Sanyika Shakur (born Kody Dejohn Scott; November 13, 1963 – June 6, 2021),
[”SANYIKA SHAKUR, FORMER GANG MEMBER TURNED MOTIVATIONAL SPEAKER, PASSED AWAY AT 57”](_blank)
''Black Enterprise'', Retrieved June 9, 2021. also known by his former street moniker Monster or Monster Kody, was an American author and former gang member. He was a member of the
Los Angeles
Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the List of municipalities in California, largest city in the U.S. state, state of California and the List of United States cities by population, sec ...
-based
Eight Tray Gangster Crips. He got his nickname as a 13-year-old gang member when he beat and stomped a robbery victim until he was disfigured.
Shakur claimed to have reformed in prison, joined the
Republic of New Afrika
The Republic of New Afrika (RNA), founded in 1968 as the Republic of New Africa (RNA), is a black nationalist organization and black separatist movement in the United States popularized by black militant groups. The larger New Afrika movement ...
movement, and wrote a 1993 memoir called ''
Monster: The Autobiography of an L.A. Gang Member''.
''Monster'' describes how Shakur was drawn into gang life, his experiences as a gangster both on the street and in prisons, and eventually his transformation into a
Black nationalist
Black nationalism is a type of racial nationalism or pan-nationalism which espouses the belief that black people are a race, and which seeks to develop and maintain a black racial and national identity. Black nationalist activism revolves aro ...
.
Shakur spent 36 months at
San Quentin State Prison and five years at
Pelican Bay State Prison
Pelican Bay State Prison (PBSP) is a supermax prison facility in Crescent City, California. The prison takes its name from a shallow bay on the Pacific coast, about to the west.
Facilities
The prison is located in a detached section of Cre ...
, most of which was spent in
solitary confinement, where he converted to
Islam.
In March 2007, Shakur, already sought by police for
parole violations and named on the city's most-wanted gang members list, was arrested by the
Los Angeles Police Department
The Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD), officially known as the City of Los Angeles Police Department, is the municipal police department of Los Angeles, California. With 9,974 police officers and 3,000 civilian staff, it is the third-large ...
for allegedly breaking into the home of an acquaintance and beating him in order to steal his car. The charges represent a possible
third strike that could send Shakur back to prison
for life.
In May 2008, Shakur pleaded
no contest
' is a legal term that comes from the Latin phrase for "I do not wish to contend". It is also referred to as a plea of no contest or no defense.
In criminal trials in certain United States jurisdictions, it is a plea where the defendant neith ...
to carjacking and robbery charges, and was sentenced to six years in state prison.
Also in 2008, Shakur made his fiction debut with the publication of ''T.H.U.G. L.I.F.E.'' (Grove Atlantic Books). He was released from Pelican Bay after serving two thirds of his 6-year sentence in August 2012.
Early life
Shakur was born Kody Dejohn Scott in
Los Angeles, California
Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the largest city in the state of California and the second most populous city in the United States after New York City, as well as one of the world' ...
, on November 13, 1963, to Ernest Scott and Birdie Canada, both from
Houston, Texas. Kody was the fifth of six children, including four brothers and two sisters (Kevin, Kim, Kerwin, Kershaun, Kody, and Kendis). Shakur believed it was probable that he was the son of former
Los Angeles Rams running back
A running back (RB) is a member of the offensive backfield in gridiron football. The primary roles of a running back are to receive handoffs from the quarterback to rush the ball, to line up as a receiver to catch the ball,
and block. Ther ...
Dick Bass
Richard Lee Bass (March 15, 1937 – February 1, 2006) was an American football running back from who played for the Los Angeles Rams of the National Football League (NFL) from 1960 to 1969.
Early life and education
Born in Georgetown, Mississ ...
and that he was conceived during an
adulterous
Adultery (from Latin ''adulterium'') is extramarital sex that is considered objectionable on social, religious, moral, or legal grounds. Although the sexual activities that constitute adultery vary, as well as the social, religious, and legal ...
affair that his mother was having with the football star, a claim for which there is no compelling evidence. Ernest Scott held a bitter resentment toward Birdie's affair and physically abused his wife regularly throughout Shakur's early childhood.
Ernest Scott physically and emotionally abused Kody, routinely beating him and showing deliberate favoritism toward his biological children over Shakur, which included taking the other children out to dinners, movies, and trips to his hometown of Houston and intentionally leaving Shakur behind. In 1970, Ernest and Birdie Scott divorced, and, for the next five years, Ernest Scott would visit the family on weekends but still openly displayed contempt for young Shakur.
