The Standard Group Plc is a multi-media organization with investments in media
platforms spanning newspaper print
operations, television, radio broadcasting, digital and online services. The
Standard Group is recognized as a
leading multi-media house in Kenya with a key influence in matters of national and
international interest.
The BBC tonight takes a look back at the life of one of the music industry's greatest icons, rap star Tupac Shakur.
The man's music is revered to this day, 25 years after he was gunned down during a drive-by shooting in Los Angeles.
A Life In Ten Pictures: Tupac Shakur will do exactly what its title promises, delving into the life, career, and tragic demise of the rapper via ten photographs taken throughout his 25 years.
Tupac would today be 49, and though decades have passed since his death, passion for his music - especially his socially insightful lyrics - blazes as brightly as ever.
But if his death inspired grief from fans all over the world, it was also the basis for something altogether more bizarre.
Few men's deaths have sparked the sheer number of conspiracy theories that Tupac's did - with a whole host of wild claims made that the man is, in fact, still alive.
Over the years these have ranged from spottings of men who bear a striking resemblance to Tupac, to claims former Cuban dictator Fidel Castro helped him find a sun-drenched retirement.
Check out some of the most outlandish theories below...
Tupac escaped a murder plot and fled to New Mexico
Tupac was shot in Las Vegas, but foremost conspiracy theorist and filmmaker Rick Boss says otherwise.
He made film 2Pac: The Great Escape from UMC, which claims Tupac has uncovered an assassination plot against himself.
Boss told abcKTNV of the project: "This movie is about Tupac actually escaping from University Medical Center here in Vegas and relocating to New Mexico."
And once Tupac was safely out of Vegas, Boss claims, he sought the protection of the Native American Navajo tribe.
A friend said Tupac had spoken about faking his own death
Suge Knight was in the car with Tupac on the night he was shot, and was the one who drove him to hospital - recalling that he'd laughed all the way to the emergency room.
The former head of Death Row Records said that Tupac had floated the idea of faking his own death during a trip to Maui.
"We was in Maui, you know what I mean, and Pac had, like, never been to Maui. And he got to talking about faking his own death," Suge claimed.
"And Pac was more down for doing, like, the last little videos and s*** of him dying all in the white with Redd Foxx and everybody like that."
And Suge's son, Suge J Knight, had a theory of his own...
Tupac is alive and the Illuminati are involved
Suge Jr insisted he wasn't on drugs after sharing footage of a man bearing a resemblance to Tupac, taken in Malaysia.
He also shared a photograph of what looked like an older Tupac with fellow music stars Beyoncé and 50 Cent - though it's easy to fake photos.
Shortly after, Suge shared a screengrab of a sinister message reading: "You said too much. Time for you to go."
Suge had replied: "The truth will be out and I'm not going anywhere."
In a later video, he claimed he was being followed.
"Beware of fake accounts," he warned, "Their job is to distract you.
"The Illuminati are all about power. This is why you see powerful names getting locked up."
Some theorists believe the world is secretly run by a shadowy group known as the Illuminati.
Fidel Casto helped him escape the US to Cuba
Residents of Old Havana, Cuba, have claimed in the past to have spotted Tupac in their town.
Speculation stirred before reaching a fever pitch when footage emerged of a man who looked like him.
Meanwhile, Michael Nice, a conspiracy theorist, claimed Tupac moved to the Caribbean nation with the help of the higher echelons of the Cuban government.
He said that Tupac uncovered a plot to kill him, after which he enacted a plan with Fidel Castro to smuggle him into Cuba and to safety from his would-be assassins.
Photos also emerged of Tupac in a bar with Rihanna, though the snaps all display clear as day signs of an attempt at digital trickery and editing.
Tupac is an anti-capitalist activist and took part in a march in 2011
Another similar looking man was seen at an Occupy Wall Street march in 2011.
He wore a yellow jacket with a hood up, which some have concluded was his attempt to hide his face.
It does, of course, raise the question of why he'd be in the middle of a crowd if he was attempting to lie low....
The Machiavelli theory
Tupac was said to hold a great interest in the figure of Niccolò Machiavelli, an Italian Renaissance philosopher who's work The Prince, a guide on how young men can clandestinely cement their power, was a favourite of the English King Henry VIII.
Machiavelli writes that a unique piece of political trickery is to allow one's enemies to believe they're dead.
Tupac's 1996 album, The Don Killuminati: The 7 Day Theory, was actually released under his new stage name, that of Makaveli.
Some have "decoded" the message to mean something greater than a simple admiration for the philosopher.
If you rearrange the letters, "Makaveli" can become "Am Alive K."
Moreover, the "K" is, according to the theory, more than a simple shortening of "OK."
Rather, the theorists claim, it's a nod toward Kasinova the Don - a rapper believed to be an alias for Tupac.
The 7s coincidence
Fans have pointed out the peculiar regularity with which the number seven arises with regard to Tupac's death - postulating it could hide a deeper meaning.
He was shot on the 7th September, at the age of 25 (2+5=7).
What's more, he officially died at 4:03am - 4+0+3=7 - and his birthday was 16th June - 1+6=7.
Probably fair to chalk this up as a coincidence - if he faked his own death, wouldn't it make more sense to do it in July (the seventh month) if that number meant anything?
