Top 7 Singer/Song Writers

No offense to guitarist that don't sing, but since I was a kid, it was always the ones who could strum and belt out vocals who earned serious cool points with me, even idolization. This list is appreciation for the singer/songwriters, who didn't mind taking on a double duty. The guitarist who inspired me to pick up an ax just cause they looked so damn cool doing what they did. 

7. John Lennon

Their overexposure always kept me at a distance and it wasn't until recently that I really started venturing into the Beatles & Lennon's catalog his story, and i'll tell you, I've certainly been long over do. Lennon had a bouncy way of playing his guitar on stage that brings me to my feet every time, despite him being fairly unsophisticated in technical skill compared to his contemporaries. It was his song writing and energy that truly had me enamored. In addition his desire to speak up and not always say the right thing resonates deeply with me because I am the same way.

6. Jimi Hendrix

Admittedly, I was never into Hendrix as much as I probably should have been, at least till now, but I was familiar with his image long before I even appreciated his music. He created the template for being a cool rock star in my eyes and showed me that skin color didn't matter when you are that cool (or at least it shouldn't). His cool demeanor when he picked away at his Strat and his even cooler blues style singing had me won from the get go. Nobody was a undeliberately awesome as this guy, check his interviews. He has a shy confidence that I see in myself.

5. Buddy Holly

There is just something so quaint and perfect about this guy and his music. Seeing him perform with rapid down strokes and his confident "your gonna love this" swagger and sway, as if he was in a whole nother' era, caught my attention instantly. When I first saw his live performances, words couldn't capture just how ahead of his time this guy really was or just how impressed I was in seeing it so long after the fact. Besides that, I've always longed for the simple things he talks about in his songs. He made love sound like such a good and easy thing.

4. Nick Drake

I recently stumbled upon Nick Drake by accident on a Google Images search for whatever doesnt matter now. It amazed me that I had not known about this guy earlier or that he isn't even really discussed by critics at all. The mystery surrounding this guy, his death, and his perfectly doomed music is so enthralling for a person like me who deals with allot of internal strife. Listening to his Pink Moon album, it is like he said everything I've been holding in for the past 5 years in a less than 30 minute, stripped down to the bare, masterpiece, and did I mention how superb this guy was on the guitar? I don't think I've ever heard anyone play so clear and beautifully and then sing on top of it with such an angelic voice that just completely takes my breath away. This passively disenchanted man to me, is as cool as it gets. I cant get enough. It's a shame that their is no live footage of him playing, perhaps that is what jades people from giving him the credit he deserves. By far my favorite solo guitarist ever.

 

3. Bille Joe Armstrong

This little ball of energy inspired me to seriously pick up the guitar for the first time in a long time and forget about how hard everyone was telling me it was to play period, let alone play and sing at the same time. I was watching the "Long View" video for whatever reason in 2010 and the sheer simplicity and ruggedness of the video and his lyrics coupled with his crazy faces and perpetual head rocking really got me excited as shit after a period when I was getting really sick of music's monotony. The flashiness and his everyday loner topics got me back to a more familiar/real place when it came to writing lyrics. Seeing something so rough come out of someone so small definitely invoked a resurgence in me. As a matter of fact, the first song I ever learned to sing and play in it's entirety was "Welcome To Paradise" and then "Holiday" shortly after. Although sometimes I find some of their newer music "assembly line" quality, I rarely hit next when a Green Day track comes on the shuffle. His voice, image, and whole attitude have made me a life long fan.

2. Kurt Cobain

I swear sometimes that he is singing about my life. Kurt Cobain was/is the epitome of a soul that just said "fuck it" i'm not going to be like you and I never really was. His whole attitude coupled with his ferocious music, which was like pure unfiltered emotion, gave me somebody to listen to whenever i felt like shit, which is always lol. The fact that he didn't really have a great singing voice, or couldn't really play the guitar that pretty were the main things that made me obsessed with him, his band and his death. This guy was contrary to everything, as I am, and seemed like such a benevolent soul who was just seeking happiness. Another thing about Kurt Cobain that changed the way I approached music forever was his writing. Never had lyrics caught my attention so much I guess because growing up as a hip hop/r&b/soul guy, the words those artist say usually tend to be extremely literal. Post listening to Nirvana, I started to attempt to say allot more with less in my songs, as I felt it was something truly worth emulating that gives the music a timeless quality. It's crazy, but I have a feeling I am just like this guy in allot of ways (minus the weird gay shit and being dead).

