Fame

“What is fame? The advantage of being known by people of whom you yourself know nothing, and for whom you care as little.” –Lord Byron. In Tupac Shakur’s The Rose that Grew from Concrete, a collection of poems from his early life, he writes about anything from his many loves that he had as a kid to heavy poems about race and Malcolm X. The book exemplifies the talent of Shakur from a young age before he burst on the scene as a rapper and gives the reader a view into the softer side of Tupac. In Shakur’s poem “What of Fame?” he idealizes what fame will be like; his opinion differs from that of Rob Clark’s poem “Still People” where Clark focuses on what he believes the realities and possible downsides of fame are.

In the modern society fame and fortune get blown out of proportion. With all of the publicity and glamour that celebrities of this generation receive, society forgets that while they are famous, have money, and in most cases are better looking, celebrities are people too. They put their pants on one leg at a time like the rest of the population. Being people, celebrities still deal with every day problems. Especially if they are part of a family, family problems don’t go away no matter who the person is. Clark’s poem says this in line three where he writes, “Still dealin’ with everyday plights” this is directed towards people of fame earlier in the poem. These people in the spotlight can’t escape the one common denominator of humans, death. They can still get sick, hurt, be disliked, deal with an ass of a boss, have family issues, the list goes on forever because they are still people. Clark shows this by when he contends, “Still gotta play the game”, referring to life in general. “Still People” is Clark’s way o...

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... fame and fortune could be like. The last two lines of Clark’s poem emphasize his point when he says, “Fame doesn’t give happiness/ And money doesn’t give love (Clark 8-9).” Meaning that, while it can’t hurt to be rich and famous, celebrities have to be people and nothing is guaranteed.

Shakur was obviously extremely talented from a young age. He has a book of poetry that is from his pre-adulthood years, which is impressive in and of itself. He overlooks significant detail in his poem, “What of Fame?” He overlooks the human aspect of being a celebrity and simplifies it to just being a face that people cheer at when being famous is much more than that. Love, compassion, and friendship, while all present in The Rose that grew From Concrete are missed in the poem and Clark countered with his poem “Lonely”, a direct response to the shortcomings of Shakur’s poem.