In 1972, Birdie Scott moved her family into a house on West 69th Street and Denker Avenue in a very rough and gang-infested neighborhood on the west side of
South Central Los Angeles
South Los Angeles, also known as South Central Los Angeles or simply South Central, is a region in southwestern Los Angeles County, lying mostly within the city limits of Los Angeles, south of downtown.
It is "defined on Los Angeles city maps as a ...
. According to Shakur, his first encounter with street gangs occurred at age ten when he was assaulted by two 13-year-olds who stole his money. Because Birdie Scott worked several jobs to support her large family as well as the neglect that he received from Ernest Scott, young Shakur would often hang out on the streets of his new neighborhood. It was around this time that he began hanging around his neighbor
Stanley Tookie Williams
Stanley Tookie Williams III (December 29, 1953 – December 13, 2005) was an American gang member and spree killer who co-founded and led the Crips gang in Los Angeles. He and Raymond Washington formed an alliance in 1971 that established the ...
, the leader of the West Side Crips street gang.
In his memoir ''
Blue Rage, Black Redemption'', Tookie Williams recalled the occasions in which he and other adult members of the
Crips
The Crips is an alliance of street gangs that is based in the coastal regions of Southern California. Founded in Los Angeles, California, in 1969, mainly by Raymond Washington and Stanley Williams, the Crips were initially a single alliance ...
would smoke
PCP and lift weights at Williams's house. According to Williams, Shakur was always present at the house and would watch in awe as the gang members would lift weights and tell stories about gang fights and shootings that they had committed. In the book, Williams also expressed his regret regarding his behavior around the impressionable young Shakur, and he held himself personally responsible for exposing Shakur to drugs, as Shakur himself would later become a frequent PCP user.
Joining the Crips
In 1975, a member of the West Side Crips nicknamed Sidewinder formed a set called the
Eight Tray Gangster Crips (also known as 83GC, ETG or ETGC) in Shakur's neighborhood. On the evening of June 15, 1975, the day of his sixth-grade graduation, Kody was initiated into the ETGs. Shakur was courted into the gang (also known as being jumped in: in which gang members beat up the new recruit to see if he or she is brave enough to fight back and defend himself or herself).
Shakur and another gang member then
hotwired
''Hotwired'' (1994–1999) was the first commercial online magazine, launched on October 27, 1994. Although it was part of the print magazine ''Wired'', ''Hotwired'' carried original content.
History
Andrew Anker, Wired's then Vice Presid ...
a stolen car after which he and several members of the ETGs, all armed with
revolvers
A revolver (also called a wheel gun) is a repeating handgun that has at least one barrel and uses a revolving cylinder containing multiple chambers (each holding a single cartridge) for firing. Because most revolver models hold up to six ro ...
and
shotguns, tracked down members of the Brims street gang (a set of the
Bloods
The Bloods are a primarily African-American street gang founded in Los Angeles, California. The gang is widely known for its rivalry with the Crips. It is identified by the red color worn by its members and by particular gang symbols, includ ...
), which had been hanging out in the Crips' neighborhood. The ETGs opened fire on a group of approximately 15 Brims, shooting several of them. Shakur, armed with a
sawed-off 12-gauge shotgun
The gauge (or commonly bore in British English) of a firearm is a unit of measurement used to express the inner diameter (bore diameter) of the barrel.
Gauge is determined from the weight of a solid sphere of lead that will fit the bore of the f ...
and instructed not to return to the car unless he used all eight rounds of the weapon, shot several Brims gang members that evening.
Disfiguring an older black man
As a new member of the Crips, Shakur was mentored in the ways of gang-banging by Tray Ball. In 1977, at age 13, Shakur and Tray Ball attempted to
rob an older
African American
African Americans (also referred to as Black Americans and Afro-Americans) are an ethnic group consisting of Americans with partial or total ancestry from sub-Saharan Africa. The term "African American" generally denotes descendants of ens ...
man who was walking through their neighborhood. The man punched Shakur in the face and, after being physically restrained by Tray Ball when he attempted to run, was kicked and stomped by Kody for approximately twenty minutes. Kody's vicious attack left the man in a
coma with his face permanently disfigured.
According to Shakur, Crips present at the crime scene overheard police officers saying that whoever assaulted the man was a "monster" and reported this back to him. From that point on, other members of the ETGs referred to Shakur as Monster, and he took the name as a street moniker.
