2pac: Brenda's Got A Baby

Throughout the song, Tupac gives an inside look on the social problems affecting African-Americans and suggests possible solutions. In the first stanza of the song, Tupac first talks about how certain social issues are linked together; he makes a correlation between his skin color and being poor. Tupac says “I'm tired of bein' poor and even worse I'm black.” Then he explains how poverty causes crime by saying “My stomach hurts, so I'm lookin' for a purse to snatch.” And finally, he demonstrates the relationship between police brutality and race by saying “Cops give a damn about a negro? Pull the trigger, kill a nigga, he's a hero.”

Tupac Shakur is one of the most legendary and popular poetic/rap artists to this day. He is considered to be one of the most influential people of his time, influencing every African-American citizen in North America. Thought of as the creator of rap, Tupac has sold over seventy-five million albums worldwide although his career ended as quickly as it started. Six, is the number of years Tupac spent making rap professionally. Thirteen is the number of years Tupac spent writing poetry and rap lyrics. Twenty-five is how old Tupac was when he received four bullets to his chest causing him to pass away. In those twenty-five years, Tupac has influenced millions of people and artists

As thorough and rewarding as Bradley’s close reading can be, it is this sole focus that becomes problematic in Book of Rhymes. He stays on the surface, privileging the discussion of linguistic elements over cultural impact. He begins his wordplay chapter with an anecdote about a friend who disapproves of the misogynistic and violent elements of the Notorious B.I.G.’s lyrics, a qualm addressed by Bradley in a customary manner: “It’s not what he’s saying, it’s how he’s saying it” (86). Bradley is partially correct; how he’s saying it is the aesthetically appealing aspect of hip hop, the reason millions of people around the world enjoy the music. But what he’s saying is the more compelling aspect. The environment that produced the attitudes reflected in hip hop, the source of Biggie’s misogyny and violent imagery, must be given its proper treatment in order to understand rap music on deeper levels than the beauty and complexity of its poetic structures.

Tupac then joined the rap group, Digital Underground, as a dancer. Shortly before the group received award-winning success, Tupac released his own album, "2Pacalypse Now," which was a great success. His hit single, "Brenda's Got A Baby," sky-rocketed his career. His remarkable talent got him a role in the motion picture "Juice." Eventually he released his second album, "Strictly For My N.I.G.G.A.Z.," which was even a bigger hit and introduced his music to the pop charts.

Violent lyrics, a bad-boy image, and a long criminal record are what attracted and connected millions of young adults to the now legendary rapper Tupac Shakur. Tupac was a man of contradictions; for example, his music degraded and also praised strong women. Tupac Shakur rapped about problems that inner-city black Americans could relate to, along with his legal and personal drama; you could not get away from Tupac in the 1990’s. From the womb to the day Tupac Shakur died he went through the struggles many self-proclaimed “gangsters” these days do as well; but using these problems he took the rap and hip-hop game to another level.

A few years later his family moved to the West Coast in California where he began to to grew as an artist. In 1995, he became a solo artist and signed to Death Row with label CEO Marion “Suge Knight. That same year he also dropped his album Me Against the World . He record this album while he was in jail. According to a BET article, he was arrested for a felony with a deadly weapon. Despite his issues of being in prison, he was the first artist to go Number One on the Billboard charts while he was in prison. On September 7th 1996, Tupac was gunned down and was pronounced dead after 6 days of fighting for his life. As an artist he spoke a lot of violence and how to be aware of the society that everyone is exposed to. He spoke to the youth and was actively involved in the group the Black Panther which emphasizes equity and black power. Tupac music had meaning and emotion behind it that most struggling people in the urban community could connect to which made his so popular because people could relate. According the Rolling Stone index, Tupac was viewed as “one of the most dynamic, influential and self destructive pop stars of the Nineties.” Despite him going to jail for his wrong doings, he was a man who spoke only of the

He explains on how violent his life was and how he had to survive. In the song he mentions “ The projects is full of bullets, the bodies is droppin” showing that where he

Cultural phenomenon, rapper Kendrick Lamar has embraced a growing minority centered culture in America through his album “To Pimp A butterfly” this album conveys themes of hardship for minorities and cultural uprising. One of the singles on this album “Alright” simply tells black audiences that with faith everything will be alright. He uses the Lyrics “Alls my life I has to fight, nigga .Alls my life I...Hard times like God. Bad trips like: ‘God!’ Nazareth, I 'm fucked up..Homie you fucked up..But if God got us then we gon ' be alright” These lyrics simply tell suppressed minorities that despite hardship there is hope within our communities. . Months prior to the release of Kendrick Lamar’s “Alright” several attacks from white police officers happened in the black community. A common case in this uproar was the “Mike Brown case”. In this case a black man was shot dead after allegedly robbing a local gas station. Kendrick simply responded to these seemingly racial attacks with his album to “Pimp a Butterfly”. To pimp a butterfly simply means to use your influence to the best of its ability to make a meaningful impact. With tracks like “Alright” Kendrick Lamar does just that. The Primary themes and issues conveyed in this song are white supremacy, racism and black uprising

