On the night of September 7th, 1996, Mike Tyson fought Bruce Seldon at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas. In attendance was 25 year old rap superstar Tupac Shakur, who watched Tyson humiliate Seldon with a defeat less than two minutes into the heavyweight fight. After the fight, Tupac and his entourage were involved in the beating of Orlando “Baby Lane” Anderson, an alleged gang member who Shakur’s crew believed to have been involved in the robbery of a Death Row Records employee earlier that year. Later that night, as Tupac, Suge Knight, and a cadre of their friends from Death Row drove to a Las Vegas nightclub, a white Cadillac pulled up to their vehicle at the intersection of Flamingo Road and Koval Lane. The occupants of the Cadillac unleashed a hail of bullets into Shakur’s car, striking the rapper four times. He was rushed to the hospital, where he was pronounced dead six days later on September 13th, 1996.

     Offered here is Shakur’s State of Nevada Certificate of Death, which provides the grim details surrounding the death of the former Lesane Parish Crooks. The Death certificate comes with the raised seal of the Clark County Health District, Las Vegas Nevada.  This 'Certificate of Death' is "Certified to be a true and correct copy of the document on file with the registrar of vital statistics, stage of Nevada."  Noted on this yellow paper are Shakur’s time of death (4:03 p.m.), his cause of death (Multiple Gunshot Wounds), and additional personal information including social security number, date and location of birth, type of burial (cremation) are listed. It is stamped with the issue date of October 16th, 1996. This item represents a fascinating and truly unique artifact of hip-hop history.

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