Tupac Influence

Most of the themes of Tupac's songs were centered around inner-city issues, racial tension and black empowerment. However, Shakur would contradict himself. He wrote Dear Mama and spoke directly to women through supportive messages in his songs. But Tupac also rapped highly objectifying lyrics and was, at times, disrespectful towards women. Shakur wrote a song "Wonda Why They Call U [expletive]," an infuriating record where the rapper explains to women everywhere the only way to avoid men calling them the B-word is to not "give up" the one thing those same men spend their entire adult lives trying to obtain from them.

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.”

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,

The song ¨Changes” is written and performed by Tupac Shakur who was born June 16, 1971 and was shot down September 13, 1996. Tupac was quite successful and was known to be a gangsta rapper as well as a poetic rapper at the same time. Changes seeks the best out of both these worlds and addresses the issue of poverty and poor treatment by police that the African American community face often on a day to day basis.

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.

A new style of hip-hop called “gangsta rap” arose during the 1990s that shaped the lives of culture, social injustices, and identity amongst the black community. It helped respond to the “decline of class and race based on consciousness (Quinn 174). One of the most influential rappers to gangsta rap was an artist named Tupac Amaru Shakur, also known as 2pac. He grew up Brooklyn and the Bronx but moved to the California where he attended high school (Marriott 1). This is significant because during the 1980s there was a lot of rivalry between West Coast and East Coast rappers (Marriott 1).

Tupac Shakur is a name that will always be associated with defining the genre of gangra rap. Known as a lyrical genius and often referred to as a prophet rapper he became “a spokesperson not just for his own generation but for subsequent ones who continue to face the same struggle for equality”(“Tupac Shakur”.) As an advocate for the change of African-American strife through his music, he often voiced that he was his own worst enemy at times. In the 1993 single “Keep Ya Head Up” off the sophomore album Strictly 4 my N.I.G.G.A.Z. Shakur establishes verisimilitude with his listeners by narrating experiences of hardships in life, especially within the black community. In addition, the early 90’s was filled with racial tension: LA Riots, Rodney

Through this verse Tupac highlights the fact that poverty has affected the African American community to the point that it has let some of them to commit illegal acts. He expresses the idea that being

He finishes the verse by describing how he feel like no one is looking out for him and suggests that the government and media do not pay attention to him or other black youth unless guns or violence are involved. The other rappers featured, Yaki Kadafi and E.D.I Mean, describe other circumstances that make them feel like it is them against the world. Kadafi’s raps in his verse about how it feels like he is predestined to become a thug because he was raised in the ghetto. Mean’s verse raps about the struggle of having no money and one of the options is to do shady things. In the last verse performed by Tupac, he offers some of his solutions/suggestions to the issues people face when living in the ghetto like to staying in school, staying true to yourself, and being prepared

As Tupac starts to rap he talks about how he was kicked out of his house when he was 17 years old. And how he and his sister grew up poor, also how his mother was addicted to drugs and went to prison. Going through all of this must have been difficult. But Tupac still saw his mother as a Queen. Tupac understood what his mom was going through, in one part of the lyrics Tupac says “for a woman it isn’t easy trying to raise a man You always was committed A poor single mother on welfare, tell me how you did it there's no way I can pay you back but the plan is to show you that I understand, you are appreciated” (Dear Mama by Tupac).