Appreciation from Son to Mother in Tupac Shakur's Song, Dear Mama

She describes that she hears “brothers talking about spending each day high as hell on malt liquor and Chronic. Don’t sleep. What passes for ‘40 and a blunt’ good times in most of hip-hop is really alcoholism, substance abuse, and chemical dependency” (456). Through these lyrics depicted by rap and hip-hop artists, Morgan points out the fact that the African American community deals with tough situations including a dependency of drugs and alcohol. In addition to drug and alcohol abuse, Morgan explains that conversations between males are often times about killing one another and believing that their life expectancy is low. In this essay, Morgan relates the issue of drug abuse and survival with the life of the Notorious BIG connecting the fact that his life was surrounded by drug and alcohol abuse, jail, relationships, and murder. With the help of these lyrics stated in rap and hip-hop music, Morgan believes that “the seemingly impenetrable wall of sexism in rap music is really the complex mask African Americans often wear both to hide and express the pain” (457). As she describes the issues of the daily lives of African Americans, readers are able to better understand the reason behind the lyrics and the anger of why they perceive women as “bitches” and

Is a mothers conditional love ever fully appreciated? The song “Dear Mama” by Tupac and the poem “Mother To Son” by Langston Hughes both proclaim how growing up, people don not fully appreciate their mothers. They do not acknowledge what they went through to raise them and give them the necessities of life. These two pieces express how you have to be at your worse to cherish the best.

Tupac Shakur—reputable singer, songwriter, and poet—discusses his assessment over the dominance of hate in his poem, “When Ure Heart Turns Cold”. Shakur’s purpose is to expose how hate has converted his life and affected his emotions. He adopts a pessimistic tone in order for his immature audience to avoid his faults. In order to create an influential poem, Shakur relies on his pessimistic tone, use of pathos, and style to influence and strengthen his poem.

The song implements on the hardships a mother will face for the growth of their son because love is what keeps them going. The love a mother will have for her son means that even though they don’t have a father figure around to show them how to grow up, they will always have their mothers to teach them the way of life through a woman’s perspective. In the song, “Dear Mama”, Tupac mentions, “For a woman it ain’t easy trying to raise a man, you always was committed” and he is able to foreshadow the hardships his mother had to face while Tupac was growing up without a father. At the age of seventeen Tupac, was always caught up in drama with his mom. Since Tupac was young he got involved into the hustle and was left in the streets where he basically had to risk he life every day. He never realized that being pushed into the streets would make him think about his mother or even worry about her. Tupac reflects upon the behavior he had during the time and how much stress he would add on his mother’s shoulders, but little did he know that his mother would be there for him regardless. Tupac Shakur’s mom was committed to his son and no matter the troubles he caused and faced she would be there for him to either help him out or at least hear him when he was not feeling good. She was a single mother on welfare, but she always tried

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.”

The connection that is drawn between the formerly economically challenged rapper and the child whose parent works two jobs, and can’t pay his child’s college tuition is paramount in making this point. The illusion of the American dream is set through many hip-hop songs. The picture of the evolution of the rags to riches story is set by many rappers in current hip-hop culture, this picture is the basic premise

To help understand Tupac’s poem, you must grasp yourself around the image of a very young boy, who has no father, grew up in the rougher parts of New York, and was barely supported by his mother.

Tupac Amaru Shakur was a very influential person who overcame many difficulties. Tupac was a rapper of truth that spoke about the things that go on in the “Hood” and the unjust police. He was treated differently because he was black and was even arrested for jaywalking. After he was arrested he was beaten by the cops who wanted him to “learn his place”(Joseph 29). This shows how bad Tupac had it because he was African American. Tupac died an early death at 25 because of a brewing rivalry between the East and West Coast rappers. Shakur was a person who would stand up for what he believed in no matter the cost and died fighting for that. He never let anyone win a battle that he was determined to win and always knew what he was fighting for. His mother was the same, as a loyal member of the Black Panther Party, a group that protected all African Americans from police brutality. Tupac was literally born to be a fighter and carried on his mother's legacy. Despite his rough life, Tupac Shakur became one of the most influential rappers of all time.

Everyone knows a guy by the name of Tupac Shakur, but how do people know Mr. Shakur? Maybe it is by the hardcore gangster and obscene rap lyrics directed towards people, more so aimed towards his east coast rivals. As years went on, more and more people viewed a handful of Tupac’s music as a true work of art, containing strong messages along with stories from his troubled childhood and young adulthood. Later on in both Tupac’s life and career, he began to realize the demise of the African American culture as a whole. During his last stint in prison, not only did he realized all of this wrongdoing throughout this life, but also the negative influence rap and hip hop had over the young African American community. What happened during his incarnation,

This denotation to the silent cries supports for an emotional appeal to an example of the silent cries in African American women. As stated in the title, Powell is aware that black women are merely being betrayed in the hip-hop industry and simply states that the choice of words that hip-hop artist chose to rap about is simply “the ghetto blues, urban folk art, a cry out for help.” (298) and it is rubbing off on almost every man in our American society and giving them a different perspective of women all because women refuse to speak out and speak up. “As a result, female rappers are often just as male-identified, violent, materialistic, and ignorant as their male peers.” (298). Over 100 years ago, women were not even allowed to vote, the closest they got to voting was sitting there and watching. They were not allowed to work, they were forced to be stay at home wives while their

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,

Independently, Shakur’s lyrics suggest the inequalities he has experienced throughout his life and of his race in general. In the first verse, Shakur expresses his upbringing without a father and the struggles with the racial tension in his neighborhood. He implies that he has been pushed into a world of violence and crime because of his low socioeconomic status. He states that peace can only be attained if the African Americans are offered a place in the society. The second verse focuses upon the broader oppression of the black body where he addresses the police violence and inequalities of the system. His lyric analyzes the violence in the streets and the fear of police officers that are willing to shoot him because he appears threatening. Finally, the third verse expresses that he is still waiting on things to change, yet the answer is not present. The greater meaning to his

Tupac Shakur released the song “Keep Ya Head Up” first in 1993 on his album “Strictly for my N.I.G.G.A.Z.”, then as a single in 1994. Tupac’s “Keep Ya Head Up”, one of his most notable and recognizable singles, received acclaim upon its release and continues to do so. The record centers on the social climate in the 90’s, and Tupac’s own experiences from his youth. Around the time of the song’s release, Tupac’s indictment in a rape case colored the reception of the song although it remained mainly positive. Tupac speaks on multiple issues through his lyrics, making it effective as a critique of society; moreover, the other creative devices he uses – phrasing, rhythm changes, and samples – make the song effective as an artistic project and back up his social message.

When most people hear the name Tupac, they think of a tattooed thug, a gangsta rapper killed in a tragic shooting who only got what was coming to him, a man who lived by the gun, and who died by the gun. However, those people probably have never taken a chance to look beyond what their eyes tell them, past the ignorance and into the depths of the man who really was Tupac.

Another rap artist she used in her argument was Shawn Carter, also known as Jay-Z. Jay-Z did not have a father as he grew up. Both Tupac and Jay-Z grew up as adolescents, who sold drugs, had guns, lived in the ghetto, and had a mentality of a thug or gangster. Even though they had those cons, they both rapped about being good parents will prevent your kids to be like them. “The fact that child abandonment is also a theme in hip-hop might help explain what otherwise appears as a commercial puzzle—namely, how particular music moved from the fringes of black entertainment to the every center of the Every teenager mainstreams” (Eberstadt). Hip-hop music does not only symbolize adolescent black teens, but also disobedient white teens.