ADRIAN FLORIDO, HOST:
More than 25 years after Tupac Shakur's death, there's been a development in the investigation into his murder. Details are scarce, but the Las Vegas Police Department says it has issued a search warrant in Henderson, Nev. NPR's Elizabeth Blair reports.
ELIZABETH BLAIR, BYLINE: Tupac Shakur is one of the most legendary hip-hop artists of all time.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "TRAPPED")
TUPAC SHAKUR: (Rapping) You know, they got me trapped in this prison of seclusion, happiness, living on the streets is a delusion...
BLAIR: Shakur died in September 1996, six days after being shot in a drive by shooting in Las Vegas. His death has been heavily scrutinized. He was at the center of a feud between East Coast and West Coast rappers. Shakur was known for using his music to speak about Black people's interactions with the police.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "TRAPPED")
SHAKUR: (Rapping) Tired of being trapped in this vicious cycle, if one more cop harasses me, I just might go psycho.
SANTI ELIJAH HOLLEY: Throughout Tupac's career, he's always been pretty vocal against police harassment and police brutality, and he's also been a target of police harassment himself.
BLAIR: Journalist Santi Elijah Holley is the author of a new book about Shakur. He says after he died, distrust between the police and the Black community complicated the murder investigation.
HOLLEY: A lot of people were not assisting the police, you know, for their own reasons.
BLAIR: But Holley still faults law enforcement for taking so long to make progress.
HOLLEY: There have been leads. There have been suspects. And so it's just baffling why it's gone this long without any real arrests or really any developments at all when people have actually confessed to being there and being - you know, witnessing it.
BLAIR: Maybe now things are different. Shakur is very much in the news this year. He recently got a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. There's a new documentary about him on FX. Questions about his murder have never gone away. The Las Vegas Police Department did not respond to NPR's request for details, but they did refer to the investigation as ongoing. Elizabeth Blair, NPR News. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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