- Joined
- Mar 24, 2003
- Messages
- 6,315
- Reaction score
- 16
- Points
- 0
- Location
- Just below our civil disguise
Hey people, I didn't write this. I got it off of www.Hitemup.com and I thought that at least some of you would like to read it. Any comments are appreciated. For the people who are real deep fans the article doesn't go very deep and delve into the philisophical what and why, but if you really don't know much it can be interesting.
Tupac, and the Societal Issues that Shaped Him
By Ryan Powell.
Tupac Shakur is an intriguing man for the many societal issues he brought to widespread public awareness. Even though many of these issues were vastly dispersed before he addressed them, he spoke about them with a certain passion that aroused people???s hearts and minds. Although most of what Tupac spoke about was negative, he laid the framework for positive solutions to these problems because his words incite and inspire change. Based on how people responded to his music, it???s evident that what he wrote had a purpose, and moreover, this purpose was to bring awareness and change to the many societal afflictions that plagued his community. I plan to discuss several of these issues which were of paramount importance to Tupac. Tupac truly embodied the role of his astrological sign; he was a Gemini and was shaped according to the prototypical image of that sign. He was quite literally good and evil, the yin and the yang according to those who knew him best. I feel this dynamic vividly illustrates the issues he so deeply postulated on from a very personal level. It???s not like he was a politician arguing from some lofty place about the importance of improving the black community with no idea of what someone there deals with; he lived it. He displayed the struggle that occurs when you live in that environment when you are torn between what you want for your community, yet also, what you want for yourself, both the good and the bad.
The first issue I???d like to call attention to, which received plenty of coverage in his work, is police brutality. Coming from a family that was prominent in the Black Panther Party, this issue was central to Tupac???s life. He often tracked down police and videotaped their activities, which shows this wasn???t just something to wink at for him. Tupac felt that the police were out to get him which is evident in his song lyrics. Take the song ???Lord Knows??? for example, ???Fuck the 5-0 cuz they after me / Kill me if they could / I???ll never let ???em capture me.??? Whether this was Tupac???s own hypersensitivity at work or actually true is a mystery. It???s very likely he could have drawn a great deal of the attention he received from police upon himself, based on his following of them; however, it???s also possible in some situations he was the victim of circumstance, like the shooting of a child he was linked to (but wasn???t involved in) in Marin City.
Tupac argued vehemently for a call to arms to resist the police within the black community. He felt the only option left was self-defense, for the police had no respect for the rights of black citizens. He articulates this view in his song ???Everything They Owe.??? First, he describes an altercation with police at his home without a search warrant; then, he discusses trying to prove this in front of a judge in the following lines, ???Dropped to my knees / I proceed to bleed / Suffering a rain of blows to my hands and knees / Will I survive, is God watchin? / I grab his gat / And bust in self-defense, my only option.??? He follows this with, ???Now they got me goin??? / To the county jail / And my family can???t pay this outrageous bail / Try to offer me a deal / They told me if I squeal / move me, and my people, to a mansion in Brazil / Not me, so this is how it ends, no friends / I???ll be stressed and they just repossessed my Benz / Told the judge it was self-defense, he won???t listen / So I???m bumpin??? this in federal prison / Givin??? everything I owe.??? These lyrics explicate Tupac???s views on police corruption. The way he describes them makes them look like any other gang in the ghetto, except with much more power. Tupac felt police abused the power they possess by bullying people instead of helping them, and he vented this sentiment through his music, as he does in the aforementioned songs.
