Tupac: The Life And Times Of An American Icon: Song Analysis

The book I chose to read is Tupac Shakur:The Life & Times of an American Icon. This book hasn’t been out for very long. It’s publication date was January 26, 2010 so it is a somewhat newer book. Fred and Tayannah examined very closely and did a great deal of research to write this book. They had to examine all the theories and myths about Tupac Shakur. So i’m guessing you can imagine how hard they worked to write & publish this biography.

The poet was born June 16, 2pac passed away September 13 he grew up in New York. It was published October 28, 1999. Tupac wanted to name his first child star He uses phrases like “bloodclot crying.” This poem don’t any stanza he also Tupac was born as Lesane Parish Crooks.

The struggles of a single mother is not something everyone will fully understand. In the late 90’s there was huge poverty and gang violence in Los Angeles, California where Tupac grew up. Many of his songs reflect on how his experience was in this environment. In Tupac Shakur’s song, “Dear Mama” found in album, Me Against the World, for a single mother to show love for her child takes a huge struggle, especially when it was a time where gang violence was really high and fathers would leave their children. Throughout the song Tupac uses imagery to capture the feeling of pain and struggle and fluently illustrate the moments where he was young, until he grew up and realized the love his mother gave him. “Dear Mama” is also portrayed as a

1988, That’s when the so called “Gangsta Rap” emerged with the album Straight out of Compton N.W.A as a huge product that appealed to the young generation of African Americans since it was the rawest thing they’ve heard, in my opinion, it is as raw as the reality surrounding young African Americans, which is the reason why it became something huge. The album Straight out of Compton, N.W.A is one the most successful figures in the hip-hop industry by being a classic that is still being played to this day. The huge success was rewarded by the most important certifications in the world of music, by being a double-platinum which means this it doubled the minimum limit for the certification of

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.

The way someone views life should be beyond imaginable. Author, Tupac Shakur, gives narrative poems of his views of life and what should be granted to the world. Each poem displays an overall theme of endurance despite the boundaries he faces as well as the world. The poem “Liberty needs Glasses,” explains how there should be more freedom granted to the people. Tupac explains how the freedom “given” to us is an understatement. Although slavery is over, peoples’ minds are still shackled. The meaning of freedom between citizens and the government are observed differently between the two groups. In addition, the poem “The Rose that Grew from Concrete,” gives a narrative poem of persistence. Individuals are capable of having dreams bigger than themselves despite the boundaries they face. Tupac explains that having struggles is the road to someone’s dreams becoming reality. Discouragement is only in the mind of an individual and should not interfere with any bodies goals they are trying to obtain. Furthermore, the poem “Life through My Eyes,” gives an analysis of what life is through the eyes of the author. This narrative poem resembles pain as the author gives his past a recapitulation. As many narrative poems would be, it is highly emotional. Lastly, the poem “In the Event of My Demise,” the author shares how he would like to be remembered. It is important that one reaches their goal

Since gangsta rap was first introduced by the group N.W.A., this type of rap music has sold more albums than any other form of rap. Gangsta rap in some ways glorifies violence, drugs, and easy money. N.W.A. wrote a song about killing cops that created a firestorm of controversy. As a result of several such controversies, the Parental Advisory Explicit Lyrics labeling system was enacted in 1985 (Lommel 68). This system required the music industry to label songs that have explicit language and limit the sale of these albums to adults.

Berry says that there are good types of rap and bad types by showing that few rappers actually use sexually obscure lyrics and sexist towards women. Good rap would be considered songs by artist such as Queen Latifah, Salt N ' Pepa, Yo Yo, and MC Lyte are working to dismiss the men rapper 's images of women through their own performance style and lyrics. Violence is another factor because it is associated with black urban youths where rap music is always the common denominator for in the communities. Berry gives the idea that a major part of rap music is a reality in these neighborhoods by using NWA, a.k.a. Niggas with Attitude that consists of five rappers from L.A. who rap about gang banging, drive by shootings, and police confrontations. The lead singer of the group argued that their lyrics aim to show the "raw reality of life" instead of making it people’s reality. Williams argues that rap music does not represent the beliefs and ethics of black communities but only because people overlook the positive efforts made by rappers and focus on the negative aspects. Berry demonstrate how the supremacy of white and black power are prominent through focusing on how Parales beliefs that rap just shows the lack of education, and the frustration of the ghetto, and how hating rap can be linked to fearing young black men who are the stars of rap . Ice