1. Deryck Whibley

Initially, before I even thought it was possible for me to strum some power chords and make a song, I was a huge fan of Sum 41 mostly due to their punky lead man and his shyness that I related to immensely. Thinking back, at about 12, I really didn't even understand something as simple as what instruments I was hearing, or what the hell he was even talking about 100%, but when I heard All Killer No Filler and saw the accompanying videos, I was ready to dress just like him, do the things he did, hell I even started trying to spike my hair (i had an afro!). One thing that always caught me about him, is that even though from the beginning his band got lumped in with jokesters like blink-182 and Good Charlotte, never once did I hear a song from Mr. Whibley that I thought was the slightest bit corny (which I sure as hell cant say about the latter). Even on their most commercial efforts, it seems like the topics that they cover are very universal with a serious tone and can apply to many things across the board. I remember "Rhythms" was my theme song for that summer and would always remind me of the way I was feeling about this one chick I had to move away from... but I digress. Deryck Whibley is the whole reason, in my mind, why I write the way I do when it comes to making music. Also, for the record, Dave's riff from "The Hell Song" is the first thing I ever learned to play on a guitar. Not to mention that they, as a group, have never put out an album I couldn't listen to the whole way through... Only artists, that I have everything they have ever recorded on my iPod. Sum 41 4 Life!

10 Celebrities Deaths They Didn’t Want You to Know the Truth About

Far to often, upon celebrities passing, many of their accomplishments are pushed to the wayside and they are more so remembered for the nature of their death. Whether it be as a drug addict, a selfish suicidal, or just a neurotic who was going to die anyway, it has always disappointed me too continually have some of my favorite star's names soiled, because either the media and police were too lackadaisical to follow up or they had an incentive to not report it right in the first place. Here you have it, 10 celebrity deaths with the strong supporting evidence that the media either got it completely wrong, or wanted us to do the same.

10. Brian Jones (28 February 1942 – 3 July 1969)

Brian Jones, a founding member of the world renowned Rolling Stones, was vastly influential in the groups sound, choosing their name, getting them gigs and was praised by many as the best musician they ever had exuding abilities on over 20 different instruments. However after years of success, fame, and drug abuse, he slowly began to disconnect from the other band members, unwilling to work, until he was kicked out of the band in June 1969. Brian was found dead less than a month later at the bottom of his pool.

• Official Cause: On July 2-3^rd, 1969, Brian Jones was found motionless at the bottom of his swimming pool by girlfriend, Anna Wohlin. She had insisted that he was still alive, but it was soon determined that he was dead on the scene. The official cause was “death by misadventure,” and an enlarged liver and heart were also noted due to years of drug abuse.

• What Really Happened? In the wake of his death, rumors immediately started swirling that the actual cause of death was murder by, Frank Thorogood, the last man too have seen Jones alive. It is implied in the 2005 dramatized biopic of Brian’s life, Stoned, that the motive behind the death was miss payment and disrespect. In 2009, investigative journalist Scott Jones, petitioned to get the case reopened, but was denied as the Sussex Police felt there was not enough additional evidence.

09. Marilyn Monroe (June 1, 1926 – August 5, 1962)

Marilyn Monroe, America’s first sex symbol, made a career in the 50’s and 60’s out of modeling, film acting, singing and her associations with very powerful men.  Most noted for her steamy relationship with then president, John F. Kennedy, Monroe made dazzled men and woman alike across the country with her flowing blonde hair, video girl like curves and ditzy faux pas until her untimely death in 1962.

• Official Cause: On August 5, 1962, at 4:25 am, a call was placed to the LAPD stating Marilyn Monroe had been found dead at just 36 in her Los Angeles home. Upon performing an autopsy, it was revealed that her body contained high contents of prescription drugs, and the official cause of death was decided to be “acute barbiturate poisoning” as a result of a “probable suicide”.

