Sanyika Shakur
Encyclopedia
Sanyika Shakur also known by his former street moniker Monster, is a former member of the Los Angeles
gang
the Eight Tray Gangster Crips
. He got his nickname as a 13-year-old gang member when he beat and stomped a robbery victim to death. Shakur claimed to have reformed in prison, joined the Republic of New Afrika
movement, and wrote an acclaimed autobiography called Monster: The Autobiography of an L.A. Gang Member
, which was first published in 1993.
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
. The Containment Theory, Walter Reckless' thesis on social deviance, can be used to explain and understand the behavior of Sanyika Shakur.
Shakur spent 36 months at San Quentin State Prison
and five years at Pelican Bay State Prison
, most of which was spent in solitary confinement
, where he converted to Islam, but it is not known if the form he practices is traditional Islam
or Faradian 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
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
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)
, to Ernest Scott and Birdie Canada, both from Houston, Texas
. Kody was the fifth of six children, including four brothers and two sisters. Kody is alleged to be the son of former Los Angeles Rams running back
Dick Bass
, as he was conceived during an adulterous affair
that his mother was having with the football star. Ernest Scott held a bitter resentment towards Birdie's affair and physically abused his wife regularly throughout Kody's early childhood. As well, Ernest Scott physically and emotionally abused Kody, routinely beating him and showing deliberate favoritism towards his other children over Kody, which included taking the other children out to dinners, movies and trips to his hometown of Houston and intentionally leaving Kody 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 Kody.
In 1972, Birdie Scott moved her family into a house on W 69th St and Denker Ave in a very rough and gang-infested neighborhood on the west side of South Central Los Angeles. According to Kody Scott, his first encounter with street gangs occurred at age ten when he was assaulted by two thirteen-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 Kody would often hang out on the streets of his new neighborhood. It was around this time that Kody began hanging around his neighbor Stanley Tookie Williams, leader of the West Side Crips street gang. In his autobiography " Blue Rage, Black Redemption " Tookie Williams recalls the occasions where he and other adult members of the Crips
would smoke PCP
and lift weights at Williams' house. According to Williams, Kody 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 Kody, and held himself personally responsible for exposing Kody to drugs as Kody himself would later become a frequent PCP user.
a stolen car after which Kody and several members of the ETG's, all armed with revolvers and shotguns, tracked down members of the Brims street gang (a set of the Bloods
) who had been hanging out in the Crips' neighborhood. The ETG's opened fire on a group of approximately fifteen Brims, shooting several of them. Kody, armed with a sawed-off 12 gauge shotgun and instructed not to return to the car unless he used all eight rounds of the weapon, shot several Brims gang members that evening.
an older African American
man walking through their neighborhood. The man punched Kody in the face and, after being physically restrained by Tray Ball when he attempted to run, Kody kicked and stomped the man for approximately twenty minutes. Kody's vicious attack left the man in a coma
with his face permanently disfigured. According to Kody, Crips present at the crime scene overheard police officers saying that whoever assaulted the man was a "monster" and reported this back to Kody. From that point on other members of the ETG's referred to Kody as "Monster" and Kody took the name as a street moniker.
Kody's first arrest occurred in 1978 at age fourteen after he shot at the employee of a fast-food restaurant who had assaulted his younger brother, Kershawn, and later assaulted and pulled a gun on Kody (Kershawn Scott later joined the Eight-Trays and assumed the nickname Lil' Monster). A week after being released from jail Kody 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 Kody was arrested for assault and grand theft auto
and served nine months at Camp Munz in Lake Hughes, California
.
and executed by lethal injection
on December 13, 2005. On August 9, 1979 Raymond Washington
, the founder of the Crips, was murdered in a drive-by shooting
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, which started a war between the East Side Crips and the Hoovers.
