When the bodyguard caught up, Shakur was exchanging punches with a man named Orlando Anderson, who was linked to the Los Angeles-based South Side Crips gang. Tyson, a close friend, entered the ring to Shakur's "Let's Get It On (Ready 2 Rumble)," and anticlimactically knocked Bruce Seldon out in the first round.Īs Shakur, Knight and assorted entourage members were leaving the MGM, Knight associate Travon Lane came up to Shakur, whispered something to him, and the rapper took off, with Alexander close behind. "Big Frank," as the rapper called him, didn't like the idea of being without a weapon while protecting Shakur, who attracted a crowd wherever he went. Alexander was perturbed to find out that guests were being asked not to bring any guns into Knight's 662 Club, where they planned to party after the fight. His bodyguard Frank Alexander had arrived the day before to ensure the trip went as smoothly as possible. 7, 1996, Shakur, who would have turned 50 years old this summer, arrived in Las Vegas to attend a Mike Tyson fight with Death Row Records co-founder Marion "Suge" Knight at the MGM Grand. Which he did, only he didn't live to see it. Dre, Ice Cube, Snoop Dogg and Ice-T but also blazing his own way as an unequivocally talented but complicated provocateur, the All Eyez on Me artist had emerged as a boldly honest, startlingly prescient voice poised to change the game forever. Traveling the road paved by hip-hop pioneers like Dr. In 1996, Tupac Shakur was the crown prince of West Coast rap.