• What Really Happened? Jack Clemmons, the first LAPD officer on the scene, had believed that she had been murdered upon first examination. The police said when they arrived, the maid, Murray was washing sheets, and although the room was extremely clean where Marilyn laid with a phone in hand, there were several empty pill bottles but no source of water as the water in the house was turned off, interesting because Monroe was known to gag on pills even when water was available. Upon later investigation, a glass is found that police claim wasn’t initially there. Later on, before leaving for Europe to never be questioned again, Murray would change her story several times in questioning, similar to the doctors who initially decided upon a time of death around 10:30-12am, who changed death time to 3AM. Her body was found face down in a position indicating she had been moved after death. There was also no evidence that she had ingested the drugs that had killed her, for if she had, she would have been dead long before taking the final dosage which was enough to kill 10 people.  

08. Elvis Presley (January 8, 1935 – August 16, 1977)

Often referred to as the “King of Rock and Roll”, Elvis Presley, was a vastly influential icon in his time, pioneering the merging of country, blues, and pop music to popularize what would later be referred to broadly as rock music. Also majorly responsible for exposing black culture to a captive white audience, Elvis was far beyond his time. His death in 1977 marked one of the greatest entertainment losses for many, and he would go on to sell near astounding billion record worldwide since then.

• Official Cause: On August 16, 1967, Elvis was scheduled to fly out of Memphis to begin on his next tour. He was found unconscious on his bathroom floor later that afternoon, and pronounced dead at 3:30PM upon his hospital arrival. 14 different drugs were found in his body, 10 of which had any significance. This and his already enlarged heart were attributed to the cause of his death, “sudden violent heart attack”.

• What Really Happened? Many know of Elvis’s long time manager Colonel Tom Parker, but few know that he was an international criminal employed by the FBI to keep tabs on the ever influential Elvis Presley, who at the time of his death had become obsessed with the JFK assassinations and would feverishly analyze the tapes for hours on end attempting to find the evidence that would indicate an inside job. Is it possible that they feared the all-powerful Elvis questioning the government and getting his fans to do the same in the wake of prepping to get back in the limelight? Not too unlikely.

07. Eazy E (September 7, 1963 – March 26, 1995)

Eric Wright, a Compton native, better known as Eazy-E was solely responsible for popularizing gangster rap in the early 90’s as front man and the financial hand behind his group N.W.A., which changed the landscape of popular music as we know it. After a relatively short lived time at the top, N.W.A. fell apart and Eazy was focusing on his solo career with plans of working with the likes of Gun N Roses as well as his many new artists on his Ruthless Records. However, it would not be so. Eazy E died in 1995.

• Official Cause: On February 24^th, 1995 Eazy was admitted into the hospital with what was believed to be a bad case of asthma, but turned out to be AIDS. Losing his virginity at the age of 12, and having 7 children by 6 different women since then, Eazy’s lifestyle finally caught up to him. He announced his disease March 16, and was dead 10 days later at the age of 31.

• What Really Happened? Since his death, several people close to Eazy including former group, Bone Thugs N Harmony members, his eldest son, Lil Eazy, and then business rival Suge Knight have all indicated that there was much more to Eazy’s death and that it was almost certainly a murder. Evidence also points to foul play, when it is considered that none of his 7 kids, 6 baby mothers, or any woman after the fact ever came out that they received the disease from Eric. Suge Knight in a recent interview joked about how Eazy E was actually injected with the disease during his final hospital visit. Bone Thugs has also questioned the quickness of his death, stating they had never seen anyone else die so fast from it. A motive if any, just the threat of an independent black millionaire/business man who was capable of moving millions of units of records, without the help of a big time label… Having too much influence.  

06. Sam Cooke (January 22, 1931 – December 11, 1964)

Sam Cooke, singer and song writer, played a big role in the 1960’s in bringing popular black music to the forefront of American Radio. With 26 top 40 hits from 1957 through 1964, Cooke set the standard for R&B and soul influencing any and everybody who came after him. In addition to being a highly accomplished singer, composer and performer, Cooke towards the end of his life also became a huge advocate of the Civil Rights Movement, alongside Muhammad Ali and Malcolm X.