Another social issue that Tupac poured his heart into was teenage pregnancy. This issue was important for him because it affected him directly, being that he was raised by a young mother. Tupac???s reaction to this phenomenon arouses my curiosity in particular because when discussing it he would place himself in the shoes of a teenage girl who was coping with the stress of being pregnant. This is why Tupac???s message is felt so deeply by his listeners, for he places himself in the situations he???s talking about. Perhaps the best example to convey this is through the song ???Brenda???s Got a Baby.??? In this heart-wrenching tribute to a young woman???s dilemma, Tupac laments the lack of social support a young person in the ghetto has to draw upon when faced with something as confusing and frightening as a pregnancy at such a tender age. He verbalizes this issue here, ???She tried to hide her pregnancy from her family / Who didn???t really care to see / Or give a damn if she / Went out and had a Church of kids / As long as when / The check came in they got first dibs / Now Brenda???s belly is getting??? bigger / But no one seems to notice any change in her figure.??? This reflects the apathy that many families feel for the mounting problems they face, which is a result of seeing one catastrophe after another accumulate. This eventually causes people to become careless to the future difficulties they encounter. Tupac certainly has life experience in this department and can sympathize with Brenda???s pain, which is why this song evokes so much passion from its listeners. Given that Tupac has experienced a great deal of what he raps and writes about, a unique enthusiasm shines through his lyrics that his listeners can feel which alludes to them that Tupac truly knows what he???s speaking about.
The next issue I???ll discuss may have affected Tupac more directly than any other. In fact, it can be attributed to his untimely demise. Of course, I???m referring to black on black crime, an issue that was a consistent trope in his work throughout his career. Tupac dealt with this issue on various levels; he wrote poetry about it, he rapped about it, and he lost friends and his own life to this tragic trend. It was because of this particular issue why he was convinced he would die at such an early age. Taking a glance at one of his more well-known poems, ???In the Event of My Demise,??? one can see how deeply the trepidation of this destructive trend affected Tupac; he truly believed he would die a young man evident here, ???I will die before my time / Because I feel the shadow???s depth / So much I wanted to accomplish / Before I reached my death / I have come to grips with the possibility??? (5-9). Tupac worked within the mind-frame that he only had so much time to leave his impact on the world due to the debauchery he faced day-to-day on the streets and as a member of Death Row???s entourage.
I believe because of what he survived (five gun shot wounds previous to the seven that killed him) coupled with the chaos he experienced in his life everyday Tupac has been constructed as a hero. He fits the bill for several reasons. After he died, a legacy of his life and work has been created to savor his memory for all who followed his career. Also, he died an untimely death, which left people gasping for more from him. Finally, he was built up as the greatest musician in his genre, then he was torn down to pieces and killed for being on top. In this culture, we love to see heroes destroyed ??? Tupac was the victim of this dangerous tendency.
His song ???Shed So Many Tears??? gives introspection into his mind and shows how living his life affected the way he thought and saw the world. A few lines which also demonstrate his knowledge of an early departure arise here, ???My every move is a calculated step / To bring me closer / To embrace an early death / Now there???s nothin??? left.??? Black-on-black crime is something Tupac also felt needed to be solved within the black community, for he felt the police only contributed to the problem evident through songs like ???Where Do We Go from Here???? in which he declares, ???We stood together in April of ninety-two / with duty and a sense of honor / There???s no limit to what WE can achieve / That???s all on us??? / us??? / not my niggaz, not the whites, not the enemies / or none of them motherfuckers, US / What can we do???? Here, Tupac calls upon his brethren to progress forward from what they achieved in the L.A. riots and to take control of their own destiny so not to be led by the ambitions of anyone else from here on out.
Tupac probably understood better than anyone the direct effects of drug abuse and addiction for a conglomerate of reasons. First of all, he was raised up by a mother who battled a crack cocaine addiction throughout Tupac???s entire life. Further, Tupac dealt with his own battles with substance abuse as well. It???s near impossible to find a clip of Tupac working in the studio without his trademark blunt in hand and Hennessey glass in the other; he was constantly under the influence. He reflects on how traumatically this affected him in his work as well. Two songs of his that exhibit this issue are ???Lord Knows??? and ???Dear Mama.??? ???Lord Knows??? details his own affliction with substance abuse with lines like, ???I smoke a blunt to take the pain out / And if I wasn???t high, I???d probably try to blow my brains out.??? This is one of the most disturbing lines Tupac has ever written in my humble opinion because it touches on how deep his need for drugs became along with his potential for taking his own life; however, suicide is a common byproduct of such intense drug abuse. So, this song does a an excellent job of bringing such a pressing issue in Tupac???s life to the forefront of awareness.
