Black Music Month Celebrates: Tupac Shakur

”I’m not saying I’m gonna change the world, but I guarantee that I will spark the brain that will change the world” - Tupac Shakur.

Complex, Versatile, and utterly incomparable. There are not enough words to describe the icon known as Tupac Amaru Shakur. He is not only one of the greatest musicians to ever grace a microphone but also a true philosopher of the American conscience.

Tupac was born Lesane Parrish Crooks on June 16th, 1971 in Harlem, New York to Afeni Shakur and Billy Garland. Eventually his mother changed his name to Tupac Amaru Shakur to protect him from the government. Tupac had one younger sister named Sekyiwa and he came from a family of Black Panther party activists. His parents parted ways after he was born and Tupac’s birth father did not play an active role in his life.

Eventually Tupac’s mother ended up marrying a fellow Black revolutionary by the name of Mutulu Shakur. Mutulu had a son named Mopreme who would become Tupac’s step brother and one of his closest friends. As a child Tupac attended Black Panther rallies and meetings with his family. Coming from a family of Black revolutionaries he learned a lot about what it meant to struggle as a Black American. After Mutulu Shakur was sent to prison for a high scale robbery Afeni took the kids and moved to Baltimore, Maryland. As a teenage in Baltimore, Tupac attended art school with future Hollywood superstar Jada Pinkett and they became best friends. Their close friendship would remain until the end of his life. During this time Tupac had a developing love for Hip Hop and writing poetry, so he began writing raps and poetry as a way to express his self as an aspiring artist.

While still in high school Tupac’s family relocated Marin City in the Bay Area of California. It was here that Tupac would learn what street life was all about as many street gangsters and former revolutionaries in the streets of the Bay Area mentored him in the inner city of Northern California. It was also here that he met teacher and poet Leila Steinberg, who mentored him after being impressed by his skills as a poet and a rapper. Steinberg eventually had Tupac introduced to the funk rap ensemble known as Digital Underground, who would take Tupac on the road with them as a roadie and eventually allow him to step in the studio and record his own music. It was here that the iconic rapper known as 2pac was born.

Inspired by the social, political and even gangster rap lyrics of artist like Public Enemy, Boogie Down Productions and NWA, added with his Black revolutionary upbringing, 2pac’s lyricism was primarily focused on talking about the struggles of the Black community and how racism played into our plights. He drew a lot of emphasis on these issues with his first two albums, 2pacalypse Now (1991) and Strictly 4 My N.I.G.G.A.Z (1993).

2pac touched on a number of socially relevant topics on his first two albums that really made him stand out. Songs like “Brenda’s Got a Baby” and “Trapped” on his first album covered issues like the struggles of teen parenting in the Black community and being a young Black male lost in the American justice system. In his music 2pac had a lyrical style that really gave listeners the feels. He was a talented rapper who focused more on what he was talking about and making you feel his words as opposed to just being lyrical ability focused on things like wordplay and punchlines. His emphasis on making listeners feel more made him stand out like no other.

On his second album Strictly 4 My N.I.G.G.A.Z. 2pac digs even deeper and gets more personal with his social commentary. Songs like “Papaz Song” and “The Streetz R Deathrow” talk about what’s it like to grow up in a fatherless Black household and how family is effected, as well as what the pain of losing your peers in the crime filled streets of the inner city does to the psyche of its inhabitants. Other songs on the album like “Soulja’s Revenge”and “Last Wordz” featuring fellow west coast Hip Hop legends Ice Cube and Ice-T continue to voice Pac’s aggressive disdain for rogue law enforcement in the aftermath of the Rodney King beating and the LA Riots, this makes the tone of the album far more intense and hard core than its predecessor. Amidst all the seriousness on the album one cannot forget the fun playful side as well as the positive and uplifting side of the album with songs like “I Get Around” featuring his mentors of Digital Underground and “Keep Ya Head Up” one of Hip Hop’s most notorious songs of positivity through hard times.

While 2pacs’s music career was soaring to new heights his acting career was also off to a great start. While working on his first two albums he starred in the urban thriller Juice (1992) directed by Ernest Dickerson and Poetic Justice (1993) written and directed by John Singleton. 2pac received critical acclaim for his performance in both films and this was not a surprise considering how acting was actually his first passion before music.

In between the breaks of his time working on music and film the world was given more insight on who 2pac really was when he did interviews for entertainment media. In these interviews he talked alot about who he was, where he came from and why he thought and acted the way he did. He had a charismatic personality that really just drew people to him because when he talked you could tell he was sincere. Pac would also be engaged in a lot of conflicts and legal issues around this time as well. After finishing his third album a number of occurrences happened in his life that sent him in a new direction of life and his career.

