During his returned career, had become involved in a feud between East Coast and West Coast rappers. Falling back into old habits, He began to insult his enemies on his tracks. On a trip to Las Vegas to attend a boxing match, Tupac was shot while riding in a car driven by suge Knight on September 7, 1996. He died six days later, on September 13, 1996, from his injuries at a Las Vegas hospital. Tupac was only 25 at the time of his death, and his killer has never been caught. Since his death, numerous albums of his work have been posthumously released, selling millions of copies.

Tupac took the struggles of his childhood, and the people around him and used those problems to tell stories in his music to those who are in that situation, tracks like "shorty wants to be a thug" were songs about the thug life is not one to live because it's short, and life is about more than being the hardest on the street. He used the problems and used them as opportunities to become the greatest rapper of all time.