• Official Cause: On December 11^th, 1964, Sam Cooke was at the Hacienda Motel in Los Angeles, entertaining a young lady in his room which was infamously known to be a brothel of sorts. Apparently the lady who had for some reason or another (according to her, impeding rape) had taken off with Cooke’s clothes and bolted out of the room leaving him in his drawers. He chased out but could not find her. Convinced that the owner of the motel was hiding her, he aggressively pursued her despite saying she was not. The hotel owner feared for her life and shot Cooke, 33, to death in self-defense.  

• What Really Happened? As most know, the Hacienda Motel at the time was a very seedy locale known for its part in the solicitation on young ladies. Many inconsistencies in the stories of the girl and the motel owner have arisen since Cooke’s untimely death, but many figure that it was a collaboration between the two to rob Cooke, known for being boastfully flashy, who had at the $1000 on him that was never recovered. Sam Cooke’s erratic behavior, inebriation and the two testimonies where enough however to leave the case closed for good.

05. John Lennon (9 October 1940 – 8 December 1980)

One half of the world’s most successful songwriting duo and member of the world’s best-selling musical act of all time, The Beatles, John Lennon was a living legend in his time and a very out spoken activist in his own right. He had been out of the spotlight for nearly a decade when he decided to make a comeback in the early eighties alongside wife Yoko. Unfortunately, it would not be so. John Lennon was murdered at the end of 1980.

• Official Cause: Beatles fanatic and criminal Mark David Chapman had long been plotting to take out John Lennon for three months prior, spending much of his time listening to “Helter Skelter,” the record said to be behind the Manson killings, by The Beatles and succumbing demons in his head telling him to kill Lennon and end the peace movement of the 60’s and 70’s once and for all. On December 8^th, he waited outside Lennon’s apartment and upon seeing him and Yoko returning around 10:50PM he shot Lennon four times in the back. He was pronounced dead upon arrival for inflicted gunshots wounds. Chapman was found on the scene reading The Catcher in the Rye when police arrived to arrest him.

• What Really Happened? Military agent and criminal Mark David Chapman had been sent to Hawaii on special assignment by the FBI for three months to be brainwashed into killing John Lennon to end the peace agenda once and for all. He was repeatedly exposed to “Helter Skelter,” and suggested ideas about Lennon’s real plan and how he must be stopped. Lennon had been quite for some time after a public battle with Regan and immigration that he had finally won, due to his stature as a threat to national security in speaking against war. He was gearing to make his return to the mainstream as his new album was receiving praise as if he had never left. After Chapman had shot, he did not recall pulling the trigger or other crucial details involved and practiced extremely neurotic behavior reading The Catcher in the Rye, waiting to be arrested, fairly conclusive evidence indicating a typical Manchurian Candidate.     

04. Jim Morrison (December 8, 1943 – July 3, 1971)

Best remembered for his wild antics and stream of consciousness style of lyricism with The Doors in the 60’s, Jim Morrison is one of the most iconized figures of the time with an attitude that stuck with many rock stars who would come after him. A profound poet, with an aloofness that made him seem all but loopy, Morrison lead most of his life misunderstood and being judged for the worst by the media until his move to France with his girlfriend, where he would die that same year.

• Official Cause: On July 3^rd, 1971 at 27, Pam Courson, Jim’s girlfriend, had said he had complained to her prior about being unwell after they had been drinking and doing heroin together and was coughing and vomiting blood. Morrison drew a bath, and assuming he was doing better Pam went to sleep. She awoke to find a dead Morrison in the tub. They performed no autopsy due to finding no evidence of foul play.