In 1994 2pac was accused of sexual assault by a woman he spent a night with. Later in November of 1994 he was shot multiple times at Quad studios in New York City. Close friend and rapper Christopher “The Notorious B.I.G.” Wallace was present at the shooting and tried to help 2pac, but Pac later held Wallace accountable for the shooting believing that he had prior knowledge of the event without warning him.

By 1995 2pac had been imprisoned for his sex abuse case and while locked up his third album Me Against The World was released.

This third album from Pac ended up being his deepest and most personal album yet. Songs from the album like “So Many Tears”, “Lord Knows” and “Death Around The Corner” take you deep into Pac’s mindset and emotion that accompanied his personal struggles dealing with internal anguish, crime, threats of a violent world and loss of life. He of course has the songs that talk about street gangster life like “Heavy in the Game”, “Outlaw” and “If I die Tonight”. The album carries a very sensitive side with the romantic love songs “Temptations” and “Can You Get Away”, but one can never forget the anthem of a mother’s love “Dear Mama”, which was of course dedicated to his mother Afeni Shakur. Me Against The World was not only a hit critically, but a smash hit commercially as well selling over three million copies and going triple platinum, all while 2pac was in prison.

By 1995 2pac had the biggest Hip Hop album in the country while he was locked up, so it was no question how great he would be if he was free from his imprisonment, so Marion “Suge” Knight the owner of the controversial Hip Hop powerhouse label Death Row Records decided to bail 2pac out of prison and sign him to Death Row Records. After being bailed out of prison and signing to Death Row 2pac immediately began recording his fourth studio album titled All Eyez On Me.

Like it’s predecessors on Death Row, All Eyez On Me would change Hip Hop forever. To this day it remains one of the most cohesive projects in Hip Hop history. This album was its own universe of energy. It was a west coast flavor of fun with songs like the west coast anthem “California Love”, but the album was also polarizing and violent with songs like the infamous “Hit Em Up” aimed at 2pac’s former friend The Notorious B.I.G. As well as all of 2pac’s other rivals from the east coast Hip Hop scene. The album was instantly one of the top most successful albums in Hip Hop history at the time selling over five million copies in just one month. All Eyez On Me made history as the first double album in Hip Hop history as well. The album also made Pac the biggest star in Hip Hop and one of the brightest stars in the world.

While on Death Row 2pac was recording music at an exponential level of pace unseen like anything before in music. He also had a stellar career as an actor taking place as well. Unfortunately Pac was mixed up in a lot of rivalries and controversies at the time as well and this all came to ahead on the night of September 7th, 1996 when he was shot multiple times after being embroiled in an intense brawl at the MGM hotel in Las Vegas, Nevada after watching boxing legend and friend Mike Tyson face off against Bruce Seldon. While hospitalized 2pac died seven days later and the world of music and entertainment grieved in a profound way like never before. After his death his fifth album The Don Killuminati: The 7 Day Theory was released. The album was once again another five time platinum success keeping the flow energy released on his third and fourth albums.

In the nearly three decades since Tupac passed away he has left behind a legacy like no other. He left behind a lot of posthumous music that has sold tremendously and has made him one of the highest selling music artist of all time. Countless artist who have come along since he passed away have been inspired by him like: Eminem, Jay-Z, 50 Cent and Lil Wayne.

Tupac’s influence can be found all over the world. Harvard university teaches classroom lessons on Tupac and his perspective on life. Tupac has in a sense become an urban legend due to ongoing theories and the never ending research about the history of his murder. Many believe that Tupac is still alive, due in part to the success of his posthumous career. One thing for sure is that his legacy lives larger than ever. Though he wasn’t perfect and made a lot of bad choices, the good in his heart shined through even his worst moments.

Tupac used his voice through his music to express the heart of a young Black male and with his captivating charisma he spoke to every other race as well, in doing so he built bridges between countless people from every walk of life. It doesn’t matter your race, religion political view, whatever your walk of life may be, Tupac Shakur spoke to someone in your background in a major way. As a Hip Hop head and rapper myself, Tupac has inspired me in a way that no other rapper has and he is not just my hero of music, but one of my heroes of life. For the timeless music he created and the greatness that he showed that Black men are capable of creating, Tupac Amaru Shakur will forever be one of the greatest voices in music history. Black Music Month celebrates Tupac Shakur.