On the other hand, ???Dear Mama??? displays how Tupac had to witness this disparaging problem through his only parent, his mother. There???s no way to fully grasp how adversely it affected Tupac to witness this trifling occurrence growing up as a young man.
It likely impacted his own consumption of drugs and alcohol as well as his optimism for the future, evident through the hopelessness he articulates in ???Lord Knows.??? But regardless of these things, Tupac still loved and admired his mother for her powerful presence and valiant attempts to raise a complex young man like Tupac. He talks about this here, ???And even as a crack fiend mama / You always was a black queen mama.???
Drug consumption is yet another issue which Tupac was able to address so passionately because of his own tribulations in dealing with it. Therefore, his views on this topic and others can serve as a coping mechanism for those who face similar traumatic circumstances, and Tupac does well to remind his listeners that there???s still light at the end of the tunnel despite how insurmountable one???s problems may seem through songs like ???Keep Ya Head Up.???
Finally, an issue that likely correlates with a great deal of Tupac???s issues with trust and anger is that of fatherlessness. Tupac was more than bitter about his lack of a male role model to look up to and has written many compelling songs into which he vents this frustration. The most prominent of which is likely ???Papa???z Song??? in which Tupac explicitly diminishes his biological father to pieces for leaving he and his mother without a trace. He unleashes this discontent here, ???Asked about my moms / like you loved her from the start / Left in the dark / She fell apart / From a broken heart. / So don???t even start with that ???wanna be your father shit??? / Don???t even bother with your dollars I don???t need it / I???ll bury moms like you left me all alone G / Now that I finally found you, stay the fuck away from me.??? Although many problems arise in Tupac???s life from not having a father around, I feel this is one of the most character-building and passionate aspects of his personality. Tupac truly was ???The Rose That Grew from Concrete??? as his poetry suggests, for he overcame the most traumatic and emotionally deplorable circumstances on his path to becoming the most mythical rap artist of all time, and a social and marketing icon which will be respected and admired for eternity, just as he had intended.
Tupac, and the Societal Issues that Shaped Him
By Ryan Powell.
Tupac Shakur is an intriguing man for the many societal issues he brought to widespread public awareness. Even though many of these issues were vastly dispersed before he addressed them, he spoke about them with a certain passion that aroused people???s hearts and minds. Although most of what Tupac spoke about was negative, he laid the framework for positive solutions to these problems because his words incite and inspire change. Based on how people responded to his music, it???s evident that what he wrote had a purpose, and moreover, this purpose was to bring awareness and change to the many societal afflictions that plagued his community. I plan to discuss several of these issues which were of paramount importance to Tupac. Tupac truly embodied the role of his astrological sign; he was a Gemini and was shaped according to the prototypical image of that sign. He was quite literally good and evil, the yin and the yang according to those who knew him best. I feel this dynamic vividly illustrates the issues he so deeply postulated on from a very personal level. It???s not like he was a politician arguing from some lofty place about the importance of improving the black community with no idea of what someone there deals with; he lived it. He displayed the struggle that occurs when you live in that environment when you are torn between what you want for your community, yet also, what you want for yourself, both the good and the bad.
The first issue I???d like to call attention to, which received plenty of coverage in his work, is police brutality. Coming from a family that was prominent in the Black Panther Party, this issue was central to Tupac???s life. He often tracked down police and videotaped their activities, which shows this wasn???t just something to wink at for him. Tupac felt that the police were out to get him which is evident in his song lyrics. Take the song ???Lord Knows??? for example, ???Fuck the 5-0 cuz they after me / Kill me if they could / I???ll never let ???em capture me.??? Whether this was Tupac???s own hypersensitivity at work or actually true is a mystery. It???s very likely he could have drawn a great deal of the attention he received from police upon himself, based on his following of them; however, it???s also possible in some situations he was the victim of circumstance, like the shooting of a child he was linked to (but wasn???t involved in) in Marin City.