In September of 1979 a fifteen year-old member of the ETG's nicknamed Bootsy got into a beef with a teenaged member of the Rollin 60's Neighborhood Crips named Tyrone over a girl who had been dating both young men. Before this incident and the gang war that resulted from it the Eight-Trays and the Rollin 60's were close allies, even participating in fights and shootings together against the Bloods. In a subsequent fistfight between the two teenagers a new recruit to the ETG's, eager to make a name for himself, pulled a gun and shot Tyrone to death. Tyrone's older brother, who was an O.G. (Original Gangster) from the Rollin' 60's, demanded that the ETG's hand over the new recruit to be punished by the 60's and to prevent a war between the two gangs. The ETG's were unable to find the new recruit, who had already turned himself in to the police. The Rollin' 60's, feeling that the ETG's weren't being honest, murdered a member of the ETG's in retaliation, shooting the young man in his face six times at point blank range after he was ambushed on his front porch. A meeting was called by the leaders of both gangs in an attempt to end the beef. However, because tensions were high with both gangs, the meeting erupted into an all out gang rumble after which the Rollin' 60's and the ETG's engaged in a gang war that still exists to this day.
Kody Scott, along with his best friend Deautri "Crazy De" Denard, was deeply involved in this gang war and was responsible for shooting and assaulting dozens of members of the Rollin' 60's. On December 31, 1980, seventeen year-old Kody was ambushed and shot five times by three adult members of the Rollin' 60's 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 ETG's as the gang celebrated New Years Eve and the level of inebriation that Kody was under at the time of the shooting prevented him from going into shock
. After being shot Kody 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. Kody survived the shooting and was hospitalized for several weeks.
Kody's younger brother Kershawn, who was by now a member of the Eight-Trays nicknamed Lil' Monster, sought revenge for his older brother's shooting. On New Years Day of 1981 Kershawn and several teenage members of the ETG's committed a string of retaliatory shootings. Kershawn 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. Kershawn was later arrested and sentenced to five years in California Youth Authority for murder as a juvenile. While recovering in the hospital Kody's assailants from the Rollin' 60's came to the hospital in an attempt to finish him off. Due to the intervention of a nurse who was attending to him Kody was unharmed, however once released from the hospital, he continued gangbanging and would spend the remainder of the 1980s in and out of the penal system for numerous violent offenses.
movement. Kody, who dropped out of high school, began to educate himself in prison. Kody changed his name to Sanyika Shakur where he began changing his viewpoint regarding his role in the plight of blacks in the United States of America. Released from prison in 1988 Kody married his longtime girlfriend, Tamu. In January of 1991 Kody was arrested for assault and grand theft auto after beating up a crack dealer and stealing the dealer's van
. Kody was incarcerated during the 1992 Los Angeles Riots
following the acquittal of the four police officers accused of brutally beating an African American man named Rodney King
following a traffic stop. The beating of white truck driver Reginald Denny
was committed by members of the ETG's in Kody'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
".
(no relation). The two immediately became good friends and Kody gave Tupac a shout out in the introduction to his book. In 1996 Kody was on the run from police for a parole violation, however he met up with Tupac on the set of the x-rated
version of Tupac's music video How Do U Want It
. 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
in Las Vegas, Nevada
seven days earlier, allegedly by members of the South Side Compton Crips. Kody would later interview Tupac's alleged murderer, Orlando Anderson
for a December 1997 Vibe Magazine article about Tupac's murder where Anderson denied being involved in Tupac's murder despite being assaulted by Tupac and his entourage hours before the shooting as well as the discovery by the Compton Police Department
that the white Cadillac
used by the assailants was linked to a member of the South Side Crips.
After being captured by police Kody was sent to Pelican Bay State Prison
where he spoke with Death Row Records
CEO Suge Knight
, who was also incarcerated at Pelican Bay for a parole violation stemming from his participation in the assault on Anderson. According to the Vibe Magazine article Kody, 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 Suge Knight's claim that Tupac died owing Knight money despite selling over $60 million USD worth of albums for Death Row Records and of also knowing that all of Tupac's possessions, including his home and his cars, were in Suge Knight's name. At the end of the interview Suge Knight told Kody that Orlando Anderson was indeed the person who killed Tupac. Orlando Anderson was killed on May 29,1998 in an unrelated shoot out.
Los Angeles, California
Los Angeles , with a population at the 2010 United States Census of 3,792,621, is the most populous city in California, USA and the second most populous in the United States, after New York City. It has an area of , and is located in Southern California...
gang
Gang
A gang is a group of people who, through the organization, formation, and establishment of an assemblage, share a common identity. In current usage it typically denotes a criminal organization or else a criminal affiliation. In early usage, the word gang referred to a group of workmen...
the Eight Tray Gangster Crips
Crips
The Crips are a primarily, but not exclusively, African American gang. They were founded in Los Angeles, California, in 1969 mainly by Raymond Washington and Stanley Williams...