First arrest for shooting
Shakur's first arrest occurred in 1978 at age 14 after he shot at the employee of a
fast-food restaurant who had
assaulted his younger brother Kershaun and later assaulted and pulled a gun on Shakur. Kershaun Scott later joined the Eight Trays and assumed the nickname Li'l Monster.
A week after being released from jail, Shakur was arrested again after being falsely accused of shooting a member of the Inglewood Family Bloods while he and other members of the Crips were on their way to a roller-skating rink in
Compton, California. On February 14, 1979, Shakur was arrested for assault and
grand-theft auto and served nine months at Camp Munz in
Lake Hughes, California
Lake Hughes is an unincorporated community in northern Los Angeles County, California. It is in the Sierra Pelona Mountains, northwest of Palmdale and north of the Santa Clarita Valley, in the Angeles National Forest. It is on the sag pond wat ...
.
The rivalry between the Eight Trays and the Rollin' 60s: the beginning of Crip-on-Crip violence
During Shakur's stay at Camp Munz, several major events occurred on the streets of South Central Los Angeles that involved the Crips. On March 15, 1979, the West Side Crips leader
Stanley "Tookie" Williams
Stanley Tookie Williams III (December 29, 1953 – December 13, 2005) was an American gang member and spree killer who co-founded and led the Crips gang in Los Angeles. He and Raymond Washington formed an alliance in 1971 that established the ...
was arrested for four murders committed during two separate robberies while on an alleged drug binge (to his death, Williams steadfastly denied committing the murders). Williams was sentenced to
death row and
executed
Capital punishment, also known as the death penalty, is the state-sanctioned practice of deliberately killing a person as a punishment for an actual or supposed crime, usually following an authorized, rule-governed process to conclude that t ...
by
lethal injection on December 13, 2005.
On August 9, 1979,
Raymond Washington
Raymond Lee Washington (August 14, 1953 – August 9, 1979) was an American gangster, known as the founder of the Crips gang in Los Angeles. Washington formed the Crips as a minor street gang in the late 1960s in South Los Angeles, becoming a pr ...
, the founder of the Crips, was murdered in a
drive-by shooting
A drive-by shooting is a type of assault that usually involves the perpetrator(s) firing a weapon from within a motor vehicle and then fleeing. Drive-by shootings allow the perpetrator(s) to quickly strike their target and flee the scene before ...
near his home. Because Raymond Washington always made it a point never to walk up to cars, it was determined that his killers were people he knew personally since he had walked up to the murderers' car and had a conversation with them prior to being shot. Washington's murder was blamed on the Hoover Crips (now known as the Hoover Criminals or Hoover Gang), which started a war between the East Side Crips and the Hoovers.
Shooting and hospitalization
Shakur, along with his best friend Deautri "Crazy De" Denard, were deeply involved in this gang war and were responsible for shooting and assaulting dozens of members of the Rollin' 60s. On December 31, 1980, 16-year-old Shakur was ambushed and shot six times by three adult members of the Rollin' 60s after being set up by a group of girls who were dating friends from his set. Perhaps what saved his life was the fact that earlier that evening Kody had been drinking a cheap brand of
low-end fortified wine called Night Train and smoked
PCP with other members of the ETGs as the gang celebrated
New Year's Eve, and the level of inebriation that Shakur was under at the time of the shooting prevented him from going into
shock
Shock may refer to:
Common uses Collective noun
*Shock, a historic commercial term for a group of 60, see English numerals#Special names
* Stook, or shock of grain, stacked sheaves
Healthcare
* Shock (circulatory), circulatory medical emergen ...
. After being shot, Shakur reported having
hallucinations of seeing the faces of all of the gang members he had shot since joining the Crips, as well as seeing the infant daughter that he had with his girlfriend Tamu. Shakur survived the shooting and was hospitalized for several weeks.
Shakur's younger brother Kershaun, who was by now a member of the Eight Trays and nicknamed Li'l Monster, sought vengeance for his older brother's shooting. On New Years Day 1981, Kershaun and several teenage members of the ETGs committed a string of retaliatory shootings. Kershaun shot two teenagers who were standing in the front yard at a house party that was being thrown in the Rollin' 60's neighborhood and, later that evening, shot another teenager to death in a drive-by as the young man was walking down the street.
