Connect with us

Entertainment

Ex-Gang Leader Charged In 1996 Tupac Shakur Killing Pleads Not Guilty In Las Vegas

Published

on

Tupac Shakur's Unsolved Murder: Police Share New Development 26 Years After Rapper's Death

LAS VEGAS, Nevada — A former Southern California street gang leader pleaded not guilty Thursday to organizing a drive-by shooting in Las Vegas in 1996 that killed Tupac Shakur.

Duane Keith “Keffe D” Davis, the only person still alive who was in the car from which shots were fired and the only person ever prosecuted in the case, stood cuffed before Clark County District Judge Tierra Jones.

Davis was defended in court by special public defenders Robert Arroyo and Charles Cano on Thursday. Davis’ bid to hire defense counsel Ross Goodman was unsuccessful. Goodman stated two weeks ago that prosecutors lack witnesses and critical evidence, such as a gun or car, for the murder that occurred 27 years ago.

Davis stood in dark-blue jail garb and answered a short series of questions before entering his plea on Thursday, telling the judge that he attended “a year in college,” was not under the influence of any drugs, medication, or alcohol, and understood he had been charged with murder.

Davis, 60, is a native of Compton, California. He was apprehended on September 29 outside a home in suburban Henderson where Las Vegas police had served a search warrant on July 17, reigniting interest in one of hip-hop music’s most intriguing mysteries. Davis is still being held without bond, did not testify before the grand jury that indicted him and refuses to talk with The Associated Press from jail.

shakur

A former Southern California street gang leader pleaded not guilty Thursday to organizing a drive-by shooting in Las Vegas in 1996 that killed Tupac Shakur.

According to the indictment, Davis obtained and gave a gun to someone in the back seat of a Cadillac before the car-to-car gunfire that killed Shakur and injured rap music entrepreneur Marion “Suge” Knight at an intersection near the Las Vegas Strip. Shakur passed away a week later. He was 25.

Knight, aged 58, is receiving a 28-year jail sentence for the 2015 death of a Compton businessman. He has not responded to messages requesting comment on Davis’ arrest sent through his attorneys.

Prosecutors claim that Shakur’s death in Las Vegas was the result of a rivalry between East Coast Bloods gang members and West Coast Crips gang members, including Davis, for dominance in a musical genre known as “gangsta rap.”

According to the grand jury, the Las Vegas shooting on September 7, 1996, was payback for a confrontation hours earlier at a Las Vegas Strip casino involving Shakur and Davis’ nephew, Orlando “Baby Lane” Anderson.

Prosecutors told a grand jury that Davis implicated himself in the assassination in repeated interviews and a 2019 tell-all biography about his past as a member of a Compton Crips faction. Davis has claimed that he procured a.40-caliber handgun and handed it to Anderson, a member of Davis’ gang, in the back seat of a Cadillac. However, he has not named Anderson as the shooter.

shakur

Wallace, popularly known as Biggie Smalls, was shot and assassinated in Los Angeles six months after Shakur’s death in March 1997.

Anderson, who was 22 at the time, denied any participation in Shakur’s death and died two years later in a shooting in his hometown of Compton. The other rear-seat passenger and the Cadillac’s driver were also killed.

Davis wrote in his book that he told authorities what he knew about the murders of Shakur and gang rival Notorious B.I.G, whose legal name is Christopher Wallace, in 2010 to protect himself and 48 of his Southside Compton Crips gang associates from prosecution and the possibility of life sentences in prison.

Wallace, popularly known as Biggie Smalls, was shot and assassinated in Los Angeles six months after Shakur’s death in March 1997.

Shakur is regarded as one of the most influential and diverse rappers ever. He had five number-one albums, was nominated for six Grammy Awards, was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2017, and was honored with a posthumous star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame this year.

SOURCE – (AP)

Entertainment

Tim Burton’s ‘Beetlejuice Beetlejuice’ a Box Office Success Gets 4.5 Stars

Published

on

Beetlejuice Beetlejuice
Beetlejuice is 41% ahead of the norm for the action comedy sci-fi genre - Netflix Image

Beetlejuice Beetlejuice preview reportedly made $13 million for Warner Bros. Fans gave it 4.5 stars on Comscore/Screen Engine’s PostTrak, while both parents and children under the age of 12 gave it 5 stars.

The sequel has a current budget of $90 million, with room to grow.

