The RAP UP

30 years on: Tupac murder trial begins 

Thirty years after the death of Tupac Shakur, one of hip-hop’s most infamous unsolved murders finally reached a courtroom last month.

Duane “Keffe D” Davis, 63, is standing trial in Las Vegas charged with the 1996 murder of the legendary rapper. Davis has pleaded not guilty.

On 7 September 1996, Tupac was shot multiple times in a drive-by shooting while travelling with Death Row Records co-founder Suge Knight after attending a Mike Tyson fight in Las Vegas. He died from his injuries six days later, on 13 September, aged just 25.

Prosecutors do not allege that Davis fired the fatal shots. Instead, they claim he helped orchestrate the killing following an altercation involving his nephew, Orlando Anderson, and Tupac earlier that evening. They are expected to rely on Davis’s own accounts of the shooting, including statements made over the years and details published in his 2019 memoir, Compton Street Legend. 

Davis has previously said he was travelling in the vehicle from which the shots were fired. His defence disputes the prosecution’s case and has questioned the reliability of evidence gathered during an investigation spanning three decades. His lawyers have also argued that parts of his memoir were fictionalised.

As the world marks 30 years since the loss of one of rap’s most influential voices, a Las Vegas jury is now being asked to determine what happened on that September night in 1996. 

SBTV celebrates 20 years at the O2

SBTV will celebrate 20 years of championing British music with a huge anniversary show at London’s O2 Arena on 11 November.

Created in 2006 by the late Jamal Edwards MBE, the platform played a major role in bringing grime and UK rap to new audiences, providing an early home for some of the country’s biggest artists.

The line-up reflects that history, with Wiley, Chip, Roll Deep, Lady Leshurr, Big Narstie, Tinchy Stryder, Dappy, Headie One and Professor Green among those announced so far. The event will celebrate Edwards’ legacy while raising money and awareness for the Jamal Edwards Self Belief Trust, with further special guests still to be revealed.

Who invented grime?

Who invented grime? It’s a question guaranteed to start a debate amongst UK rap fans on any wing, and this September, the V&A (Victoria & Albert Museum) is putting it up for debate.

The Grime Journalist will be joined by special guests from grime’s past and present at V&A East in Stratford, east London, for an evening exploring the origins and legacy of one of Britain’s most influential musical movements.

The event will also host the first public listening of his debut album, Who Invented Grime?, a 10-track project tracing the genre’s roots and the communities that helped shape it.

The Grime Journalist recently told BBC Radio 1Xtra that “the poster boy for grime would inevitably be Dizzee Rascal”, a comment that prompted listeners to ask why Wiley (among others) wasn’t mentioned. But perhaps that is exactly the point. Being the face of a movement and being responsible for its beginnings are two different things.

So, who invented grime? Wiley? Dizzee? Or was grime created by a whole generation rather than any one person? Inside Rap wants to hear your verdict.