. He got his nickname as a 13-year-old gang member when he beat and stomped a robbery victim to death. Shakur claimed to have reformed in prison, joined the Republic of New Afrika
Republic of New Afrika
The Republic of New Afrika , was a social movement that proposed three objectives. First, the creation of an independent African-American-majority country situated in the southeastern United States. A similar claim is made for all the black-majority counties and cities throughout the United States...
movement, and wrote an acclaimed autobiography called Monster: The Autobiography of an L.A. Gang Member
Monster: The Autobiography of an L.A. Gang Member
Monster: The Autobiography of an L.A. Gang Member is a memoir about gang life written in prison by Sanyika Shakur.In 1992 at the Frankfurt Book Fair, Morgan Entrekin, publisher of Grove Atlantic Inc., announced that he had acquired world publication rights to Shakur's memoir, setting off a storm of...
, which was first published in 1993.
Monster
Monster: The Autobiography of an L.A. Gang Member
Monster: The Autobiography of an L.A. Gang Member is a memoir about gang life written in prison by Sanyika Shakur.In 1992 at the Frankfurt Book Fair, Morgan Entrekin, publisher of Grove Atlantic Inc., announced that he had acquired world publication rights to Shakur's memoir, setting off a storm of...
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
Black nationalism advocates a racial definition of indigenous national identity, as opposed to multiculturalism. There are different indigenous nationalist philosophies but the principles of all African nationalist ideologies are unity, and self-determination or independence from European society...
. The Containment Theory, Walter Reckless' thesis on social deviance, can be used to explain and understand the behavior of Sanyika Shakur.
Shakur spent 36 months at San Quentin State Prison
San Quentin State Prison
San Quentin State Prison is a California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation state prison for men in unincorporated San Quentin, Marin County, California, United States. Opened in July 1852, it is the oldest prison in the state. California's only death row for male inmates, the largest...
and five years at Pelican Bay State Prison
Pelican Bay State Prison
Pelican Bay State Prison is a supermax California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation state prison near Crescent City in unincorporated Del Norte County, California. The facility is explicitly designed to keep California’s alleged “worst of the worst” prisoners in long-term solitary...
, most of which was spent in solitary confinement
Solitary confinement
Solitary confinement is a special form of imprisonment in which a prisoner is isolated from any human contact, though often with the exception of members of prison staff. It is sometimes employed as a form of punishment beyond incarceration for a prisoner, and has been cited as an additional...
, where he converted to Islam, but it is not known if the form he practices is traditional Islam
Islam
Islam . The most common are and . : Arabic pronunciation varies regionally. The first vowel ranges from ~~. The second vowel ranges from ~~~...
or Faradian Islam
Nation of Islam
The Nation of Islam is a mainly African-American new religious movement founded in Detroit, Michigan by Wallace D. Fard Muhammad in July 1930 to improve the spiritual, mental, social, and economic condition of African-Americans in the United States of America. The movement teaches black pride and...
.
In March 2007, Shakur, already sought by police for parole violations
Probation
Probation literally means testing of behaviour or abilities. In a legal sense, an offender on probation is ordered to follow certain conditions set forth by the court, often under the supervision of a probation officer...
and named on the city's most-wanted gang members list, was arrested by the Los Angeles Police Department
Los Angeles Police Department
The Los Angeles Police Department is the police department of the city of Los Angeles, California. With just under 10,000 officers and more than 3,000 civilian staff, covering an area of with a population of more than 4.1 million people, it is the third largest local law enforcement agency in...
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
Three strikes law
Three strikes laws)"are statutes enacted by state governments in the United States which require the state courts to hand down a mandatory and extended period of incarceration to persons who have been convicted of a serious criminal offense on three or more separate occasions. These statutes became...
that could send Shakur back to prison for life. In May 2008 Shakur pleaded no contest
Nolo contendere
is a legal term that comes from the Latin for "I do not wish to contend." It is also referred to as a plea of no contest.In criminal trials, and in some common law jurisdictions, it is a plea where the defendant neither admits nor disputes a charge, serving as an alternative to a pleading of...
