Photo Courtesy of San Francisco Bay View
Los Angeles, California Crips gang member, Sanyika Shakur AKA Monster Kody, reportedly died on June 6, at age 57.
The news spread through social media after singer Vince Staples posted his condolences to Twitter on June 8.
He captioned his tweet of a photo of Shakur saying, “Rest In Peace.”
Besides being an infamous member of the Crips gang, Shakur became a motivational speaker and a revolutionary thinker.
According to Hip Hop Wired, Shakur was born Kody Dejohn Scott on November 13, 1963, and was a member of the Eight Tray Gangster Crips in Los Angeles.
He got his street name “Monster” after a fight where he beat up and severely injured a robbery victim when he was only 13 years old. Following that, Shakur was heavily involved in gang life as a member of Eight Tray, known for having clashed with another set of Crips known as the Rollin’ 60s.
While incarcerated at Pelican Bay State Prison in the 80s, Shakur joined the Republic of New Afrika movement, changed his name, and converted to Islam.
Later in 1993, he published a gut-wrenching memoir titled “Monster: The Autobiography of an L.A. Gang Member.”
The book describes how Shakur fell into gang culture and highlighted his growth within the New Afrika movement.
Shakur had close ties with the late 2Pac, AKA Tupac Shakur, mentioning this in his memoir. He last saw 2Pac in 1996 while visiting the set of one of the rapper’s videos.
Followers of Shakur posted their condolences following his passing.
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