Tupac Shakur
June 16, 1971- September 13, 1996
Today the greatest rapper of all time IMO, would have been 44. Now, let me just put this out there- growing up in the 90's, I was a shy, timid, soft-spoken, bookworm and as square as a slice of white bread. But behind closed doors, I loved me some Tupac. Not because he was sexy and charismatic, but because as a music lover, I actually listened to his words. He was also very intelligent and outspoken, and it's those qualities that sometimes got him into trouble. Unlike the so-called rappers of my 16 year old son's generation, who's raps and rhymes lack any originality and they aren't talking about a thing worth listening to, Pac actually made you listen, whether you liked him or not.
A lot of critics will say he came across as angry and confrontational, but I say he was passionate about his craft, his neighborhood, and issues involving his people- such as police brutality, which we are still dealing with, now more than ever. No, not all of his songs were about sleeping around with multiple women (I Get Around). I was listening to I Wonder If Heaven Got A Ghetto a few weeks ago, and it was almost scary how just about every lyric in that song is what's happening today. Black men and women are being shot down in the streets by police for any little reason, while the police are hailed as heroes for getting rid of the trash, which is how most of them see people of color...black folks are still seen as threats, up to no good in general, and it seems as if our lives don't matter..the same way the store clerk in a liquor store back in the 90's assumed 15 year old black teen, #LatashaHarlins' (who Tupac dedicated and referenced in several of his songs including Keep Your Head Up)life didn't matter when she assumed the girl was stealing (even though she had money in her hand) so the store clerk shot her in the back and head as she turned to leave, killing her. Ring a bell? Just last summer, 18 year old Michael Brown was just killed after allegedly stealing cigars from a store. A confrontation with a police officer led to him being shot several times and left bleeding in the middle of the street. When it comes to black folks, it seems the general rule is: shoot first, and ask questions later.
It's off subject, but again, as I listened to Tupac's song, it was hard not to miss the comparisons, even though his songs were made back in the 90's. Our lives didn't matter to them then, and we don't matter to them now, it seems. When a argument at a pool party ends with a male police officer throwing a 14 year old girl to the ground by her hair and pressing his knees in her back, because she was talking back to him, yet a couple of biker gangs get into a huge brawl, people were killed, and the bikers involved were allowed to sit calmly on the sidewalk while police investigated, there is a huge problem with race and police in this country...and these are things that Tupac made songs about, and would still be making songs about if he were still here; it wasn't all how much money he had, how many cars he had, or how many hoes he banged in every song.
I still remember exactly what I was doing in 1996 when I heard he'd been killed. I had recently graduated high school that May,had just started college, and was lying across the bed in my feelings over a fight I'd had with my boyfriend at the time, so I was listening to the radio and it was announced. Shocked was my initial feeling, but he actually lived that thug/street life that he rapped about. He didn't just pretend to be hard like some of these rap artists (Drake *cough cough*...he's about as hard as my non-existent abs) and he obviously knew that sooner or later, it would catch up to him, and it finally did. Regardless of how he lived though, the world lost a great artist when he left it. And I know there are some people and many conspiracy theories that claim he's still alive and in hiding, but I don't believe all that. I keep Pac alive by listening to his music in my car on my mp3 and the many mix cd's I have made with his music on them. I'm knocking on 40's door, and I'm still a square (and proud of it) but turn some Tupac on, and I'm immediately his gangsta bitch...the Bonnie to his Clyde, riding hard for my man and down for whatever...at least until the song goes off. LOL! #RIPTupac.
Before I go, here my five favorite Tupac songs:
Hail Mary
So Many Tears
California Love
Dear Mama
Keep Your Head Up
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