I wrote about Tupac Shakur in a previous blog post in order to illustrate how generation after generation a new form of music arises and the general public always seems to be outraged by it while younger members of society take to it and interestingly enough are actually responsible for the artist becoming so popular in the first place. I can remember being little and having older cousins in high school who would bump Tupac in their cars everywhere they went. Although I didn’t know who he was or the names of any of his songs at the time, perhaps this is where my current appreciation for him and his music came from. In my opinion, Tupac, Snoop Dogg, Suge Knight, Dr. Dre and other old school rappers of the 90’s are what could only be described as the original gangsters of the industry.
Although Shakur was very well known and incredibly successful as an artist, there were also many downfalls to his fame. He left behind a legacy in the form of lyrics which were grossly misinterpreted by the media and other members of older generations who just didn’t get it. The media has served to tarnish Tupac's image, masking the true worth of his work. Many classified Tupac as just another angry black male, a thug, who advocated violence. “In 1992, a Texas state trooper was killed by a teenager who was listening to 2Pacalypse Now which included songs about killing police. This caused a swirl of media controversy. Dan Quayle, the Vice President of the United States at the time, demanded that the album be withdrawn from music stores and media across the country; Interscope refused. Shakur claimed his first album was aimed at the problems facing young black males, but it was criticized for its graphic language and images of violence by and against law enforcement. Quayle publicly denounced the album as having ‘no place in our society’” (Wikipedia, Tupac Shakur).What Tupac really wanted though was change. He wanted to stand up and rebel against those who stereotyped him as just another thug. He did a lot more than just entertain through his music; he used it as a vehicle for his message, to be heard and speak to young black Americans about the injustices they are up against. He was actually quite poetic and also had songs like “Dear Mama” in which he describes his love for his single mother who raised him. In fact, Tupac thought very highly of women; he raps, “since we all came from a women, got our name from a women, and our game from a women. I wonder why we take from women, why we rape our women, do we hate our women? I think it’s time we killed for our women, be real to our women, try to heal our women, cuz if we don’t, we'll have a race of babies that will hate the ladies, who make the babies. And since a man can't make one he has no right to tell a women when and where to create one” in one of his more popular songs, Keep Ya Head Up.
In September of 1996, Shakur was shot four times and died seven days later in Las Vegas, Nevada. Many dispute that he is dead, insisting that he faked his death in order to escape the music industry and all the negativity fame seemed to have brought him. I highly recommend watching “Tupac: Resurrection”, a documentary on Shakur and his impact on the world.
I agree that Tupac was one of the most misinterpreted artist of our time. He was constantly made an example out of and was always looked at as a negative figure to society. It is unfortunately that he and others had to face the downfalls of the media. His music was like poetry and he did have a lot of respect for woman. That is something that many artists today don't have, an understanding and love for woman. Most artists now use woman as sex symbols in their music as if that is all woman are for. Tupac showed true respect and appreciation for woman including his mom. There are not many artists who will acknowledge their moms or woman in their music unless woman is the only thing they can think of to go with what ever they are singing. There were always so many rumors about Tupac dying and then faking his death. Who knows if he put that out there for his protection or if someone was just bored but that's a lot of what the media is. The media is bored and they need to keep their job so they pick on an artist for singing about his feelings. A lot of music today has no true feelings or true connection with the music. Some artists just sing because they have the voice and the connections to get out there and make it in the music business. I have not came across an artist like Tupac that sang true poetry from his heart.
ReplyDeleteOnly God can judge Tu Pac right? Don't worry He will. God will judge us all and that is a fact.
ReplyDeleteAnd it is a fact you do not have to be worried about if you are in right standing with God. Why was he going around spouting that anyway? For real God will judge and just because you say that doesn't mean things are straight. At least he spoke up for Womens Lib. What was the misinterpretation about anyway? I never got that. At least there is a positive to concentrate on I guess. As for judgement we can have an opinion, that is perfectly alright. The whole tolerance viewpoint has everyone confused about what they can and cannot talk about. I do not enjoy main stream rap but have heard some of his music. Like I said what was the big deal? I do not find his death comical in anyway but the way they were trying to say he was still alive reminded me of Elvis. There have been no Tu Pac sightings have there? With all respect I ask that. If they could keep that thing going they could probably make more than Two Cents.
To tell you the truth I didn’t know much about tupac when I was younger. I didn’t listen to much rap till the end of middle school and the beginning of high school. It wasn’t really part of my preferred types of music. Regardless though I do agree with you about how music is misinterpreted and that it just looks bad on the artist. I have only recently started to listen to tupac’s music and I must say I find his music not like the typical kind of rap that I hear. The thing that got me the most with your blog was how he portrays women. For some reason in most rap music, women are thought of as property or just their sex thing. I don’t quite understand why, but it just happens that way. He was different according to what you have said. I haven’t read too much into his music to misinterpret his music, I still prefer other types of music, but I still respect him as an artist. Now when it comes to the conspiracy thing about if he faked his own death…. I don’t know about that one. If that is true, that may change my view, only because it would seem like he wasn’t able to handle it. I prefer to think of him as a strong man, who went down doing something he was fighting for.
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