7. Tupac Shakur: When Gangsta Rap Turns Deadly
Tupac Shakur has been named one of America’s most influential rappers of all time, and while his music was unmistakably good, his untimely death at 25 turned him into a legend forever. While driving from an event to a nightclub, a car pulled alongside Tupac’s car and multiple shots rang out. Tupac was shot four times, twice in the chest, once in the arm, and once in the leg. When he was rushed to the hospital, his first and last words to the cops were “f*ck you.” Since he kept trying to get out of bed, doctors had to put him in a medically-induced coma but six days after he was shot, Tupac died on September 13, 1996, due to heavy internal bleeding. His death remains unsolved, though many other names in music like The Notorious B.I.G. were thought to have a hand in it.
An article later stated, “Since his death, Tupac has become an international martyr, a symbol on the level of Bob Marley or Che Guevara, whose life has inspired Tupacistas on the streets of Brazil, memorial murals in the Bronx and Spain, and bandanna-wearing youth gangs in South Africa.” The pictures show the bullet-ridden car and Tupac on life support just before his death.
8. Michael Jackson: When Doctors Give You Eternal Sleep
When news of Michael Jackson’s death broke, the Internet broke. The outpouring of grief was phenomenal and in this very strange and very dark world that we live in, Michael’s earnings have gone up exponentially since his death.
When he had trouble sleeping, Michael reportedly asked his personal physician Conrad Murray for “more milk” aka more drugs to help him sleep. The good doctor complied to the extent that Michael stopped breathing. Murray tried to resuscitate Michael as did the emergency technicians but finally, it was clear that Michael had reached eternal sleep. On June 25, 2009, Michael Jackson died from a drug-induced cardiac arrest just two months shy of his 51st birthday. The cause of death was acute propofol and benzodiazepine intoxication and Murray was later convicted of involuntary manslaughter. At his memorial held on July 7, the Reverend Al Sharpton told Jackson’s children: “Wasn’t nothing strange about your daddy. It was strange what your daddy had to deal with. But he dealt with it anyway.” RIP Michael.