The Murders of Tupac and Biggie

by Sue Bradford Edwards

The Murders of Tupac and Biggieexplores all sides of the unsolved murders of two famous rappers. It discusses police investigations, conspiracy theories, the history behind the two rappers' impactful careers and rivalry, and more. Features include a glossary, references, websites, source notes, and an index. Aligned to Common Core Standards and correlated to state standards. Essential Library is an imprint of Abdo Publishing, a division of ABDO.

Genres: Nonfiction

112 pages, Hardcover

Published December 15, 2019

Reviews

[Beth · Rating 3 out of 5]

There's an overview of their lives and a bit about their music, but the focus of the book is a summary of their deaths and then a long analysis of the various theories around it. Conspiracy theories point fingers at the police or the FBI, various gangs or other rappers, but the text seems unconvinced; it ends with a discussion of the attraction of conspiracy theories, confirmation bias, and how unlikely it is that these cases will ever be solved.

It feels more like a pointer as to where to go if any of these pieces interest you; it's hard to have an interesting book about an unsolved mystery where most of the theories seem both unlikely and unfair to the suspects involved.

Some bits seemed unfinished -- the table of contents was missing some chapters and the backmatter was also a bit jumbled. I received an ecopy from the publisher for this review, and I'm not sure if the problems were in the ecopy or if this was an earlier version.

[Alicia · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is the first in the series that I picked up since we ordered them all because true crime remains highly circulated in our library but this one was a little less true crime/thriller than I expected.

It is more about their subsequent rise to fame and the music industry than about the murders themselves, in part, I would imagine because no one talked about it at all and there was little evidence because they were deemed part of gang warfare and the secrecy of the music industry's desire to protect the reputations of specific people (also referenced in 50 Cent's documentary of P Diddy). Though I was fascinated by the fact that The Notorious BIG had to change his name from Biggie Smalls because of copyright infringement or that he had a very good life even though he was rapping about being poor from the streets (a cornerstone of rap in general- he did deal drugs and was in trouble by high school but his mom gave him everything growing up.)

So I didn't feel like it was about the murders, just about their lives. I wanted a little more unraveling or crime and evidence than I got.

[Rebecca Lowe · Rating 3 out of 5]

Middle school appropriate. Reading this helped me understand why there are so many conspiracy theories related to these two people’s deaths and why we will never get a real answer. It also helped me understand the fascination with the conspiracy theories.

[Logan Murphy · Rating 4 out of 5]

had to read this book for a school research project and I have to say although yes its very short and has lots of photos, its a very well written book and I loved learning more about Tupac Shakur and Biggie! Would most defiantly recommend if u love the two most iconic rappers of all time!

[Alex · Rating 5 out of 5]

There was apparently a lot I didn’t know about these murders! For that reason, this was fascinating to me.