“It’s easy to accuse. It’s hard to bring justice. If Keffe D is guilty, prove it. If he’s not, don’t convict him just because people want closure.” – RJ Bond
The first part of this conversation between RJ Bond and Chuck “Jigsaw” Creekmur explores whether prosecutors have enough evidence to convict Keffe D.
Keefe D’s day is coming.
Nearly 30 years after Tupac Shakur was gunned down on the Las Vegas Strip, the case remains one of hip-hop’s biggest mysteries. For years, public opinion revolved around a popular theory: that South Side Compton Crips member Duane Keith Davis finally acknowledged his role in the slayings through interviews, memoirs and countless media appearances. His arrest in 2023 seemed to confirm what many had long believed.
But filmmaker RJ Bond said the public could mistake the story for evidence.
Bond spent nearly two decades digging through police files, interviewing key witnesses and making multiple documentaries about the murders of Tupac and the Notorious Mogul. Today, he serves as an unpaid consultant to Keffe D’s defense team, helping to organize decades of investigative material while insisting that his goal is not to prove Keffe D’s innocence but to ensure that the right people are held accountable.
In an exclusive interview with AllHipHop, Bond questions whether prosecutors have enough evidence to secure a conviction, believes investigators are relying too much on one narrative, and explains why justice and blame are not the same thing.
AllHipHop: You’ve been researching the Tupac murders for nearly 20 years. Why don’t you just go away?
RJ Bond: I thought I did.
Back in 2009, after The Assassination of Tupac: Conspiracy or Revenge and Reckoning, I said I was done. There’s no more ground to cover.
Then something always happens.
Someone died. Someone spoke. Someone remembers something they didn’t dare say before.
Raspour always told me that the best information comes after people start dying, because witnesses are no longer so scared.
Every time I think I’m done, something pulls me back.
AllHipHop: Did Keffe D’s arrest put you back on your feet?
RJ Bond: Absolutely. When the indictment came down, I wasn’t thinking about guilt or innocence. I’m thinking about the evidence. This is a man accused of one of the largest murders in American history.
Where is the gun?
Where is the car?
Where are the witnesses?
If you strip away everything else, what are you left with?
Someone who said something. That’s what bothers me.
AllHipHop: A lot of people would say these are not just “something.” They call it confession.
RJ Bond: I don’t. I think of them as stories. Maybe it’s true. Maybe partially true. Maybe it’s not true at all. This is very different from the evidence. People claim responsibility for crimes that have never been committed in history.
People exaggerate.
People seek attention.
People make money.
People protect other people.
The question is not whether Keffe D speaks. The question is whether what he said can be proven.
AllHipHop: You’re particularly troubled by the prosecutor’s reliance on his book.
RJ Bond: Very much so. They literally stood before a grand jury and read passages from “The Legend of Compton Street.” This should be everyone’s concern. Books are not sworn testimony. The autobiography is full of embellishments. There’s even a literary term for it now: autofiction. An autobiography mixed with a novel. How do you distinguish between what Keffe D truly believes and what his co-authors add to or dramatize?
This is a real problem.
AllHipHop: You also question why law enforcement made him an informant instead of simply prosecuting him.
RJ Bond: That’s right. He faces a huge federal drug case, according to public records. If prosecutors already have the power to jail him for life, why trade that influence for information in a murder investigation outside your jurisdiction? It never made sense to me. If your goal is to get dangerous people off the streets, you already have an idea. Instead, they allegedly made a deal in the hope that he would tell them what they wanted to hear.
AllHipHop: So do you think Keffe D has a motive for telling stories?
RJ Bond: Absolutely. Money is an incentive. Avoiding jail time is another. If the police and lawyers tell you that there is no harm in talking, that you are protected and that you will not be prosecuted…
Why don’t you speak? That doesn’t automatically make everything you say true.
AllHipHop: You are currently assisting Keffe D on defense. Some would say you took a side.
RJ Bond: No, I didn’t get paid. I’m not developing a defensive strategy. I’m helping organize thirty years of information. Every time new attorneys take on a case, they are handed decades of documents, interviews and theories. It’s overwhelming. My job is just to help them understand what’s out there. Justice depends on everyone knowing the facts.
AllHipHop: At the end of the day, do you believe Keffe D is innocent?
RJ Bond: I think people misunderstand the issue. Justice and blame are not the same thing. It’s easy to point fingers. Justice is hard. If Keffe D is guilty, prove it. If he isn’t, don’t convict him just because the public wants closure. This case deserves to be determined. inconvenient.
AllHipHop: If the prosecution loses, what happens next?
RJ Bond: That’s why this is so important. I think that’s about it. If Keffe D is acquitted, I don’t believe the prosecutor will come back with another suspect. This may very well be the final courtroom chapter in Tupac’s murder case. That’s why it’s so important that we get things done. Because history will remember what happened in court.