Kershaun was later arrested and sentenced to five years in California Youth Authority for murder as a juvenile. While recovering in the hospital, Shakur's assailants from the Rollin' 60s came to the hospital in an attempt to finish him off. Due to the intervention of a nurse who was attending to him, however, Shakur was unharmed. When he was released from the hospital, he continued gang-banging and would spend the remainder of the 1980s in and out of the
penal system
A prison, also known as a jail, gaol (dated, standard English, Australian, and historically in Canada), penitentiary (American English and Canadian English), detention center (or detention centre outside the US), correction center, correct ...
for numerous violent offenses.
Changing his name to Sanyika Shakur
While in prison during the 1980s, Shakur befriended members of the
Republic of New Afrika
The Republic of New Afrika (RNA), founded in 1968 as the Republic of New Africa (RNA), is a black nationalist organization and black separatist movement in the United States popularized by black militant groups. The larger New Afrika movement ...
movement. Shakur, who dropped out of high school, began to educate himself in prison. He changed his name to Sanyika Shakur and began changing his viewpoint regarding his role in the plight of black people in the
United States of America
The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territo ...
. After being released from prison in 1988, Kody married his longtime girlfriend Tamu.
In January 1991, Kody was arrested for assault and
grand-theft auto after beating up a
crack dealer who was working as a police informant and stealing the dealer's
van. Shakur was incarcerated during the
1992 Los Angeles riots
The 1992 Los Angeles riots, sometimes called the 1992 Los Angeles uprising and the Los Angeles Race Riots, were a series of riots and civil disturbances that occurred in Los Angeles County, California, in April and May 1992. Unrest began in So ...
that occurred after the acquittal of the four police officers accused of beating
Rodney King
Rodney Glen King (April 2, 1965June 17, 2012) was an African American man who was a victim of police brutality. On March 3, 1991, he was beaten by Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD) officers during his arrest after a pursuit for driving whi ...
following a traffic stop. The beating of white truck driver
Reginald Denny was committed by members of the ETGs in Shakur's neighborhood. This event, as well as participating in Leon Bing's book ''Do Or Die'', inspired Kody to write his book ''
Monster: The Autobiography of an L.A. Gang Member''.
Friendship with Tupac Shakur and the ''Vibe'' Magazine Interviews
In the early 1990s, Kody, now calling himself Sanyika Shakur, met rapper
Tupac Shakur
Tupac Amaru Shakur ( ; born Lesane Parish Crooks, June 16, 1971 – September 13, 1996), also known as 2Pac and Makaveli, was an American rapper. He is widely considered one of the most influential rappers of all time. Shakur is among the b ...
. The two became friends and Shakur mentioned Tupac in the introduction of his book. In 1996, as Shakur was on the run from police for a parole violation, he met up with Tupac on the set of the
x-rated
An X rating is a rating used in various countries to classify films that have content deemed suitable only for adults. It is used when the violent or sexual content of a film is considered to be potentially disturbing to general audiences.
Aust ...
version of Tupac's music video "
How Do U Want It
"How Do U Want It" is a song by American rapper 2Pac from his fourth studio album, ''All Eyez on Me'' (1996). It was released on June 4, 1996 as a double a-sided single with " California Love" from the same album and was his final single to be re ...
". This would be the last time that Kody would ever see Tupac.
On September 13, 1996, Tupac Shakur died after being shot in a
drive-by shooting
A drive-by shooting is a type of assault that usually involves the perpetrator(s) firing a weapon from within a motor vehicle and then fleeing. Drive-by shootings allow the perpetrator(s) to quickly strike their target and flee the scene before ...
in
Las Vegas, Nevada
Las Vegas (; Spanish for "The Meadows"), often known simply as Vegas, is the 25th-most populous city in the United States, the most populous city in the state of Nevada, and the county seat of Clark County. The city anchors the Las Vega ...
, seven days earlier, allegedly by members of the South Side Compton Crips. Kody would later interview Tupac's alleged murderer,
Orlando Anderson
Orlando Tive "Baby Lane" Anderson (August 13, 1974 – May 29, 1998) was the prime suspect in the murder of Tupac Shakur. Anderson belonged to the California-based gang known as the Southside Compton Crips. Detective Tim Brennan of the Compt ...
, for a December 1997 ''
Vibe Magazine
''Vibe'' is an American music and entertainment magazine founded by producers David Salzman and Quincy Jones. The publication predominantly features R&B and hip hop music artists, actors and other entertainers. After shutting down production ...