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)
Biography
Kody Dehjon Scott was born in Los Angeles, CaliforniaLos Angeles, California
Los Angeles , with a population at the 2010 United States Census of 3,792,621, is the most populous city in California, USA and the second most populous in the United States, after New York City. It has an area of , and is located in Southern California...
, to Ernest Scott and Birdie Canada, both from Houston, Texas
Houston, Texas
Houston is the fourth-largest city in the United States, and the largest city in the state of Texas. According to the 2010 U.S. Census, the city had a population of 2.1 million people within an area of . Houston is the seat of Harris County and the economic center of , which is the ...
. Kody was the fifth of six children, including four brothers and two sisters. Kody is alleged to be the son of former Los Angeles Rams running back
Running back
A running back is a gridiron football position, who is typically lined up in the offensive backfield. The primary roles of a running back are to receive handoffs from the quarterback for a rushing play, to catch passes from out of the backfield, and to block.There are usually one or two running...
Dick Bass
Dick Bass
----Richard Lee Bass was an American football running back who played for the Los Angeles Rams from 1960 to 1969....
, as he was conceived during an adulterous affair
Affair
Affair may refer to professional, personal, or public business matters or to a particular business or private activity of a temporary duration, as in family affair, a private affair, or a romantic affair.-Political affair:...
that his mother was having with the football star. Ernest Scott held a bitter resentment towards Birdie's affair and physically abused his wife regularly throughout Kody's early childhood. As well, Ernest Scott physically and emotionally abused Kody, routinely beating him and showing deliberate favoritism towards his other children over Kody, which included taking the other children out to dinners, movies and trips to his hometown of Houston and intentionally leaving Kody 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 Kody.
In 1972, Birdie Scott moved her family into a house on W 69th St and Denker Ave in a very rough and gang-infested neighborhood on the west side of South Central Los Angeles. According to Kody Scott, his first encounter with street gangs occurred at age ten when he was assaulted by two thirteen-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 Kody would often hang out on the streets of his new neighborhood. It was around this time that Kody began hanging around his neighbor Stanley Tookie Williams, leader of the West Side Crips street gang. In his autobiography " Blue Rage, Black Redemption " Tookie Williams recalls the occasions where he and other adult members of the Crips
Crips
The Crips are a primarily, but not exclusively, African American gang. They were founded in Los Angeles, California, in 1969 mainly by Raymond Washington and Stanley Williams...
would smoke PCP
Phencyclidine
Phencyclidine , commonly initialized as PCP and known colloquially as angel dust, is a recreational dissociative drug...
and lift weights at Williams' house. According to Williams, Kody 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 Kody, and held himself personally responsible for exposing Kody to drugs as Kody 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 the ETG's or ETGC's) in Kody's neighborhood. Eleven year-old Kody began hanging out with members of the ETG's, in particular a teenaged member of the gang nicknamed Tray Ball. In May 1975, one month before his sixth grade graduation from Horace Mann Junior High School, Kody was suspended from school for flashing an ETG gang sign in the Class of 1975 graduation photo. On the evening of June 15, 1975, the day of his sixth-grade graduation, Kody was initiated into the ETG's. Kody was " quoted " into the gang (also known as being "jumped in"; where gang members beat up the new recruit to see if he or she is brave enough to fight back and defend themselves). Kody and another gang member then hotwiredHotwired
Hotwired is the third studio album from The Soup Dragons. Recorded in 1991 and 1992 at Livingston Studios and Advision Brighton, it was released April 21, 1992....
a stolen car after which Kody and several members of the ETG's, all armed with revolvers and shotguns, tracked down members of the Brims street gang (a set of the Bloods
Bloods
The Bloods are a street gang founded in Los Angeles, California. The gang is widely known for its rivalry with the Crips. They are identified by the red color worn by their members and by particular gang symbols, including distinctive hand signs...
) who had been hanging out in the Crips' neighborhood. The ETG's opened fire on a group of approximately fifteen Brims, shooting several of them. Kody, armed with a sawed-off 12 gauge shotgun and instructed not to return to the car unless he used all eight rounds of the weapon, shot several Brims gang members that evening.
