Tupac Shakur: an Analysis of " Changes"

copies, and I want that so badly, but I can't do that. I would be wrong to do that, knowing what I know and having the brain that I have, for me to even go and write some simple *censored* would be wrong even though I would get paid and I would get more people's money." (Patrick, Tony, n.p.) This means that Tupac has a strong will and values. He resisted the temptation to write some easy rhyming words and get peoples money. He instead followed his values and worked

Hip hop paints pictures of poverty, violence, and thug life. Jay-Z says, “the story of the hustler was the story hip-hop was born to tell- not its only story, but the story that found its voice in the form and, in return, helped grow into an art” (Jay-Z, 18). This shows how hip hop became the voice for people living in the ghetto. The hustler’s story created a connection with a global audience that defined the life of pure struggle (Jay-Z, 18). For instance, Jay-Z was raised in Brooklyn’s drug-infested projects causing him to have a rough adolescence. He became a hustler to afford material items and help his mother pay for the bills like most teenagers in his generation. Jay-Z explains how teenagers were wearing automatic weapons as if they were sneakers. Instead of focusing on education, teenagers were worrying about adult responsibilities. Consequently, teenage roles were shifting in negative

Tupac’s message and influence on many alternative rappers became well known through interviews, music, and poems. Not only was Pac an inspiration to rappers, but he was also a role model for many teenagers and young adults. He was known as a symbol of rap and it’s violence. More than anything, he was a martyr of this culture. Tupac started the rapid growth of the rap/hip-hop/pop culture. Through various albums from trust, to racial discrimination, Pac spoke passionately about how the society helped him grow as a man. This was the legacy that made Pac an influential character to the society we live in.

I believe tupac's philosophy was to change the way people viewed thugs. For ordinary people thugs were gang bangers and drug dealers, but for Tupac it was his pride and for him

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,

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.

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.

Tupac is just one of the many artists that talked about social justice issues. He along with many others gave a voice to people that were scared whilst expressing themselves. Even though Tupac did not have the best life he still found a way to express himself through music. Social justice issues are something that we can left untouched that is why artists talk about them throughout

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,

Tupac Shakur was the king or rap back in the mid-90s. He was thug poet; the voice of a generation and his music still lives on inspiring rap music today. While his music and lyrics tell a story of the streets, the once great rapper is now better known for the mysterious circumstances surrounding his 1996 death, just like the John F. Kennedy assassination before it. The murder of Tupac still remains one of the greatest unsolved mysteries of the late-20th century. There are many theories about his death, some more outlandish than others-though it is most likely that Tupac was murdered by friend and mentor Suge Knight, because of east coast west coast rivalry, Suge’s greed because of Tupac’s plan to leave Death Row Records, and Suge’s undeniable

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.

Barack Obama said, “Change will not come if we wait for some other person or some other time. We are the ones we've been waiting for. We are the change that we seek.” “Change” by Tupac Shakur talks about change is hard because people stereotype. Although, change is a difficult thing to do, one can change lifestyle if they wanted it to.