The sequel starring Michael Keaton, Jenna Ortega, and Winona Ryder had 59% female attendees, with 73% of those attendees being 25 and older. In terms of gender, 62% of the children were girls and 38% were boys. Last night, the Latino and Hispanic community had an impressive showing at 36% of the total audience.

According to Yahoo Entertainment, Beetlejuice Beetlejuice social media reach With 508.6 million followers across TikTok, Facebook, X, YouTube, and Instagram combined, Beetlejuice is 41% ahead of the norm for the action comedy sci-fi genre.

“Jenna Ortega has stunned her 38.2 million Instagram followers with 103.1 million views, while Michael Keaton has 1.58 million and Willem Dafoe has 155 thousand,” the social media analytics company adds.

Beetlejuice Beetlejuice a Remarkable Sequel

Additionally, they mention, “Convo for Beetlejuice Beetlejuice A remarkable feat for a sequel, Beetlejuice has received mostly good reviews from audiences who have praised the film for its originality and sense of purpose. ‘At first, I thought this was another Scream movie, then I thought it was the Wednesday Season 2!’ A number of fans, including new viewers, are ecstatic to see Jenna Ortega in a horror film.

According to fans of the 1988 original, “My inner child from the 80’s is screaming!” when asked about the style of Jenna Ortega’s flicks. I’m more pumped up for this movie than any other! “I admire the practical effects and the attempts to make it look like the old movie!!” is one commenter’s praise for the show’s expert production values and impressive use of special effects.

You can count on seeing a plethora of costumed fans at the movies this weekend.

A large number of collectible concessions are also available. Beetlejuice jack-in-the-box popcorn buckets are available at Cinemark, competing with Sandworm and Wolverine

People Also Reading:

For Nicolas Cage, Making A Serial Killer Horror Movie Was A Healing Experience

For Nicolas Cage, Making A Serial Killer Horror Movie Was A Healing Experience

Continue Reading

Entertainment

Trump film ‘The Apprentice’ finds distributor and will open before the election

Published

on

trump

NEW YORK — Trump Film | After failing to generate interest following its Cannes Film Festival screening, “The Apprentice,” starring Sebastian Stan as a teenage Donald Trump, has found a distributor who intends to release the film right before the election in November.

Briarcliff Entertainment will release “The Apprentice” in theatres across the United States and Canada on October 11, just weeks before the November 5 election.

Director Ali Abbasi, a Danish-Iranian filmmaker, had prioritized releasing “The Apprentice” in theatres before electors voted. After major studios and film distributors declined to bid on the project, Abbasi complained on X in early June that “for some reason certain power people in your country don’t want you to see it!!!”

trump

Trump film ‘The Apprentice’ finds distributor and will open before the election

In a statement issued Friday, Steven Cheung, the Trump campaign’s communications director, described the film’s release as “election interference by Hollywood elites right before November.”

“This ‘film’ is pure malicious defamation, should never see the light of day, and doesn’t even deserve a place in the straight-to-DVD section of a bargain bin at a soon-to-be-closed discount movie store, it belongs in a skip fire,” Cheung tweeted.

The prospect of legal action was one factor that decreased interest in “The Apprentice”. After the film’s Cannes premiere in May, Cheung labeled it “pure fiction” and stated that the Trump team would pursue a lawsuit “to address the blatantly false assertions from these pretend filmmakers.”

“The Apprentice” follows Trump’s rise to dominance in New York real estate, guided by defense attorney Roy Cohn (Jeremy Strong). Late in the film, Trump is seen raping his wife, Ivana Trump (portrayed by Maria Bakalova). In her 1990 divorce deposition, Ivana Trump alleged Donald Trump raped her. Trump rejected the claim, and Ivana Trump later clarified that she did not mean it literally but rather that she felt violated.

Abbasi has stated that Trump might not despise the film.

trump

Trump film ‘The Apprentice’ finds distributor and will open before the election

“I would offer to go and meet him wherever he wants and talk about the context of the movie, have a screening and have a chat afterwards, if that’s interesting to anyone at the Trump campaign,” Abbasi stated during the May election.

Briarcliff Entertainment has published several films, including the 2022 documentary “Gabby Giffords Won’t Back Down” and the Liam Neeson thriller “Memory.” The indie distributor is led by Tom Ortenberg, who helped Lionsgate distribute Michael Moore’s “Fahrenheit 9/11” and, as CEO of Open Road, supported the best picture Oscar winner “Spotlight.”