Becoming "Monster"
As a new member of the Crips Kody was mentored in the ways of gangbanging by Tray Ball. In 1977, at age thirteen, Kody and Tray Ball attempted to robRob
Rob or ROB may refer to:*The shortened form of Robert or Robin*R.O.B., an abbreviation of "Robotic Operating Buddy", an accessory for the Nintendo Entertainment System in 1985*ROB 64, an important robot character in the Star Fox series...
an older African American
African American
African Americans are citizens or residents of the United States who have at least partial ancestry from any of the native populations of Sub-Saharan Africa and are the direct descendants of enslaved Africans within the boundaries of the present United States...
man walking through their neighborhood. The man punched Kody in the face and, after being physically restrained by Tray Ball when he attempted to run, Kody kicked and stomped the man for approximately twenty minutes. Kody's vicious attack left the man in a coma
Coma
In medicine, a coma is a state of unconsciousness, lasting more than 6 hours in which a person cannot be awakened, fails to respond normally to painful stimuli, light or sound, lacks a normal sleep-wake cycle and does not initiate voluntary actions. A person in a state of coma is described as...
with his face permanently disfigured. According to Kody, Crips present at the crime scene overheard police officers saying that whoever assaulted the man was a "monster" and reported this back to Kody. From that point on other members of the ETG's referred to Kody as "Monster" and Kody took the name as a street moniker.
Kody's first arrest occurred in 1978 at age fourteen after he shot at the employee of a fast-food restaurant who had assaulted his younger brother, Kershawn, and later assaulted and pulled a gun on Kody (Kershawn Scott later joined the Eight-Trays and assumed the nickname Lil' Monster). A week after being released from jail Kody 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
Compton, California
Compton is a city in southern Los Angeles County, California, United States, southeast of downtown Los Angeles. The city of Compton is one of the oldest cities in the county and on May 11, 1888, was the eighth city to incorporate. The city is considered part of the South side by residents of Los...
. On February 14, 1979 Kody was arrested for assault and grand theft auto
Motor vehicle theft
Motor vehicle theft is the criminal act of stealing or attempting to steal a motor vehicle...
and served nine months at Camp Munz in Lake Hughes, California
Lake Hughes, California
Lake Hughes is an unincorporated community northwest of Palmdale and the Santa Clarita Valley in the Angeles National Forest on the sag pond waters of Hughes Lake and Elizabeth Lake . The community is agricultural in character, with a population of 649 at the 2010 census, but also has a strong...
.
The Rivalry Between The Eight Trays and The Rollin 60's: The beginning of Crip vs. Crip Violence
During Kody's stay at Camp Munz several major events occurred on the streets of South Central L.A. involving the Crips. On March 15, 1979 West Side Crips leader Tookie Williams 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 RowDeath row
Death row signifies the place, often a section of a prison, that houses individuals awaiting execution. The term is also used figuratively to describe the state of awaiting execution , even in places where no special facility or separate unit for condemned inmates exists.After individuals are found...
and executed by lethal injection
Lethal injection
Lethal injection is the practice of injecting a person with a fatal dose of drugs for the express purpose of causing the immediate death of the subject. The main application for this procedure is capital punishment, but the term may also be applied in a broad sense to euthanasia and suicide...
on December 13, 2005. On August 9, 1979 Raymond Washington
Raymond Washington
Raymond Lee Washington was the original founder of the South Central Los Angeles street gang the Crips....
, the founder of the Crips, was murdered in a drive-by shooting
Drive-by shooting
A drive-by shooting is a form of hit-and-run tactic, a personal attack carried out by an individual or individuals from a moving or momentarily stopped vehicle without use of headlights to avoid being noticed. It often results in bystanders being shot instead of, or as well as, the intended target...
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, which started a war between the East Side Crips and the Hoovers.
In September of 1979 a fifteen year-old member of the ETG's nicknamed Bootsy got into a beef with a teenaged member of the Rollin 60's Neighborhood Crips named Tyrone over a girl who had been dating both young men. Before this incident and the gang war that resulted from it the Eight-Trays and the Rollin 60's were close allies, even participating in fights and shootings together against the Bloods. In a subsequent fistfight between the two teenagers a new recruit to the ETG's, eager to make a name for himself, pulled a gun and shot Tyrone to death. Tyrone's older brother, who was an O.G. (Original Gangster) from the Rollin' 60's, demanded that the ETG's hand over the new recruit to be punished by the 60's and to prevent a war between the two gangs. The ETG's were unable to find the new recruit, who had already turned himself in to the police. The Rollin' 60's, feeling that the ETG's weren't being honest, murdered a member of the ETG's in retaliation, shooting the young man in his face six times at point blank range after he was ambushed on his front porch. A meeting was called by the leaders of both gangs in an attempt to end the beef. However, because tensions were high with both gangs, the meeting erupted into an all out gang rumble after which the Rollin' 60's and the ETG's engaged in a gang war that still exists to this day.