Tupac argued vehemently for a call to arms to resist the police within the black community. He felt the only option left was self-defense, for the police had no respect for the rights of black citizens. He articulates this view in his song ???Everything They Owe.??? First, he describes an altercation with police at his home without a search warrant; then, he discusses trying to prove this in front of a judge in the following lines, ???Dropped to my knees / I proceed to bleed / Suffering a rain of blows to my hands and knees / Will I survive, is God watchin? / I grab his gat / And bust in self-defense, my only option.??? He follows this with, ???Now they got me goin??? / To the county jail / And my family can???t pay this outrageous bail / Try to offer me a deal / They told me if I squeal / move me, and my people, to a mansion in Brazil / Not me, so this is how it ends, no friends / I???ll be stressed and they just repossessed my Benz / Told the judge it was self-defense, he won???t listen / So I???m bumpin??? this in federal prison / Givin??? everything I owe.??? These lyrics explicate Tupac???s views on police corruption. The way he describes them makes them look like any other gang in the ghetto, except with much more power. Tupac felt police abused the power they possess by bullying people instead of helping them, and he vented this sentiment through his music, as he does in the aforementioned songs.
Another social issue that Tupac poured his heart into was teenage pregnancy. This issue was important for him because it affected him directly, being that he was raised by a young mother. Tupac???s reaction to this phenomenon arouses my curiosity in particular because when discussing it he would place himself in the shoes of a teenage girl who was coping with the stress of being pregnant. This is why Tupac???s message is felt so deeply by his listeners, for he places himself in the situations he???s talking about. Perhaps the best example to convey this is through the song ???Brenda???s Got a Baby.??? In this heart-wrenching tribute to a young woman???s dilemma, Tupac laments the lack of social support a young person in the ghetto has to draw upon when faced with something as confusing and frightening as a pregnancy at such a tender age. He verbalizes this issue here, ???She tried to hide her pregnancy from her family / Who didn???t really care to see / Or give a damn if she / Went out and had a Church of kids / As long as when / The check came in they got first dibs / Now Brenda???s belly is getting??? bigger / But no one seems to notice any change in her figure.??? This reflects the apathy that many families feel for the mounting problems they face, which is a result of seeing one catastrophe after another accumulate. This eventually causes people to become careless to the future difficulties they encounter. Tupac certainly has life experience in this department and can sympathize with Brenda???s pain, which is why this song evokes so much passion from its listeners. Given that Tupac has experienced a great deal of what he raps and writes about, a unique enthusiasm shines through his lyrics that his listeners can feel which alludes to them that Tupac truly knows what he???s speaking about.
The next issue I???ll discuss may have affected Tupac more directly than any other. In fact, it can be attributed to his untimely demise. Of course, I???m referring to black on black crime, an issue that was a consistent trope in his work throughout his career. Tupac dealt with this issue on various levels; he wrote poetry about it, he rapped about it, and he lost friends and his own life to this tragic trend. It was because of this particular issue why he was convinced he would die at such an early age. Taking a glance at one of his more well-known poems, ???In the Event of My Demise,??? one can see how deeply the trepidation of this destructive trend affected Tupac; he truly believed he would die a young man evident here, ???I will die before my time / Because I feel the shadow???s depth / So much I wanted to accomplish / Before I reached my death / I have come to grips with the possibility??? (5-9). Tupac worked within the mind-frame that he only had so much time to leave his impact on the world due to the debauchery he faced day-to-day on the streets and as a member of Death Row???s entourage.
I believe because of what he survived (five gun shot wounds previous to the seven that killed him) coupled with the chaos he experienced in his life everyday Tupac has been constructed as a hero. He fits the bill for several reasons. After he died, a legacy of his life and work has been created to savor his memory for all who followed his career. Also, he died an untimely death, which left people gasping for more from him. Finally, he was built up as the greatest musician in his genre, then he was torn down to pieces and killed for being on top. In this culture, we love to see heroes destroyed ??? Tupac was the victim of this dangerous tendency.
