In the early morning hours of November 10, 1996, the life of 19-year-old Yafeu Akiyele Fula, known by his stage name Yaki Kadafi, was tragically cut short in Orange, New Jersey. Fula, a male member of the hip-hop group Outlawz, was found by police at approximately 3:48 a.m. in the third-floor hallway of an apartment building at 325 Mechanic Street. He had sustained a single gunshot wound to the head and was discovered after authorities received a report of a shooting.
At the time of the incident, Kadafi was visiting a friend in the building. He was transported to University Hospital in Newark, where he succumbed to his injuries that afternoon.
The death of Kadafi came just two months after the fatal shooting of his close associate and fellow rapper, Tupac Shakur, in Las Vegas. Kadafi had been in the vehicle directly behind Shakur's on the night of the shooting and was considered a key witness in that high-profile murder investigation. He had reportedly expressed a willingness to cooperate with police and had informed them that he might be able to identify Shakur's assailant. This circumstance led to widespread speculation that his death was connected to what he had witnessed in Las Vegas.
However, the investigation into Kadafi's murder soon pointed away from a direct link to the Shakur case. Within days, Orange police arrested two teenagers in connection with the shooting. It was later revealed that the individual responsible for firing the fatal shot was Roddy Beale, the cousin of another Outlawz member, Mutah 'Napoleon' Beale. Napoleon would later publicly state that the shooting was accidental, claiming that he and his cousin were intoxicated and playing with a gun when it unintentionally discharged, striking Kadafi in the head. Despite this claim, the tragic event marked another significant loss for the hip-hop community, silencing a young voice with promising potential.