Kody Scott, along with his best friend Deautri "Crazy De" Denard, was deeply involved in this gang war and was responsible for shooting and assaulting dozens of members of the Rollin' 60's. On December 31, 1980, seventeen year-old Kody was ambushed and shot five times by three adult members of the Rollin' 60's 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
Low-end fortified wine
Low-end fortified wine is an inexpensive fortified wine that typically has an alcohol content between 13% and 20% ABV. These inexpensive wines usually contain added sugar, artificial color, and artificial flavor.- Brands :...
called "Night Train" and smoked PCP with other members of the ETG's as the gang celebrated New Years Eve and the level of inebriation that Kody was under at the time of the shooting prevented him from going into shock
Shock
Circulatory shock, commonly known simply as shock, is a life-threatening medical condition that occurs due to inadequate substrate for aerobic cellular respiration...
. After being shot Kody 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. Kody survived the shooting and was hospitalized for several weeks.
Kody's younger brother Kershawn, who was by now a member of the Eight-Trays nicknamed Lil' Monster, sought revenge for his older brother's shooting. On New Years Day of 1981 Kershawn and several teenage members of the ETG's committed a string of retaliatory shootings. Kershawn 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. Kershawn was later arrested and sentenced to five years in California Youth Authority for murder as a juvenile. While recovering in the hospital Kody's assailants from the Rollin' 60's came to the hospital in an attempt to finish him off. Due to the intervention of a nurse who was attending to him Kody was unharmed, however once released from the hospital, he continued gangbanging and would spend the remainder of the 1980s in and out of the penal system for numerous violent offenses.
Changing his name to Sanyika Shakur
While in prison during the 1980s Kody befriended members of the Republic of New AfrikaRepublic of New Afrika
The Republic of New Afrika , was a social movement that proposed three objectives. First, the creation of an independent African-American-majority country situated in the southeastern United States. A similar claim is made for all the black-majority counties and cities throughout the United States...
movement. Kody, who dropped out of high school, began to educate himself in prison. Kody changed his name to Sanyika Shakur where he began changing his viewpoint regarding his role in the plight of blacks in the United States of America. Released from prison in 1988 Kody married his longtime girlfriend, Tamu. In January of 1991 Kody was arrested for assault and grand theft auto after beating up a crack dealer and stealing the dealer's van
Van
A van is a kind of vehicle used for transporting goods or groups of people.In British English usage, it can be either specially designed or based on a saloon or sedan car, the latter type often including derivatives with open backs...
. Kody was incarcerated during the 1992 Los Angeles Riots
1992 Los Angeles riots
The 1992 Los Angeles Riots or South Central Riots, also known as the 1992 Los Angeles Civil Unrest were sparked on April 29, 1992, when a jury acquitted three white and one hispanic Los Angeles Police Department officers accused in the videotaped beating of black motorist Rodney King following a...
following the acquittal of the four police officers accused of brutally beating an African American man named Rodney King
Rodney King
Rodney Glen King is an American best known for his involvement in a police brutality case involving the Los Angeles Police Department on March 3, 1991...
following a traffic stop. The beating of white truck driver Reginald Denny
Reginald Denny
Reginald Denny may refer to:*Reginald Denny *Reginald Oliver Denny, survivor of attack during 1992 Los Angeles riots...
was committed by members of the ETG's in Kody'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
Monster: The Autobiography of an L.A. Gang Member
Monster: The Autobiography of an L.A. Gang Member is a memoir about gang life written in prison by Sanyika Shakur.In 1992 at the Frankfurt Book Fair, Morgan Entrekin, publisher of Grove Atlantic Inc., announced that he had acquired world publication rights to Shakur's memoir, setting off a storm of...
".
Friendship with Tupac Shakur and the Vibe Magazine Interviews
In the early 1990's Kody, now calling himself Sanyika Shakur, met rapper Tupac ShakurTupac Shakur
Tupac Amaru Shakur , known by his stage names 2Pac and Makaveli, was an American rapper and actor. Shakur has sold over 75 million albums worldwide as of 2007, making him one of the best-selling music artists in the world...