SOURCE | AP

Continue Reading

Entertainment

Hanumankind: The Indian Rapper Who Overtook Kendrick Lamar on Global Music Charts

Published

on

Hanumankind

In a remarkably short span, Indian rapper Hanumankind has made a significant mark on the country’s emerging hip-hop scene.

His track “Big Dawgs” has not only topped global charts but also briefly overshadowed Kendrick Lamar’s diss track “Not Like Us.” The BBC delves into the extraordinary ascent of Hanumankind, whose real name is Sooraj Cherukat.

At 31, Cherukat, also known as Hanumankind, radiates an electrifying presence in the “Big Dawgs” music video.

Filmed in a maut ka kuan—a dramatic performance space where drivers execute gravity-defying stunts inside a colossal wooden barrel—Cherukat commands the scene with an intense energy, surrounded by daring drivers zipping past him.

The track, a collaboration with producer Kalmi Reddy and director Bijoy Shetty, has amassed over 132 million streams on Spotify and 83 million views on YouTube since its release in July, propelling Cherukat to international fame.

On the surface, Cherukat’s music follows the hip-hop tradition of portraying gritty street narratives through raw, explicit lyrics. However, a deeper look reveals a rapper navigating his multifaceted identity through his art.

The Roots of Hanumankind’s Sound

Born in Kerala, Cherukat’s childhood was a global journey due to his father’s work with a major oil company, leading him to live in France, Nigeria, Egypt, and Dubai. His formative years in Houston, Texas, were crucial in shaping his musical career.

Houston’s hip-hop scene is unique, known for its distinctive “screwed-up” remix style influenced by the local use of cough syrup. Cherukat has often cited Texas hip-hop legends like DJ Screw, UGK, Big Bunny, and Project Pat as major influences.

Although his style reflects this heritage, it has evolved since his return to India in 2021 after dropping out of college.

Having earned a business degree and worked with firms like Goldman Sachs, Cherukat left the corporate world to pursue rap full-time, a passion he had previously juggled alongside other commitments.

Cherukat’s music reflects his attempt to reconcile his cosmopolitan experiences with his Indian roots. His tracks often highlight the struggles of southern Indian street life, combining intense vocal delivery with engaging rhythms.

His song “Genghis,” filmed in Bengaluru, critiques national issues through a gritty lens.

VOR News

Challenging Rap Norms and Navigating Criticism: Hanumankind’s Unique Path

In “Big Dawgs,” Cherukat diverges from the typical rap glorification of wealth, focusing instead on small-town stunt performers from impoverished backgrounds. “These are the people that are the real risk-takers…Those are the big dogs, for real,” he told Complex.

Despite his innovative approach, Cherukat faces criticism. Some argue that his English lyrics may limit his appeal to non-English-speaking Indian audiences and that his style too closely mirrors Western artists.

Abid Haque, a PhD student, believes that while Cherukat’s inclusion of South Asians in the Western rap scene is notable, his music sometimes feels disconnected from Indian reality.

Cherukat himself navigates this duality. He views his return to India as a way to explore his sense of belonging. “I think it really moulded me as someone who never really had a place to call home… and that kind of shaped the way I perceive music, people, and culture,” he explained.

Yet, he also embraces a broader perspective: “I’m not an Indian rapper, but I’m a rapper from India,” indicating his position outside the traditional Indian hip-hop scene.

Hanumankind’s unique style has attracted both admiration and criticism, often encountering resistance from listeners who struggle to categorize him. His distinct approach and refusal to conform to expectations have, however, resonated with many fans.

“He isn’t trying to cater to an Indian audience, which shows in his music, and he is unapologetic about it,” said Arnab Ghosh, a Delhi-based psychiatrist.

Cherukat’s journey, marked by his adaptability and dedication to authenticity, represents both a triumph and a challenge. As he continues to break boundaries and redefine expectations, Hanumankind remains a compelling figure in the global hip-hop landscape.

“You keep certain things as your roots, but it’s up to you to adapt to the environment and go with the flow, as long as you don’t compromise on integrity,” he once said, capturing the essence of his remarkable career.

Source: BBC

Continue Reading

Download Our App

vornews app

Advertise Here

Volunteering at Soi Dog

Soi Dog

Trending