• What Really Happened? In July 2007, Sam Bernett, former bar owner for a spot Jim Morrison frequented in France, came forward about what really happened to his buddy Jim. It appears that on the night of Jim’s death, he had been hanging around the bar waiting to score some heroin for his girlfriend. Upon receiving the package, Jim who didn't use needles, figured he would sample some of the powder through inhalation. He took the package into the bathroom stall, and this was the last time he would be seen alive. The owner of the bar went into the bathroom after; Morrison had taken a longer than normal time. He saw a familiar pair of boots which belonged to Jim and kicked open the door. He saw him sitting their unconscious and went to get a doctor who also frequented the bar. Jim Morrison was pronounced dead on the scene by the doctor; however, the two dealers presumably fearing being responsible for such a high profile death, would return to the bar and grab him out of the stall proclaiming he was still alive. Pam Courson and the original reporting doctor were both dead within years following Morrison’s accidental overdose. Click Here For Official Story

03. Kurt Cobain (February 20, 1967 – April 5, 1994)

The spokesperson for Generation X and the reason the 90s weren’t as pretty as the decade before, Kurt Cobain was a hero to many who just didn’t give a fuck about being a part of the vein country the United States had become. He exchanged pretty 5 minute solos and shiny suits, for sporadic 20 second feedback forays and ripped sweaters, encouraging a whole nation wear used clothes brand new. The inventor of grunge wouldn’t however get to enjoy the full swing of his impact as he took his own life less than three years after gaining his mass celebrity.

• Official Cause: On April 8^th, 1994, Kurt Cobain was found dead in his Seattle home with a self-inflicted shotgun wound to the head, ending the grunge movement that the 90’s had so openly embraced. After just having escaped a rehab clinic and being reported on the lamb by wife Courtney Love, he was discovered in his green house where he had been lying dead for days, overlooked by the private investigator that Courtney had hired to find him the day before. He had written a suicide note, detailing how he was sorry he couldn’t handle the pressure and it was also found that he had a lethal dose of heroin in his system.

• What Really Happened? The same private investigator Courtney Love had hired, Tom Grant, after discovering Kurt Cobain had committed suicide decided to dedicate his whole career from that point on too proving he was actually killed. Although he eventually ruined his career in doing so, he had compelling evidence including the following. He questioned how Kurt Cobain could have even picked up a gun to shoot himself in the head when he had so much heroin in his system that he would have died instantly. In addition, the suicide note was partially forged and the finger prints on the gun were smudged out of recognition, all hard tasks for someone who was already dead too partake in. Also he has presented telephone recordings that indicate Kurt & Courtney were planning a divorce, and Courtney was feverishly trying to see to it that she got a share of his fortune, revealing that she had already spent some of his money on her new lover Billy Corgan. In the most compelling piece of evidence, one man, El Duce, came forward stating that Courtney had offered him money to take out Kurt not to long before he “committed suicide” and even passed a lie detector test on the incident. Within a week of making a documented testimony and saying he knew the real killer, Allen Wrench, but to "Let the FBI catch him", two days late he was found dead on train tracks not far from his house. This was never investigated and ruled an accident. A whole documentary called Kurt & Courtney was done on the topic.

02. Jimi Hendrix (November 27, 1942 – September 18, 1970)

The greatest guitar player of all time, Jimi Hendrix was a messiah for music and pushed it too places it had never dreamt of going before his time of nurturing. A quite and gentle man from the city of Seattle, who was able to transcend genre and racial boundaries and just make good music, was unfortunately not able to accomplish even a fraction of the things he had envisioned in his mind. A true vessel for the spirit of music and an embodiment for the civil rights movement of the 60’s, Hendrix only truly enjoyed less than 5 years of acclaim before he succumbed to drugs in 1970.

• Official Cause: After leaving a party with girlfriend, Monika Dannemann, Jimi Hendrix unbeknownst to her had taken 9 of her sleeping pills, unaware of the strength of that brand. Worried as he became increasingly sicker, Monika called the ambulance around 11:00AM where they came and took her and Hendrix to the hospital where he was still alive around 11:30AM. Upon arriving they pronounced him dead from asphyxiation on vomit. The word suicide was even thrown around by the media as an official and accepted explanation.

• What Really Happened? The police arrived at the flat at 11:27AM where Jimi Hendrix was alone, fully clothed and had been dead for hours. Upon taking him to the hospital they reported he died of asphyxiation on vomit. Interestingly enough, in 1992, the original diagnosing doctor, John Bannister, came forward and added the bit about red wine that had been left out of all accounts prior. Apparently Jimi Hendrix’s whole entire air passage was filled with copious amounts of red wine, yet there was no alcohol in Hendrix’s blood content. Monika committed suicide in 1996 in a court related manner to the same trial after being held in contempt for libel against Jimi’s prior girlfriend. Former roadie for The Animals went as far as accusing Jimi’s former manager, Mike Jeffrey, saying he had confessed to having him killed to cash in on an insurance policy since he was about to terminate their contract together. Despite who it was who did the deed; it has become quite obvious that Hendrix was in fact killed.