(no relation). The two immediately became good friends and Kody gave Tupac a shout out in the introduction to his book. In 1996 Kody was on the run from police for a parole violation, however he met up with Tupac on the set of the x-rated
X-rated
In some countries, X is or has been a motion picture rating reserved for the most explicit films. Films rated X are intended only for viewing by adults, usually legally defined as people over the age of 17.-United Kingdom:...
version of Tupac's music video How Do U Want It
How Do U Want It
"How Do U Want It" is a hip-hop song performed by Tupac Shakur. It features K-Ci and JoJo and was the third single from his album All Eyez on Me. It was a Double A-side single to "California Love", and the song reached #1 on the U.S. Billboard Hot 100 in 1996. In the UK, the song peaked at #17.It...
. 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
Drive-by shooting
A drive-by shooting is a form of hit-and-run tactic, a personal attack carried out by an individual or individuals from a moving or momentarily stopped vehicle without use of headlights to avoid being noticed. It often results in bystanders being shot instead of, or as well as, the intended target...
in Las Vegas, Nevada
Las Vegas, Nevada
Las Vegas is the most populous city in the U.S. state of Nevada and is also the county seat of Clark County, Nevada. Las Vegas is an internationally renowned major resort city for gambling, shopping, and fine dining. The city bills itself as The Entertainment Capital of the World, and is famous...
seven days earlier, allegedly by members of the South Side Compton Crips. Kody would later interview Tupac's alleged murderer, Orlando Anderson
Orlando Anderson
Orlando Tive "Baby Lane" Anderson was an alleged affiliate of the South Side Compton Crips and was a person of interest in the brief investigation of the murder of acclaimed American rapper Tupac Shakur by Compton and Las Vegas police...
for a December 1997 Vibe Magazine article about Tupac's murder where Anderson denied being involved in Tupac's murder despite being assaulted by Tupac and his entourage hours before the shooting as well as the discovery by the Compton Police Department
Compton Police Department
The Compton Police Department was the municipal law enforcement agency for the city of Compton, California until it was disbanded by the City Council on September 16, 2000...
that the white Cadillac
Cadillac
Cadillac is an American luxury vehicle marque owned by General Motors . Cadillac vehicles are sold in over 50 countries and territories, but mostly in North America. Cadillac is currently the second oldest American automobile manufacturer behind fellow GM marque Buick and is among the oldest...
used by the assailants was linked to a member of the South Side Crips.
After being captured by police Kody was sent to Pelican Bay State Prison
Pelican Bay State Prison
Pelican Bay State Prison is a supermax California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation state prison near Crescent City in unincorporated Del Norte County, California. The facility is explicitly designed to keep California’s alleged “worst of the worst” prisoners in long-term solitary...
where he spoke with Death Row Records
Death Row Records
Death Row Records is a record label founded in 1991 by Marion "Suge" Knight Jr., Andre Young , Tracy Lynn Curry and Michael Harris . It is known to have been home to many popular West Coast hip hop artists such as Dr...
CEO Suge Knight
Suge Knight
Marion "Suge" Knight, Jr. is the founder and CEO of Black Kapital Records and co-founder and former CEO of Death Row Records. Death Row Records rose to dominate the rap charts after Dr. Dre's breakthrough album The Chronic in 1992. After several years of chart successes for artists including...
, who was also incarcerated at Pelican Bay for a parole violation stemming from his participation in the assault on Anderson. According to the Vibe Magazine article Kody, 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 Suge Knight's claim that Tupac died owing Knight money despite selling over $60 million USD worth of albums for Death Row Records and of also knowing that all of Tupac's possessions, including his home and his cars, were in Suge Knight's name. At the end of the interview Suge Knight told Kody that Orlando Anderson was indeed the person who killed Tupac. Orlando Anderson was killed on May 29,1998 in an unrelated shoot out.
External links
- "American Gangster: 'Monster' Kody Scott: The Pen & The Gun" by Alan Kurtz (BlogcriticsBlogcriticsBlogcritics is a blog network and online magazine of news and opinion. The site—a self-proclaimed "sinister cabal of superior writers"—was founded in 2002 by Eric Olsen and Phillip Winn...
)