With the violent diction, many people were put off by it. “Although violence, sexism and obscene lyrics have always been a part of American popular culture, what made gangsta rap intimidating was its lyrics…The lyrics came instead from the minds of what many white Americans considered to be the most violent and threatening segment of America-‘young angry inner city black men”(Canton 245). Much like today, the incarceration rate for black men was incredibly high, which can be seen through the aftermath of the Watts Riot, the formation of the Black Panther Party as well as countless other civil movement events. Gangsta rappers’ goal was to appeal to the masses of their culture. As many of them at least knew someone that had been put in jail, making songs about what got them there pulled a strong audience. For example, prominent gangsta rap group, NWA combined the violent rhetoric and political charged diction in their song, “F*ck tha

The indicator of moral panic surrounding hip-hop music is: volatility. The eruption of this newly found threat to fans of rap music by famous "gangsta" rappers and it's fairy-tale like "gangsta" life themes have occurred within the last decade. The volatility and eruption of these rebel ideals, specifically "gangsta" rap started on the West Coast, innovated by N.W.A., "Niggaz With Attitude." NWA was most controversial music group to top the charts on the "Soundscan system, which tracked sales of national record sales, during the early 90s" (Farrish 2). NWA's lyrics and images heuristically analyzed and promoted gang affiliation, drug dealing and use, homicide, sex, misogyny, alcohol abuse, and hate on police campaigns. "The rap industry is an oligopoly where 5 large firms dominate the market" (Rose 55). According to hip-hop philosophers such as Rose, hip-hop music has become homogenized. According to Marxian theory, "fetishism of

Koslow, Philip J. "Tupac Shakur." The Biographical Dictionary of African American. New York: Facts on File, 1998. N. pag. African-American History Online. Web. 5 Nov. 2015. .

Tupac Amaru shakur was one of the greatest rappers in the 90’s. Alongside his musical career , he was an actor and a socially engaged citizen. Most 2Pac songs speak of a childhood in the midst of violence and poverty in ghettos , racism , problems in society and conflicts with other rappers. He has campaigned throughout his career for racial equality. In my research paper, I will make perfectly clear : the rivalry between the East Cost and the West Coast, and Tupac’s shooting . I chose to talk about Tupac’s death because I like rap. Moreover, Tupac is the only rapper that influenced my way of thinking. I think that the audience should be interested in the topic I chose because Tupac’s success has contributed significantly to the global commercial

Daily interactions or interactions that are not from media could be beneficial” (Binder, 1993). Rap music, on the other hand, does not sell as it used to because now individuals look more into their lifestyle; and what the artist portray themselves as. Hip-hop is on such an economic and cultural rise that it invites scrutiny from its critics since its popularity flourished throughout the nineties (Ogbar 1999). Rap in its early years build off the poor ghetto image but their delivery at the time was different. They were looking to build the African American community, not tear it down. “The small body of research on hip-hop focuses more on artists, lyrical content, and the history of hip-hop. Moreover, any social differences (gender, age, race, social class, etc.) in fans that could be correlated with influence are generally overlooked” (Binder,

Tupac Shakur was born on June 19, 1971 in East Harlem, New York. Tupac was an American rapper and actor. He was one of the best-selling music artist of all time. Tupac was included in the Rock in Roll Hall of Fame his first year of eligibility. At the age of 25, on September 13, 1996 Tupac Shakur died six days after a drive-by at University Medical Center of Southern Nevada, Las Vegas.

Hip-hop wasn’t a new form of music in 1989, in fact it started in 1982 with Run DMC, but nobody was ready for this form. The police and politicians didn’t like what N.W.A was saying in their lyrics, but all of the things they were rapping about were things that were going on around them on a daily basis. They were seeing people being shot, drug deals going down, and women being called b*tch*s. "I remember when Straight Outta Compton came out, where I lived we could all relate to what they were rapping about because it was our lifestyle."(Wilson. Interview). So basically art was imitating life. But as the decade took a turn into the ‘90’s, so did things for N.W.A. (Tha Biography of Tha E) Ice Cube left to pursue a solo career (Ice Cube- Westside Times) and after him Dr. Dre left to start Death Row Records with Marion "Suge" Knight in 1992. (The Untouchable Death Row Records)