Tupacs song “Changes”, released in 1998, is a song that addresses problems that black people face. In the song, Tupac addresses racism, police brutality, and the unequal treatment of black people versus white people. Tupac expresses a message of strength and resistance in the face of systematic racism through vivid imagery, repetition, and allusions to black history. The song is still relevant today, inspiring and empowering people struggling for a more equal society.
First of all, Tupac uses vivid and powerful imagery to paint a picture of the struggles black people face. Tupac begins the song by expressing the difficulty of being a black person, including feelings of hopelessness and poverty. He highlits the wage disparity between black and white people, this can be suported and proven by a statistic from 1987 to 2017 revealing the median household income for asians, whites, all races, hispanics, and black people. The data shows that in 2017, the white income was 68,145$, while the black income was only 40,258$. Over the thirty year period, black people’s income increased from 30$ to 40$, however,
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In the song, Tupac repeats the theme “It’s time for us as people to start makin’ some changes”, emphasizing the importance of acting and change. Its repetition creates a sense of urgency and emphasizes the significance of the song’s message. He also uses the statement “I’m weary of being poor, and much worse, I’m black” to underline the intersectionality of oppression that black people endure. The song also addresses police violence and white cops killing black people. Tupac sings that officers don’t care about black people and will kill them without getting punishment. The song ties up with the Black Lives Matter movement, which began in 2013, and demonstrates that police violence and equality against black people. The recent murder of Gorge Floyd in 202 serves a reminder that this issue is still present
Although Shakur may have been a victim of his environment, he was also a victim of the times. The racism left over from the civil rights movement and the society’s oppression drove him to become a more and more violent resistor as well a gang banger. Often times in Shakur’s neighborhood police would leave crimes unsolved, culprits free or the wrong man
The challenges he worked through were all poured out in his song “In the Ghetto”. Throughout the song, the lyrics “in the ghetto” were repeated multiple times to represent the vicious cycle of abuse, starvation, violence, and homelessness that families were in. This song was about a ghetto in Chicago where a
The song outlines the struggles of being a lower- class African- American in citizen today’s society. It is pointed out in one line that society has certain, needless expectations for its people. A line written by Dr. Dre (Andre Romelle Young) is, “It's crazy to see people be/ What society wants them to be, but not me/ Ruthless is the way to go, they know/ Others say rhymes that fail to be original…” (Dr. Dre.
Lorissa Figueroa Professor Patton ENG 1A 7 February 2018 More than what Rap Portrays When we listen to rap music we don’t really pay attention to how lyrics can affect people as often as we should. Since rap music has started it always influenced violence and sexism, but not everyone notices how it influences the black community. Joan Morgan explains this in a passage of her book When Chickenheads Come to Roost: A Hip-Hop Feminist Breaks It Down (1999).
In his song Keep ya Head up he raps”I know they like to beat ya down a lot When you come around the block brothas clown a lot But please don’t cry, dry your eyes, never let up Forgive but don’t forget, the girl keeps your head up And when he tells you you ain’t nothin’, don’t believe him And if he can’t learn to love you, you should leave him Cause sista you don’t need him.” As u can tell Tupac is telling Women to stand up for themselves. Tupac Would also rap about how he grew up in a very hard society and he would rap about the hardships he went through.
Some things he just couldn't help and some he the choice to change his outcome. It all started with his early life in the article “Tupac Shakur Bio by Rolling Stone Magazine. 2001. Shakur was the son of Black Panther Party members Billy Garland and Afeni Shakur (Shakur is Arabic for "thankful to God"), who was in jail (and later acquitted) on bombing charges while pregnant with him. Sometime after his birth, he was named Tupac Amaru, for an Incan chief whose name translates as "shining serpent."
Many artists who grew up in the drug trade during the 1980s would become labeled as veterans because it was the sole option they had to strive economically. And through this time period, hip hop will alter to a medium in response to a life of drug dealing, police brutality, violence, and incarceration. The effects of this period will lead to the mass incarcerations of African Americans and the lives of people being ruined, which will be further explored. By the middle of the 1990s, the United States Incarceration rate surpassed the rest of the world, damaging a large portion of the African American community.
“Everybody’s at was with different things… I’m at war with my own heart sometimes.” Tupac Shakur was a Hip Hop rapper in East Harlem. Raised by a family of Black Panthers things weren’t easy for him and his family. Through thick and thin Tupac was able to make it to the top and inspired many people throughout his career.
If you’re confused and didn’t know what that was, it’s one of Tupac’s well-remembered quotes that is relevant to America’s conversation about race relations and racism. In The Hate U Give, “THUG LIFE” is a relevant theme in the book because it represents a history of racial relations in the U.S., is related to current racial issues that still affect ethnic minorities and the effects of racial injustice towards communities of color decades later. To explain as to why “THUG LIFE” is a relevant theme in The Hate U Give is because it is a representation of a history of racial relations in the United States.
It states that “ justice stubbed her big toe on mandela” meaning that Mandela [Nelson Mandela] was an object that was there but we all know that stubbing your toe doesn't stop you from continuing to walk and that's what justice did it continued its path of destruction moving on blindly. Tupac also states “slavery was the learning phase / forgotten with out a verdict/ while justice is still on a rampage/ 4 endangering surviving black males” Slavery was made illegal in the United States with no reparation taken. Tupac says there are no verdicts on slavery, meaning justice has not been served for the 400 years of imprisonment suffered by black people. Also in this quote it makes you picture justice as being some type of predator out hunting for the black males. Tupac also says that surviving black males are endangered.
In the poem "Family Tree" by Tupac Shukar, explains about how it doesn't matter where you come from because that doesn't determine your future. For example in Lines 1-4, tupac says that everyone is born equal despite where they come from, even though where they are born are not equal one another. Lines 5-8 shows that beauty is everyone despite their the differences we where all created for a reason. There are going to be people who bully you, who bring your gaurd down, and who want to see you suffer, but you've got to be strong. In lines 9-12, Tupac says that great are those who become someone out of nothing.
Everyone not just American readers, need to know that rap is a way for any person in any culture to show their outrage towards something and for people to express that outrage to the world. Because, Rap is a dream to a better life. You can see this by how Tupac Shakur’s picture hangs at the market stalls throughout Dakar. However, McBride uses many other descriptions of different areas near or in the city to illustrate his point.
Firstly, McBride claims that rappers use violent lyrics as a vehicle to bring about awareness and thus promote social change through use of violence. In a section of the essay, he talks about how rappers have made hip-hop go from something you would hear at a party to something you would hear in a local news report because rappers use violent lyrics in order to talk about the issue in their society and how these issues must be acted upon now so that it can
This is the main phrase that repeats throughout the song, and it seems to encapsulate how Tupac feels about the issue. When things and concepts aren’t questioned and improved upon, nothing changes, and things are left as they are, for better or for worse. In the case of racial inequality, it is definitely for worse. By repeating this line over and over again, it makes the listener start to question why that is, and how, in fact, it should be. Through this, Tupac gives people a reason to start being proactive in the community and to start moving forward with better changes to the status quo.
Tupac Shakur’s song has a mirror of Meeks’ up bring. Society becomes insensitive and disregarding when the main issues deal with gang affiliation. Instead of fixing the problem with the factors that deal with gang affiliation society turns their backs on these communities. Brenda did not have any role models in her life, so Brenda did not grow up to her full potential. Meeks grew up in North Carolina where gang affiliation was his only source of social mobility.