Global Courant
On Friday, September 29, when Duane “Keffe D” Davis was arrested and charged with murdering Tupac Shakur (after 27 years), Dear Mama director Allen Hughes deemed it “the conclusion anyone in the know thought would come someday.”
“For whatever reason, it sounds like (Davis) told the truth,” Hughes told Rolling Stone over the phone Friday after Davis’ arrest. “He’s been telling the truth. The culture was listening. Hip-hop was listening. The streets were listening. But law enforcement, unfortunately, it took a while for them.”
It took the Las Vegas Metro Police Department 27 years to charge Davis, even though he spent the better part of the last decade recounting the story on YouTube, in his Compton Street Legend book, and on BET’s Death Row Chronicles. In July, police raided his Henderson, NV residence. Yesterday, authorities apprehended him and held a press conference calling him the “on-ground, on-site commander” who “ordered the death” of Shakur.
Dear Mama, an Emmy-nominated docuseries that recounts Tupac and his mother Afeni’s kindred journeys as Black Panthers, is distinct as one of the few documentaries about the iconic rapper that didn’t fixate on his 1996 murder in Las Vegas. Hughes is a one-time friend of Tupac who co-directed the videos for classics like “Trapped,” “Brenda’s Got a Baby” and “If My Homie Calls.” He tells Rolling Stone that when he heard that Keffe D was finally arrested for Tupac’s murder, he was happy for the Shakur family, and believes that it’s the first step towards justice for the late rapper.
Davis’ trial may bring closure to a case that has been the subject of immense conspiracy theories and confusion. Hughes spoke to Rolling Stone about Davis and the “confluence of circumstances” in Tupac’s life that may have led to that night in Vegas.
How did you feel when you first heard the news? What was your first reaction today?
I mean, obviously, what took so long? It’s one thing if the guy had his lips sealed, but he’s been (for the) last 10, 15 years telling everyone. So it’s surprising that it took them this long. If this were Bruce Springsteen or Mick Jagger, it would have been one hour after the thing happened. It’s just our country. It’s so backward. It’s a shame. But it’s a great day for the family. I’m just happy to… Although Afeni and (her older sister) Glo didn’t need this for their closure and they were never searching for law enforcement to get the peace of mind, this was a great day for them, in general. It gives them a peace of mind.
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Have you been able to talk to anyone in the family today?
Yeah, just some text messages. I just came back from Atlanta where I was with Glo and his cousins and some of the family. We will have dinner every now and then. But no, I just got a note. I sent a note and I got back the feelings, it’s just a really good day for the family.
I feel like a lot of people have known about Keffe D’s alleged involvement for a long time. What’s your best assumption as to why this is happening now, 27 years later?
I can’t even pretend to know why this is happening now. I don’t have an answer for that. I do know that there’s been a lot of Tupac-related stuff in 2023. His name is ringing in the halls in a new way. He got put in the Hollywood Walk of Fame recently. We got Dear Mama and other things… he just grows as far as his presence in our culture and internationally. But who knows? Again, the guy’s been very transparent about his involvement for many years, so why now?
Allen Hughes speaks at the Hollywood Walk of Fame star ceremony of US rapper Tupac Shakur, in Hollywood, California, on June 7, 2023. (Photo by Robyn Beck / AFP)
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Have you ever interacted with Keffe D?
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Never.
How much of your mission with your documentary had to do with amplifying him in order to push for the LVMPD to reopen their investigation?
Well, it’s interesting, because when I was going around town and we were figuring out who the best network partner would be for this, the subtitle in the treatment was, “This is not a murder investigation.” I felt like a lot of family and friends and fans know what happened. People have their theories, but I think if you connect the dots, you go, “Oh, this…” Unfortunately, it’s as unremarkable as it ended up being. And when you watch Dear Mama, you see the way the murder was dealt with. It was dealt with in a very matter-of-fact way, because that’s not what interested me. It was never, in my heart, a mystery. So this is just a conclusion, and the conclusion anyone in the know thought would come someday. And again, what took so long? But it was not my focus in the film.
How likely did you think (an arrest) was to actually occur?
Well, only recently, when we heard the news about the raid a month or so ago, right? We were like, “Okay, if they’re making a raid, there’s smoke, there’s fire. Somebody said something. There’s something in there. And it could be just as simple as too, when you got a new regime in power in law enforcement in Las Vegas, it just takes one new fresh set of eyes, new brain, new woman, new man to say, “You know what ? Let’s go. Why is this unsolved? Let’s solve it.”
With Tupac’s Thug Life movement, his goal was to unite gangs and get them to reclaim their status as social justice organizations. Now a gang member is going to be tried for his murder. Can you speak to that dynamic in the landscape of his legacy?