'' article about Tupac's murder, in which Anderson denied being involved in the rapper's murder.
After being captured by police, Shakur was sent to
Pelican Bay State Prison
Pelican Bay State Prison (PBSP) is a supermax prison facility in Crescent City, California. The prison takes its name from a shallow bay on the Pacific coast, about to the west.
Facilities
The prison is located in a detached section of Cre ...
, where
Death Row Records CEO Suge Knight, was also incarcerated for a parole violation that stemmed from his participation in the assault on Anderson. According to the ''Vibe Magazine'' article, Shakur, upon hearing that Tupac had been shot, initially suspected that Suge Knight had set him up because Tupac was planning to leave Death Row Records to start his own record label.
In the article Kody stated that he was incredulous after hearing Knight's claim that Tupac died owing him money, despite selling over
USD
The United States dollar (symbol: $; code: USD; also abbreviated US$ or U.S. Dollar, to distinguish it from other dollar-denominated currencies; referred to as the dollar, U.S. dollar, American dollar, or colloquially buck) is the official ...
$60 million worth of albums for Death Row Records, and that he knew that all of Tupac's possessions, including his home and his cars, were in Knight's name. At the end of the interview, Knight told Shakur that Orlando Anderson was indeed the person who killed Tupac. Orlando Anderson was killed on May 29, 1998, in an unrelated shooting.
Since 2000
In March 2007, Shakur, already sought by police for
parole violations and named on the city's most-wanted gang members list, was arrested by the
Los Angeles Police Department
The Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD), officially known as the City of Los Angeles Police Department, is the municipal police department of Los Angeles, California. With 9,974 police officers and 3,000 civilian staff, it is the third-large ...
for allegedly breaking into the home of an acquaintance and beating him in order to steal his car. The charges represent a possible
third strike that could send Shakur back to prison
for life.
In May 2008 Shakur pleaded
no contest
' is a legal term that comes from the Latin phrase for "I do not wish to contend". It is also referred to as a plea of no contest or no defense.
In criminal trials in certain United States jurisdictions, it is a plea where the defendant neith ...
to carjacking and robbery charges, and was sentenced to six years in state prison.
Also in 2008, Shakur made his fiction debut with the publication of ''T.H.U.G. L.I.F.E.'' (Grove Atlantic Books). He was released from Pelican Bay after serving two-thirds of his 6-year sentence in August 2012.
In November 2013, Shakur published a book of essays titled ''Stand up, Struggle Forward: New Afrikan Revolutionary Writings on Nation, Class, and Patriarchy'' (Kersplebedeb Books ).
On July 10, 2017, Shakur was sent back to prison for an assault conviction out of
San Diego County
San Diego County (), officially the County of San Diego, is a county in the southwestern corner of the U.S. state of California. As of the 2020 census, the population was 3,298,634, making it California's second-most populous county and the f ...
. He was incarcerated at
Centinela State Prison in
Imperial, California
Imperial is a city in Imperial County, California, north of El Centro.
As of the 2010 census, the city had a population of 14,758. It is part of the El Centro metropolitan area. In 2016, Imperial was the fourth fastest-growing city in the st ...
, and later at
Solano State Prison
California State Prison, Solano (SOL) is a male-only state prison located in the city of Vacaville, Solano County, California, adjacent to the California Medical Facility. The facility is also referenced as Solano State Prison, CSP-Solano, and CS ...
in
Vacaville, California
Vacaville is a city located in Solano County in Northern California. Sitting approximately from Sacramento and from San Francisco, it is within the Sacramento Valley. As of the 2020 census, Vacaville had a population of 102,386, making it t ...
, where he was interviewed by the radio program ''Uncuffed''. He was later released on parole.
On June 6, 2021, Shakur was found deceased in a tent in a homeless encampment in Oceanside, California. His cause of death is pending investigation, but it appears it was from natural causes and not foul play.
[ ]
References
External links
* https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yQlGDJBJIZE/
{{DEFAULTSORT:Shakur, Sanyika
1963 births
2021 deaths
African-American gangsters
African-American Muslims
American people convicted of robbery
American shooting survivors
American people convicted of assault
Converts to Islam
Crips
Gangsters from Los Angeles
Writers from Los Angeles
American memoirists
African-American non-fiction writers
American non-fiction writers
American Black separatist activists
21st-century American male writers
Male non-fiction writers
21st-century African-American people
20th-century African-American people
Homeless people