after the shooting, Suge Knight tells MTV about Tupac's last words. Plus grief, chart jumps and a letter from Mutulu Shakur.
Original: “Suge Speaks Out About Tupac” · MTV News · no byline · September 20, 1996
A week after Tupac’s death, Las Vegas police have neither suspects nor a motive. On Thursday night in Los Angeles, MTV meets Suge Knight, who was behind the wheel and was hit in the head himself during the attack. On his lawyers’ advice he can’t talk about the shooting, but he can talk about what came after.
Tupac saved his life, Knight says
Knight says Tupac saved his life: because he focused only on his passenger, he never panicked. During the drive, Tupac still joked that Knight needed the doctor more than he did, since Knight was the one shot in the head. According to Knight, Tupac was conscious on the way to the hospital and even after surgery. The last thing he told Knight, he says, was that he loved him.
Knight dismisses New York Post reports that Tupac wanted to leave Death Row. He wants to fulfill Tupac’s dreams and change nothing about his music.
A picture of the week: charts, grief and a letter
The rest of the program captures the mood of those days. All Eyez on Me sells 40,000 copies and jumps from No. 69 to No. 18 on the Billboard chart. The Makaveli album is announced for November, with cover art showing Tupac crucified. MTV plays the video for I Ain’t Mad at Cha, in which Tupac is shot and goes to heaven.
While Death Row cancels a memorial, the Nation of Islam plans a “Hip Hop Day of Atonement” in Harlem. MTV quotes a letter from Tupac’s stepfather, Mutulu Shakur, written in prison. Finally, fans speak, along with Spinderella of Salt-N-Pepa and Method Man, who says: “This is not a television show, this is reality.”
Knight’s version and what police said
Knight’s account of Tupac’s last words stands alongside others. A police officer who was among the first at the car said in 2014 that when asked who shot him, Tupac only swore. Officers confirmed that in 2026 at the trial of Duane “Keffe D” Davis, who was found guilty on August 31, 2026 (not final; as of October 2026).
The Makaveli album The Don Killuminati came out on November 5, 1996. Mutulu Shakur was released on medical grounds in December 2022 and died on July 7, 2023.