Legendary gang member-turned-activist and bestselling author Kody Scott has died aged 57 at a homeless encampment in Southern California.
Scott, who earned the nickname 'monster' during his time with the Crips and later legally changed his name to Sanyika Shakur, was found dead on June 7 in a tent at an encampment near the San Luis River Trail in Oceanside, according to the San Diego County Medical Examiner's office.
Scott's wife Tamu discovered his 'badly decomposed' body in a tent, said Tom Bussey, an Oceanside Police Department public information officer, told the Los Angeles Times.
Bussey said it appeared Scott died of natural causes and no foul play was detected, though the official cause of death has yet to be determined.
Throughout his life, Scott evoked both fear and inspiration from the people around him as he transformed from child gang member and a criminal on the Los Angeles most-wanted list to civil rights activist and author of his own cautionary tale.
Famous gang member-turned-activist Kody Scott (pictured) was found dead aged 57 on June 7 at a homeless encampment near the San Luis River Trail in Oceanside, California
It appears Scott died of natural causes and not foul play, he added, though the cause of death has yet to be determined
When he was in prison in the 1980s, Scott changed his name to Sanyika Shakur after joining the Republic of New Afrika movement and converting to Islam. He is pictured (left) mentoring inmates at the Solano State Prison in 2019
Scott went by several names through the different stages of his life. He got the nickname Monster, or Monster Kody, when he was 13 and beat a robbery victim until his face was disfigured. As the story goes, Scott's friend heard police referred to the attacker as a 'monster.'
When he was in prison in the 1980s, he changed his name to Sanyika Shakur after joining the Republic of New Afrika movement and converting to Islam.
Growing up, Scott, who was born in 1963, was beaten by his father Ernest and neglected by his mother Birdie.
Scott went by several names through the different stages of his life. He got the nickname Monster, or Monster Kody, when he was 13 and beat a robbery victim until his face was disfigured
The couple divorced in 1970 and, two years later, his mother moved him to the gang-riddled streets of South Central Los Angeles.
There, he used to hang out with his neighbor Stanley Tookie Williams, who was then the leader of the West Side Crips.
Williams would invite Scott to his house while gang members would lift weights, smoke PCP and talk about gang life. Williams later wrote in his memoir Blue Rage, Black Redemption that he felt remorse for introducing Scott to that lifestyle when he was so young.
A subgroup of the Crips, known as the Eight Tray Gangsters, formed in Scott's neighborhood in 1975 and he joined it after of his sixth-grade graduation.
As part of his initiation, he joined the gang one night as they hotwired a stolen car and, armed to the teeth, opened fire on a group of Bloods known as the Brims. Scott had a sawed-off 12-guage shotgun and was told not to leave until he used all of its bullets.
RELATED ARTICLES
'Crips gang member' is sentenced to 31 years in prison for... 
'Black Panther of Oxford' activist Sasha Johnson, 27, is...
Father of police victim Michael Brown joins anti-BLM...
Share this article
ShareScott was first arrested in 1978, at 14, after shooting an employee of a fast-food restaurant who had assaulted his younger brother Kershaun.
He was in and out of jail for the next decade and, having dropped out of high school, began to educate himself in prison. He read up on Malcom X and the Black Panthers, started socializing with members of the Republic of New Afrika and found Islam.
He took part in the 1992 Los Angeles riots in response to the killing of Rodney King, where he was arrested again. The following year, he wrote his first book while he was in solitary confinement at Pelican Bay State Prison.
Monster: The Autobiography of an LA Gang Member came out at a time when many were unaware of the plights of gang life and becoming increasingly cognizant of its effect on the younger generation.
Scott released his first book, Monster: The Autobiography of an LA Gang Member, in 1993
Scott went on to release two more books: T.H.U.G. L.I.F.E (left) in 2008 and Stand up, Struggle Forward: New Afrikan Revolutionary Writings on Nation, Class, and Patriarchy (right) in 2013
'I propose to open my mind as wide as possible to allow my readers the first ever glimpse of South Central from my side of the gun, street, fence, and wall,' he opened the autobiography. 'It is not for glory that I write this. It is out of desperation for the survival of the youths and civilians who are directly and indirectly involved in the fighting.'
In 2007, Scott was accused of breaking an acquaintance's home, beating him and attempting to steal his car.
At the time, his name was on the Los Angeles most-wanted gang members list for parole violations and the arrest would mean a third strike that would land Scott in prison for life.
The next year, he pleaded no contest to carjacking and robbery charges and was sentenced to six years in state prison.
That was the same year he wrote his first fiction novel, T.H.U.G. L.I.F.E. And in November 2013, he penned a book of essays called Stand up, Struggle Forward: New Afrikan Revolutionary Writings on Nation, Class, and Patriarchy.
Friends hosted a vigil for Scott in South Central Los Angeles after his death on June 7
Before his death, he was working on a fourth book and in talks with a streaming service about adapting his story into a podcast with Leo 'Pretty Boy' Smith, a former gang rival, according to the Los Angeles Times.
Scott and Smith grew up in the same neighborhood, but Smith joined the rival gang, Rollin Sixties, and they became enemies. But the two made amends after Scott published his first book.
According to the Los Angeles Times article, Léon Bing, a fashion model turned journalist, landed Scott in the public eye after including him in her book about gang life called Do or Die.
Bing recalled coordinating a Toy Drive at a local hospital with Scott while he was in prison. She remembered him as an intelligent and avid reader who was misunderstood by many because of his reputation.
'People really respected him in the hood and the people who were afraid of him, I think were afraid for all of the wrong reasons,' she told the Times. 'He was not looking to show off strength. He just was who he was and he wasn't a show off.'
Many took to Twitter after the announcement of his death to express their condolences. Chuck Jigsaw Creekmur, the CEO of AllHipHop.com, shared a picture of an old paperback edition of the book on Twitter.
Rapper Vince Staples shared an old photo of Scott with the caption 'Rest in Peace.'
Hip Hop Journalist Cheo Hodrai Coker tweeted: 'I interviewed him for Rappages two decades ago for a cover story I'll never forget.'
A man named Prop, who runs a podcast called Hood Politics, wrote: 'I gotta tell ya, that man was a street legend and was utterly terrifying. But i can say, his later work played a role in my gang intervention.'
ncG1vNJzZmivp6x7pa3IpbCmmZmhe6S7ja6iaKaVrMBwrdGtoJyklWKGd4WRb2xsZ3eWu6iuwKeenqpdqcKzusSdZJqbpJ7Dqr%2FTZoSopqOpsrN5qqibsmWDmLy1wIydnJqcXZ28rrHLnqqsZZWjsKK5z6acp6xdeK6ttcWoqaehkWO1tbnL