01 Tupac Shakur (June 16, 1971 – September 13, 1996)

Tupac Shakur, a man who was truly larger than life when he was alive and even more so today. Known most for his frequent troubles with the law and the vast amount of material he provided for the media to report on, the loud mouthed advocate of thug life, gave a voice to the have not’s in not only America but around the world. The son of a black panther, Pac filled each and every song and message with passion and drive that made it relevant whether he was wrong or right. It would prove to be however this same tenacity that got him his worldwide fame would also prove to be the same reason he was slain in 1996.

• Official Cause: On September 7^th, 1996, after attending a Mike Tyson fight in Las Vegas, Tupac and crew got into a  verbal altercation with gang member Orlando Anderson, whom with Pac had already been beefing with prior. Needless to say, the verbal altercation soon turned physical and Orlando being outnumbered got the worst of it, as he was stomped out by the whole death row crew in front of thousands of passerby’s in the lobby of the casino. Upon leaving, Pac and Suge where in their car stopped at red light when a Cadillac pulled up next to them firing shots and fatally wounding 2Pac who would go on to die at the hospital 7 days later.

• What Really Happened? With literally thousands of conspiracy theories surround what really happened to Pac that night among the most compelling are as follows. On the night of the shooting, Tupac was told not to wear his bullet proof vest, and his security team was ordered to disarm and reassigned leaving Pac with only one bodyguard. Upon getting shot, police surrounded the car that contained Suge and Tupac (Suge Knight apparently never drove except on this night) and detained them as Pac and Suge bled out from their suffered gunshot wounds. These topics and more are covered in the Tupac: Assassination documentary produced by Frank Alexander, the one guard present with Tupac on that fateful night. The motive is said to be the over $100 million in royalties Suge was said to have owed Death Row artist including Pac, and that Shakur was just about ready to call it quits on them. According to Alexander, it was all orchestrated by then head of security, Reggie Wright, who since then has been cleared of any involvement. So much misinformation however has been spread about this incident, it’s hard to imagine we will ever get the full truth or anything even remotely near it.

Honorable Mentions:

• Donny Hathaway: Exuded extremely neurotic behavior at a recording session exclaiming white people were out to get him. The session was cancelled and he was sent home. He was found the next day dead on the pavement outside of his window, which he had purportedly committed suicide out of.
• Whitney Houston: In a hotel where Clive Davis's Grammy Party is located, she drowns in her bathtub the floor under while party is on going. Upon examination a small puncture wound is found on her buttocks. No foul play?
• Bobby Fuller: Scored a hit record with "I Fought The Law," moved out to L.A. and within weeks he was found dead in his car outside of his home. His body was doused in gasoline and was bruised. Police suspected no foul play.
• Buddy Holly: Probably not foul play, but if you ever have heard how unlikely it is too die in a plane crash, then why have so many high profile celebrities died in this manner since the 50's? Food for thought.

Liberation For My People! Rebel Music

New politically sensitive song I did the other yonder... It is about American Dreams and freedom amongst the people.

My feeling of the hopeless battle were captured pretty well if I do say so myself.

Also, features a picture of me with my Dominican Split, RARE SHIT BRO!!!

So You're Telling Me Will Smith Killed 2Pac?

Imagine if everything you thought about Tupac's death was completely wrong, and the man whom everyone would never even thought to expect was now at the forefront of suspects responsible for slaughtering one of the greatest icons of our time.

Now this is just for kicks but just imagine... It's not that unlikely a scenario. I mean I've seen men do crazier stuff over a female (Jada Pinkett), and not only that but Mike Tyson beat that nigga Will's ass just to add to the motive.

Anybody remember Willow's (Will & Jada's daughter) strange letter to the missing Tupac?

