Had Tupac Shakur lived the way fans wanted him to, he would have celebrated his 40th birthday today. Yet since his death, his image and legacy has grown by leaps and bounds from conspiracy theories claiming he’s hiding in Cuba to persistent rumors pointing toward different boogeymen and organizations as responsible for his death.

On such a milestone of a day, he is once again the talk of the town when news outlets quickly jumped on an AllHipHop.com story about a lifer prisoner who says he’s responsible for the legend’s death. Dexter Isaac says that not only is he the gunman, but he claims a music mogul paid him $2,500 to rob and shoot the late great rapper back in 1994 on a cold November night. Shakur was shot five times. This music mogul is said to be James “Jimmy Henchman” Rosemond. ABC reports this confession has now prompted the police to look back into a case they considered cold and over. But this is Pac—the 20-something-year-old whose “Hit Em Up” made the entire nation feel a lot of “California Love,” and created one of his best albums ever while doing a long prison bid.

Then today, Rosemond's lawyer told the New York Daily News, "It's a flat out lie." Tupac is back in the news like he never left. Then again, he never really has.

(Photo: Raymond Boyd/Michael Ochs Archives/Getty Images)