To gaze into the lyrics of both Notorious B.I.G. and Tupac Shakur is like living in the ghettos of New York City where violence never stops. Both of these artists grew up seeing and living a life filled with violence. Gunshots and drive-byes, death and murder were a daily occurrence. Although the lyrics of both artists are simply telling their life stories and how hard it was to grow up in their “hoods” they contain vulgar, hateful, and sexual verses that send the wrong message to their listeners. Whether these listeners are teens or adults, white or black, they are continually sending notions of hatred and fear through their lyrics and actions. Ultimately,

In the same fashion that Elvis defined Rock ‘n’ Roll; Tupac Shakur defined the hip-hop music scene, as we know it today. What made Tupac (also known as 2Pac, or Makaveli) so special were his enormous talent, his on screen friendly looks, and the sense that he was “real” and talked the talk, while walking the walk. Tupac was born on June 16, 1971, Tupac Amaru Shakur. He was named after Tupac Amaru, the Inca Indian that was sentenced to death by the Spaniards. He was originally from Brooklyn, New York. Tupac spent a lot of time moving around as he was growing up. He was the son of a Black Panther activist Afeni Shakur and Billy Garland. Tupac moved from Harlem, to Baltimore, to Oakland. The constant moving caused Tupac to fit into his new

The use of alliteration can be seen in every stanza, and with only reading the alliterations one could see the growth of Tupac. Tupac’s mindset and behavior changes as he matures with his mother’s love impacting his character. In the First stanza, we can see his young disobedient rebellious behavior with, “When I was young me and my mama had beef”; then to, “Suspended from school, and scared to go home, I was a fool. With the big boys, breaking all the rules”. During this time, he also starts to disrespect his mother as he rapped, “When things went wrong we'd blame mama” (10). The reason he would blame his mother is because of her addiction to crack, “struggled with drug addiction and moved frequently around the country, taking her son with

Tupac Amaru Shakur was a rapper during the early to late 1990s. He was born on June 16th, 1971 in East Harlem, New York. Tupac Shakur was legally born as Lesane Parish Crooks, but would later go on to change his name. Before joining Death Row Records, he started his career as a back up dance for the alternative hip hop group, Digital Underground. Eventually becoming a solo artist, he would soon release his first solo album in 1991 named “2Pacalypse Now.” Although his first album did not do well chart wise, many rapper both current and from back then used it as a form of inspiration. He would later go on to star in eight films and record five studio albums and six posthumous studio albums. On September 7th, 1996 , Tupac attended boxing match fought between Mike Tyson and

Black single mothers have overall negative stereotypes linked to them, their children, and their financial situation. Single black mothers are getting labeled as Gold diggers, lazy, con-artist, non-supportive, emotionally unstable, and uneducated. To make their reputation even worse most of the songs in the Hip Hop community make hypocritical songs that generalize all single black mothers based on their particular experience. Hip Hop narratives such as “Faith” by Kendrick lamar and “Baby Mama” by Fantaisa, challenges the race stereotypes about co-parenting. Not all Hip Hop songs reinforce the negative stereotypes about single black mothers. Songs like “Faith” by Kendrick Lamar is a great song that represents the struggle single mothers go through.

Kendrick’s song expresses the continued struggle faced by African Americans in modern society. The first couple lines of his song truly display how he feels about the mistreatment of African Americans:

In addition to the actualization of women, rap also promotes extreme violence and abuse towards women. Besides the ?mild? abuse the vast majority of rappers perpetually depict, some rappers display a loathing so deep it can only be classified as misogyny. In the song ??97 Bonnie and Clyde,? by Eminem, he says ?There goes mama, splashing in the water. No more fighting with dad, no more restraining order. Blow her kisses bye-bye, tell mommy you love her? (Bonnie). In a sinister fashion, the song goes on to describe how he murdered and disposed of his ex-wife with the assistance of his three-year-old daughter. Here the violence towards women crosses generations and involves the traumatic use and abuse of a three-year old girl. It promotes that violence, even toward our most vulnerable, is acceptable if they are female. Undeniably, the hip-hop culture?s perverse attitude towards the treatment of women has gradually been accepted by society. It seems society has been desensitized to the violence of rap by