His song ???Shed So Many Tears??? gives introspection into his mind and shows how living his life affected the way he thought and saw the world. A few lines which also demonstrate his knowledge of an early departure arise here, ???My every move is a calculated step / To bring me closer / To embrace an early death / Now there???s nothin??? left.??? Black-on-black crime is something Tupac also felt needed to be solved within the black community, for he felt the police only contributed to the problem evident through songs like ???Where Do We Go from Here???? in which he declares, ???We stood together in April of ninety-two / with duty and a sense of honor / There???s no limit to what WE can achieve / That???s all on us??? / us??? / not my niggaz, not the whites, not the enemies / or none of them motherfuckers, US / What can we do???? Here, Tupac calls upon his brethren to progress forward from what they achieved in the L.A. riots and to take control of their own destiny so not to be led by the ambitions of anyone else from here on out.
Tupac probably understood better than anyone the direct effects of drug abuse and addiction for a conglomerate of reasons. First of all, he was raised up by a mother who battled a crack cocaine addiction throughout Tupac???s entire life. Further, Tupac dealt with his own battles with substance abuse as well. It???s near impossible to find a clip of Tupac working in the studio without his trademark blunt in hand and Hennessey glass in the other; he was constantly under the influence. He reflects on how traumatically this affected him in his work as well. Two songs of his that exhibit this issue are ???Lord Knows??? and ???Dear Mama.??? ???Lord Knows??? details his own affliction with substance abuse with lines like, ???I smoke a blunt to take the pain out / And if I wasn???t high, I???d probably try to blow my brains out.??? This is one of the most disturbing lines Tupac has ever written in my humble opinion because it touches on how deep his need for drugs became along with his potential for taking his own life; however, suicide is a common byproduct of such intense drug abuse. So, this song does a an excellent job of bringing such a pressing issue in Tupac???s life to the forefront of awareness.
On the other hand, ???Dear Mama??? displays how Tupac had to witness this disparaging problem through his only parent, his mother. There???s no way to fully grasp how adversely it affected Tupac to witness this trifling occurrence growing up as a young man.
It likely impacted his own consumption of drugs and alcohol as well as his optimism for the future, evident through the hopelessness he articulates in ???Lord Knows.??? But regardless of these things, Tupac still loved and admired his mother for her powerful presence and valiant attempts to raise a complex young man like Tupac. He talks about this here, ???And even as a crack fiend mama / You always was a black queen mama.???
Drug consumption is yet another issue which Tupac was able to address so passionately because of his own tribulations in dealing with it. Therefore, his views on this topic and others can serve as a coping mechanism for those who face similar traumatic circumstances, and Tupac does well to remind his listeners that there???s still light at the end of the tunnel despite how insurmountable one???s problems may seem through songs like ???Keep Ya Head Up.???
Finally, an issue that likely correlates with a great deal of Tupac???s issues with trust and anger is that of fatherlessness. Tupac was more than bitter about his lack of a male role model to look up to and has written many compelling songs into which he vents this frustration. The most prominent of which is likely ???Papa???z Song??? in which Tupac explicitly diminishes his biological father to pieces for leaving he and his mother without a trace. He unleashes this discontent here, ???Asked about my moms / like you loved her from the start / Left in the dark / She fell apart / From a broken heart. / So don???t even start with that ???wanna be your father shit??? / Don???t even bother with your dollars I don???t need it / I???ll bury moms like you left me all alone G / Now that I finally found you, stay the fuck away from me.??? Although many problems arise in Tupac???s life from not having a father around, I feel this is one of the most character-building and passionate aspects of his personality. Tupac truly was ???The Rose That Grew from Concrete??? as his poetry suggests, for he overcame the most traumatic and emotionally deplorable circumstances on his path to becoming the most mythical rap artist of all time, and a social and marketing icon which will be respected and admired for eternity, just as he had intended.
Last edited:
