The unsolved shooting
at Quad Studios in New York in 1994 involving Tupac Shakur has been reopened,
anonymous law enforcement officials revealed to AllHipHop.com.
Sources stated the U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of
New York has reopened the case to see if the shooting was somehow connected
to Shakur’s death in 1996 in Las Vegas, Nevada.
Shakur was shot
5 times in the lobby of Quad Recording Studios in November of 1994, after being
invited to the studio to record.
In December of
1994 Shakur was charged with sexually assaulting a woman in a New York hotel
room. Shakur denied the charges but was found guilty and sentenced to prison
in February of 1995.
The rapper recovered
from his gunshot wounds and signed with Death Row Records in October 1995 while
serving his time.
On September 7,
1996, Shakur was gunned down in Las Vegas, Nevada following a Mike Tyson fight.
On September 13,
Shakur died from his injuries. No one has been arrested for the murder of Shakur.
A number of theories
exist and according to sources, law enforcement officials are investigating
if the shootings were connected.
"They are
investigating the Quad shooting and other unsolved murders related to the Hip-Hop
business," the source told AllHipHop.com. "No one was killed in the
Quad incident, so that aspect is dead as an investigation. But what they are
investigating is the shooting’s connection to Tupac’s murder in Las Vegas."
The source stated
that a big focus of the investigation is Jimmy "Henchmen" Rosemond.
Rosemond currently
acts as manager for superstar rapper The Game, R&B singer Sharissa and R&B
crooner Mario Winans through his New York based company, Czar Entertainment.
Rosemond and Shakur
were known associates.
In published interviews
before his untimely demise, Shakur said that he met Rosemond while attempting
to earn money by doing guest appearances on various rapper’s songs when he was
strapped for money due to a myriad of legal issues.
The relationship
immediately soured after Shakur was shot in the lobby of Quad Studios, with
a number of Hip-Hop heavyweights present, including Sean "Diddy" Combs,
Christopher "Notorious B.I.G." Wallace, Lil’ Cease, Andre Harrell
and others.
Shortly afterwards
in published interviews and on commercially released recordings, Shakur accused
Sean "Diddy" Combs, Notorious B.I.G., Rosemond and others of directly
or indirectly being involved in the robbery and subsequent shooting.
On the legendary song "Against All Odds " Shakur took many enemies to task and called
most out by name. Shakur rapped:
"Promised
a payback, Jimmy Henchmen in due time/I knew you bi**h ni**az was listening/The
World is Mine/Set me up, wet me up, ni**az stuck me up/Heard the guns bust,
but you tricks never shut me up/Touch one of mine on everything I own I’ll destroy
everything you touch/play the game ni**a."
Rosemond denied
Shakur’s allegations and stated that an investigation would yield little, because
he is innocent.
"It’s a shame
that after 11 years of the Quad shooting and nine years after Tupac’s death
people would still circulate my name in the nonsense," Rosemond told AllHipHop.com.
"I support any investigation into both incidents, in fact I would finance
the investigation so the truth can come out. Tupac was a very good friend of
mine and it hurts me deeply that there are people out there (including people
in jail) that would like to assassinate my character and
make me hip hop’s villain."
A simple search
of Henchmen’s name on the internet returns thousands of results, most connecting
him or accusing him of being behind the Quad shooting along with Jacques "Haitian
Jack" Agnant and Walter "King Tut" Johnson, who is currently
serving time in federal prison.
"I won’t be
anyone’s scapegoat or anyone’s ‘get out of jail’ free card, Rosemond said. "I
stand behind my integrity and veracity that I have built in this business for
12 years. My contribution to Hip-Hop and the music business can’t be torn down
by rumors nor hearsay. I pray for the Shakur family and for justice at the same
time."
Representatives
for the United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York were unavailable
to comment due to the pending investigation.