Tupac Shakur

Tupac Shakur

What is a thug? Many people consider a thug to be some big gangster- who sells drugs, has been in trouble with the law, is rebellious, etc. According to Tupac Shakur, the term “thug” means the underdog, not a criminal or someone who is going to hit you over the head in the street- as the media portrays the word (Shakur 122). Even though the images of some rappers seem to send the wrong messages, Tupac’s songs are where his real messages are. If people would listen to the words of his songs, instead of just hearing the bass and the music, then they could better understand the individual. Tupac was an artist with words. Dispite his repeated run-ins with the authorities and ultimate death, Tupac Shakur managed to use his music and talent for poetry to send positive messages to his loyal listeners.

Tupac Amaru Shakur was born on June 16, 1971 (1). His mother was Afeni Shakur, who was in the Black Panther Party (Vibe 2). Little would one expect, as a child, Tupac was a part of the 127th Street Ensemble, a fine arts school for gifted and talented. Shakur then moved to Baltimore and, as a teenager, went to the illustrious Baltimore School of Arts (Amaru Shakur 2). While with the Ensemble, he played Travis in the play “A Raisin in the Sun”. At the age of fifteen, Tupac started writing lyrics and eventually started rapping, using his New York background to seem tough (2). Behind the tough rapper, there was another side of Tupac Shakur. He also began to write poetry around his late teenage years. Later on in life, Shakur would have a book of his poems published, called “The Rose that Grew from Concrete”. Shakur was far more educated than most people know. Tupac’s mix of poetry and music is what made him one of the greatest artists and rappers of all time.

“All my songs deal with pain…small pieces of it and harsh pieces of it” (Shakur 70). According to Vibe Magazine, Tupac’s story began before he was even born, as Tupac was shaped by many of the problems of inner city youths growing up in post-civil-rights America- poverty, faithfulness, and constant relocation (Vibe 2). Shakur was a lyrical genius. He just had a way of getting messages across that his listeners could relate to- those who were dealing with the everyday struggle of the streets and how to survive it. “Keep Ya Head Up” is a classic track that tells everyone that, no matter what the situation may be, things will get better. You just have to keep your head up and keep living, as in the chorus of the same song:

Keep ya head up

Eeeew child things are gonna get easier

Eeeew child things are gonna get brighter

Gotta keep ya head up

(Shakur). He talks about how women today are constantly being disrespected, and what we, as men, need to do to show we appreciate them in the song:

I wonder why we take from our women

Why we rape our women

Do we hate our women?

I think it’s time to kill for our women

Time to heel our women

Be real to our women

(Shakur). He truly was a sensitive and caring person under the thuggish image he had created with the media and the public. Not only was he a great musical artist, Tupac was also a great poet.

Shakur sent messages through poetry, just as he did in his music. Poetry was a great passion of his- one that he excelled in, just as he did with music. In Shakur’s poem, Life through My Eyes, one can get an idea of what he has seen during his childhood:

Life through my bloodshot eyes

would scare a square 2 death

poverty, murder, violence

and never a moment 2 rest

(Shakur 1-4). He had a talent for storytelling. Michael Dyson, author of a biography on Tupac’s life