Here is the story, I didn't write this by the way, but this is one that the revisionist aren't gonna like.

I present too you the "Will Smith Hired Tupac's Killer Theory":

Tupac Shakur, born in New York City in 1971, grew up to be widely noted as the greatest rapper in the history of the game. His death came prematurely, at the age of 25, in a very violent fashion. Speculation continues about the identity of the true killer, but recently leaked government papers suggest that there is little doubt as to who had the killing carried out. 

Tupac spent his adolescent years in various locales, from New York, to Oakland, to Marin City, to Baltimore. Though he lived with his single mother in abject poverty, his mother scraped and saved enough money for her son to attend a relatively upper-crust arts school in Baltimore. It was there that Tupac met a woman with whom he developed an extraordinarily strong kinship. In various interviews and documentaries, Tupac remarks repeatedly and enthusiastically on their powerful and transcendental relationship. This woman was Jada Pinkett, the woman who would go on to be the wife of celebrity wannabe Will Smith. 

In the early 90s, Will Smith was in the midst of a career that seemed destined to rank among the shittiest in the industry. He had started off by referring to himself with the rather undeservedly regal title 'the Fresh Prince.' An obnoxious smartass rapper, Will Smith's juvenile anthems against authoritarianism went on to be rallying cries for 12 year old white suburbanites across the country, and indeed across the world. In fact, his song "Parents Just Don't Understand" was being pumped from the intercom during the grisly assassination of Weird Al Yankovic at a Houston night club in 1993. Accordingly, it didn't take long for the FBI to open what would eventually become a rather large file on Mr. Smith. His dossier, which is now reported to be over 3,500 pages in length, contains plenty of revealing and sensitive information about Smith, and is said to include photographs of his atrophied genitalia. 

By the mid-1990s, Will Smith's career was beginning to falter. His subpar rapping style was dismissed by fans and critics alike, and nobody wanted to hear his self-congratulatory remarks anymore. Will Smith, it seemed, was an ugly, egotistical, washed-up has-been. And while Smith was only a "prince," Tupac, was being hailed as rap's new king. Tupac's sales figures were huge, and he was loved by audiences, critics, and the mass media. He seemed unstoppable. But then, in September 1996, Tupac was gunned down in Las Vegas after leaving a sold-out Mike Tyson boxing match that culminated in Tyson gouging the eyes out of a man in the front row after the match. 

Immediately after Tupac's death, rumors began to circulate about who was responsible for the killing. While most fingers were pointed at Biggie Smalls' crew at Bad Boy Records, and at Death Row head honcho Suge Knight, hardly anyone even considered the idea that it was a deed ordered by the jealous and power-hungry Will Smith. Smith, it turns out, was seeking the affections of Ms. Jada Pinkett, Tupac's best friend from Baltimore. 

Jada Pinkett was everything a man like Will Smith could ask for; she was smart, talented, beautiful, and full of integrity-- everything Will Smith wasn't. 

Will was a talentless, self-absorbed slob with an embarrassing teeny-bopper rap career shadowing him, while Tupac was a rich, charismatic rapper with genuine talent, an affable personality, and down-to-earth grace and charm. As long as this was what he had to contend with, Will Smith knew he had no chance with Jada. Jada and Tupac's relationship went too far; it was too deep, there was too much shared experience, and too much mutual respect and affection. 

It was in the summer of 1996 when Will Smith began speaking with a man FBI files only refer to as Shock-Z to plot and plan the assassination of Tupac Shakur. It is generally acknowledged that Shock-Z was in reality Walter Henderson, a Las Vegas drug dealer with a 12 page rap sheet and gunshot scars to match. In his meetings with Shock-Z at various seedy restaurants, strip clubs, and award presentations, Will Smith began to carve out a plan to make sure that his archenemy Tupac would never get in the way of him edging his way into the life of Jada Pinkett. 

Knowing that Tupac was a good friend of Mike Tyson, and knowing that the Tyson match was a highly-anticipated and highly-hyped event, he knew that Tupac would be in Las Vegas on the night of September 7, 1996. Away from his usual entourage and familiar settings, Tupac would have no escape from a cold-blooded assassin. 

