Killuminati

While serving a prison sentence in 1995, Tupac Shakur took a strong interest in philosophy, military strategy, and history, including such works as the influential political treatise The Prince by Machiavelli, which inspired the pseudonym (Makaveli) that he used for Don Killuminati.

Shakur may have also read about the Illuminati, an 18th-century Bavarian secret society known for its anti-totalitarian and anti-religious activities. Contemporary conspiracy theories (which Shakur may have encountered in jail) claim descendants of the Illuminati have exerted control over historical events in their efforts to rule the world.

What Shakur meant by Killuminati has been disputed. Some think he was sincerely expressing belief in or allegiance to the conspiratorial Illuminati. Others are sure he was dismissing conspiracies or wild beliefs that distract people from real-world issues of racism, poverty, or drug abuse—which appears corroborated by interviews. In one, Shakur refers to Illuminati rumors he heard in prison: “[I put] the k to that Illuminati shit … I’m killing that Illuminati shit.” By putting the k (“killing)” to them, he suggests that he is rejecting larger societal forces or excuses that keep people down.

The Don Killuminati is darker and angrier than Shakur’s previous work, and his sudden death shortly before its release in November 1996 led fans to speculate that Killuminati is a reference to a clandestine group responsible for his murder—as well as that of his rival, the Notorious B.I.G., killed in 1997.

Producer Ronald “Riskie” Brent has said that Shakur originally intended to use Killuminati: The 7 Day Theory as the album title, with The Don Makaveli as his pseudonym. Death Row Records, which produced the album and was in some turmoil immediately after Shakur’s death, incorrectly rendered it as The Don Killuminati: The 7 Day Theory.