I mean, it’s complex. The first 24 years of Tupac’s life, he’s essentially a social justice warrior. And he’s trying to unite, not divide. He was volatile at times. We all know that. But his original purpose was human rights and civil rights, what his mother stood for. That’s what Dear Mama was about. But he also, like (a lot of) the Panthers, had a fascination with guns. And it’s hip-hop. I always say Tupac signed his record deal three years too late, because his original songs, starting with “Panther Power” were all socially conscious. That’s what was happening in hip-hop in ’88, not ’91 when he signed this deal.
So he was always grappling with that and trying to figure out a way to take on some of that so he can bring it together and organize it. But at the end of the day, when you look at the early ’90s in our culture, and in hip hop, a lot of it was gang-affiliated. And it’s very difficult when we see what happened in Vegas it’s a slippery slope. And I was privy to, while making Dear Mama, not only his poetry and his lyrics, his original writings, but a lot of his plans. He wrote his plans down and Death Row was just something he was passing through.
I read a lot about his ambitions and plans for the community, what he wanted to do with the children in the inner cities and opening up healthy restaurants in the community. I saw these with my own eyes, his writings about his ambition, so I know that he didn’t mean to sit in this space that was gang culture. That was not his intention.
So from your vantage point, what do you think it was that consumed him to stay in that negative mindset?
I mean, Tupac, his greatest gift was how highly emotional he was and how connected to his emotions he was. It’s a gift and a curse. So in a moment where he’s in love, he’s crazy in love, you know what I’m saying?
And I think that has less to do with the culture of Death Row and gang culture, and just part of what made him great. He was just available to the emotions he was in. That’s why we feel him. That’s why he’s so strong.
Unfortunately, maybe that’s what happened that night. There’s all kinds of confluence of circumstances that make up who Tupac is. And if you see the Dear Mama, you’ll see it all in there in his childhood, his adolescence, all the variables that went in. The father thing, the men in the movement abandoning him and his mother, the displacement, moving from city to city. There’s a lot of alchemy there that leads to what happened with that young man. That’s not a mystery. It’s what made him great. And also it’s always the gift is the curse and the curse is the gift.
Why do you think Keffe D sought out the infamy of murdering Tupac?
That’s the greatest mystery of all. Why Keffe D would want people to know, especially given where he’s from and his background. You’re implicating yourself. Not just in the streets, but with law enforcement. So I don’t know what he was looking for in revealing that, but maybe your conscience gets the best of you sometimes. He said it very matter of fact on several occasions, in several different interviews. And maybe this was on his spirit. He couldn’t live with it. Who knows? Very strange.
When you’re speaking about Keffe D, the platforms that he’s on, so many people have been on them retelling kind of the same stories about Tupac. What does it say to you about Tupac’s legacy that so many people have been rehashing that night and just watching these video clips?:
It says a lot, because when you think about that town that Tupac was murdered in, Vegas, when you think about mythology and lore and gangster shit, you see movies like Casino and you hear about Bugsy Siegel and all the bodies that were buried in that desert and all the gangster tales that came before any of this hip-hop shit, that looms large. It’s hard to overshadow the Italian mob, the Jewish mob. There’s some epic murder tales. But this little Black boy from Harlem is the most infamous of all time. That tells you about the power of who this kid is, what his talent was, how many people he touched, and what a great storyteller he was. The fact that his murder is the most infamous, the most talked about, the most discussed, debated of all of Vegas history tells you how powerful he is and what he means to the culture.
Can you speak to the tragedy of how avoidable this all seemed?
That’s got to do with our fathers, man. A lot of times, we’re fortunate enough to have good mothers, but where are the fathers at? Where the men at? Not just the fathers, but the men. Where the grown men at? You can’t stop no one from doing something they want to do, but I’m talking about the night before that and the weeks leading up there, and the monthly, at that record label and the other record label and in the streets and the C-suites. Where’s the leadership there?
So that night was all about just a lack of leadership all the way around, and it wasn’t just about that night. It wasn’t just about that night. Where the grown ass men at? I’m the same age as Tupac at the time. There’s not a lot of guidance out there. There’s not a lot of OGs… there’s a few, but there’s not a lot of father figures to help us deal with money, fame, emotions, and psychological stuff we’re going through. And our mothers are strong, they’re playing the role of the mother and the father, but sometimes you need a grown-ass man that would tell you to sit your ass down. It was senseless.
If Keffe D gets convicted, will it feel like justice to you?
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Yeah. It will, because whatever your feelings (are) about what he’s been saying over a decade now, when you’re searching for the truth, sometimes there’s a constellation of unremarkable details. That’s when you know someone’s telling the truth. And the first time I heard him speak about that night, I said, “Damn, this is true.” All those other guys that were in the car, the three other gentlemen or young men, they’re no longer with us. So if he gets convicted for this, this is justice. And love him or hate him, at least he told the truth.
For whatever reason, it sounds like he told the truth. He’s been telling the truth. The culture was listening. Hip-hop was listening. The streets were listening. But law enforcement, unfortunately, it took a while for them.