But more than for any other reason, Smith chose the Tyson fight due to his ongoing feud with the celebrity rapist. It began innocently enough, on Will Smith's album And in This Corner, which featured a single entitled "I Think I Can Beat Mike Tyson." The song's egotistical bent was nothing unusual in Smith's catalog, and he rather pathetically rapped about how he could "whoop" Tyson. Unfortunately for him, Mike Tyson wasn't behind bars yet, and was instead sitting at home in his opulent $6.5 million mansion in Catskills, NY, watching MTV and lifting 400lb barbells when the video for the song aired. Tyson, seeing Smith's call to arms, decided that he would show Will Smith a little piece of 'Kid Dynamite.' When Smith was filming the video for the song "Too Damn Hype," Tyson lept out from a studio trailer and beat the living shit out of Smith, breaking his jaw in two places, and permanently damaging one eye. One stagehand remarked at the time that the altercation reminded him of "that one scene in the Temple of Doom." Although all charges were eventually dropped against Tyson, Smith held a grudge; one that he wouldn't have the guts to take out on Tyson, but would rather circuitously take out on his good friend Tupac Shakur. 

According to top-secret FBI files on Will Smith that were leaked, Shock-Z handed the job of carrying out the killing to a man named Wallace West. West was already wanted by the Nevada State Highway Patrol for having a broken rear left blinker, and was under investigation by the Nevada DMV for failure to register his car. 

Two weeks before the Tyson fight, West walked into Walker's Gun Shop, a firearms store in Victorville, CA and purchased a .40 caliber Glock pistol and 600 rounds of ammunition. A dated receipt from the shop shows that West spent $392.94, nearly a $50 discount from the manufacturer's suggested retail price. Marginalia on the receipt indicates that a discount coupon from LA Weekly offering 10% off was used. 

After leaving the gun shop, West drove to Las Vegas, where he holed up in the Las Vegas Luxor for the next 12 days, reportedly subjecting himself to copious amounts of crystal meth. Hotel employees later said that he spent 11 straight days in the casino, a feat not uncommon in the gambling mecca. On the night of the shooting, West emerged from the hotel and got in a black 1992 Chevy Cavalier, parked 10 minutes away from the Las Vegas strip. Will Smith's connection, Shock-Z, was in the driver's seat. 

After the fight, West (the shooter) and Shock-Z (the driver) carefully shadowed Tupac and Suge Knight, who were leaving the venue together. At an opportune moment at a stoplight, when Tupac was talking to two unidentified women, he opened fire, laying 13 rounds into the car. Shock-Z hit a right turn and sped off into the Las Vegas night. 

Also in Las Vegas that night was a certain Will Smith. Smith told the Las Vegas Police Department that he was staking out some rental properties on the east side of town, in the hopes that he would be able to lease them out, but the Las Vegas Police Department has released information suggesting that Will Smith hardly had enough money in his bank account to even buy a vibrating armchair from the Sharper Image catalog, much less apartment complexes in a thriving metropolis. 

Furthermore, it was discovered that Will Smith had transferred over $600,000 in unsold He's the DJ, I'm the Rapper CDs to a Swiss record store, who then transferred the smuggled goods to stores in Indonesia and Saudi Arabia. The assets were frozen by Indonesian authorities pending an investigation of possible illegal misconduct. Just about when the FBI was about to close in on Smith's laundering scheme, the political thriller Independence Day starring Will Smith hit theaters. Though legitimate movie critics correctly assessed that "ID4", as it was commonly known, was a piece of fucking shit, the public loved it. Suddenly Will Smith was cock of the walk, though most people who knew him acknowledged that he was just a cock. 

Facing public outcry from Smith's new audience, the LVPD, in conjunction with the FBI, ceased the investigation of the Tupac assassination and did not even file charges against Will Smith, who they had plenty of evidence planned the killing. In an affadavit signed January 10, 1996, LVPD Commissioner Randall Stewart claimed that all paperwork involved in the Tupac case had been "misplaced" and the investigation had reached a dead end. Two days later, the LVPD headquarters received 5,000 free copies of DJ Jazzy Jeff and the Fresh Prince's "Summertime" CD single. 

Copyright @ Lost Ledgers