The Shooting of Tupac Shakur
Bang! The sound of a bullet being fired from a gun. To some, a sound of protection and safety, to others sheer agony and pain, and to some unlucky few the last sound they will ever hear. One of these unlucky few happened to be Tupac Shakur on the fateful night of September 7, 1996 at approximately 1:30 a.m. Unfortunately for Tupac he had to listen to a flurry of 15 bullets, some of which buried themselves deep into his chest, while the others ended up in the side of his car. Thus, the saga had come to a tragic close, as was presumed by the media, but in actuality it was just beginning to reach its often-publicized climactic end. Initiating the story of the east coast, west coast battle, which came about through the on-going confrontations between Bad Boy Records from the east and the infamous Death Row Records, who resided in the west (Ro, 288).
Tensions had been building between these two record labels since the beginning of the decade and continued to surmount with each new award show and song recorded by any of the rappers under either label. The conflict all began with a few run-ins at parties in which some of the more notable rappers of Death Row such as Tupac, Snoop Dogg, Korupt, and Daz would confront some East coast rappers, mainly the notorious B.I.G., commonly known as Biggie. Biggie never really understood why they had conflicted with him other than that he represented the East and they swore their life to defend the West. Their relationship was mainly played out through the airways in which songs displayed the rappers emotions; these songs came to represent the violent attitude of gangster rap. A few quotes from songs performed by Tupac became famous and thus were thoroug...
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...ver more evident, but like the employee said "why was everybody trying to do something about it after two rap icons were already dead?" (Ro 366) This controversy is still unsettled and is consistently brought up year after year whenever there is an anniversary album for either rapper. Thankfully, for the rap world the whole East coast versus West coast scene has virtually disappeared, as rappers have gotten older and matured a little. But, do not be surprised to find another controversy sneaking around the corner in the ever-changing rap world where if you do not protect what you have then you might end up dead.
Bibliography:
Works Cited
Ro, Ronin. Have Gun Will Travel. New York: Doubleday, March 1998.
Sexton, Adam. Rap on Rap. New York: Dell Publishing, April 1995.
Shakur, Tupac. Tupac Shakur. New York: Simon and Schuster, February 1995.
In Jenée Desmond-Harris’s narrative Tupac and My Non-thug Life, the author’s use of a photograph aids the reader in conveying what Desmond-Harris and her friend Thea were like. The photograph captures the natural essence and innocence of the young high-school girls as they enter an age of self-discovery. The purpose of the photo is to bring the descriptive details of the narrative to life and provide a vivid image of the girls during their adolescent years. The photograph reflects a youthful and rather naive time the girls find themselves surrounded in.
"After some time Tupac released his own album "2Pacalypse Now", which was a success. His career skyrocketed; he became tight with main pawns in the rapping industry. Tupac signed to Deathrow Labels and released songs and albums with them."
Tupac Shakur was one of the most influential music artist of the 20th Century. “Murda, Murda, Murda, and Kill, Kill, Kill…” these are they lyrics to one of the songs written by Tupac Shakur. Amidst all the controversy surrounding his personal life, this artist has managed to overcome all obstacles and spread his hope/hate message to a surprisingly receptive audience. Tupac’s music is borrowed from the styles of early rap and hip-hop yet its appeal rested in Tupac himself. His persona of “Thug Poet” opened up a portal into the new genre of “Gangsta Rap.” This new style of music revolutionized the music industry and allowed several new artists to break through in Tupac’s creation, Gangsta Rap, such as; G-unit, Eminem, and many others.
Did you know when Tupac was alive he would always wear a bulletproof vest? But on the day he died he supposedly for some strange reason didn’t wear his bulletproof vest. Also there were rumors that Elvis faked his own death in order to escape his celebrity status and be free to live the rest of his life out of the gaze of the public eye. Couple of these theories were basically saying that Elvis and Tupac faked their deaths and are considered to be alive still.
Artists have an interesting perspective about hip hop’s relationship to racism, and racial exploitation. Black and white artists have totally different opinions towards hip hop and its relation to racism. Lots of black artists have come from the poorest situations and made a life for themselves by rapping or singing about hip hop. They rap with passion, courage and energy. Lots of white rappers, who usually come from nice backgrounds, have enough funds to start
Tupac’s first big break came when he joined the group Digital Underground as a dancer and roadie. During that time, Tupac spent a lot of the time composing his own poetry and lyrics to launch his own career. In 1991 he signed with Interscope records and a year later he released his first album 2Pacalypse Now, which immediately landed him
George covers much familiar ground: how B-beats became hip hop; how technology changed popular music, which helped to create new technologies; how professional basketball was influenced by hip hop styles; how gangsta rap emerged out of the crack epidemic of the 1980s; how many elements of hip hop culture managed to celebrate, and/or condemn black-on-black violence; how that black-on-black violence was somewhat encouraged by white people scheming on black males to show their foolishness, which often created a huge mess; and finally, how hip hop used and continues to use its art to express black frustration and ambition to blacks while, at the same time, refering that frustration and ambition to millions of whites.
It is a day in the summer of 1974 on the block of 1520 Sedgwick Avenue, Bronx, NY. The grass is blazing, the air is fresh, and the kids are shrieking with joy. This is where it happened. DJ Kool Herc popped in his new record playing smooth rhythms of jazz and blues with the integration of Jamaican sound creating a new genre that would soon sweep the nation. He called it Hip-Hop. Some would call it “black noise”, but to urban African Americans it was music they could own; music they could learn to appreciate and adore. As they faced afflictions like racism, oppression, drugs, and much more, they used this new found hip- hop to express their thoughts and feelings. Today, we try to understand where this passion and substance in rap has escaped; if it was left to wither in the blazing grass, or blow away in the fresh air. Today, we try to understand what is hip hop, and why it’s becoming the “black noise” we once denied it to be. Ever since rap officially emerged in the 1970s, critics had a negative reaction; even when rap had meaning and substance and consisted of people telling their stories. Now that rap has become more contemptuous, critics have began to question what rap is really about. It is clear themes have changed: But at what point? And how? Furthermore, how has this impacted blacks and their image, who dominate the rap industry. Conclusively, while themes in mid 20th century rap have been known to revolve around aspects like politics and unity, currently rap has underwent a dramatic change now producing themes that promote violence, among many other things, and has ultimately painted a negative image of African Americans.
In 2014, the death of Eric Garner in New York City raised controversial conversations and highlighted the issues of race, crime, and policing in neighborhoods that tend to be poor and racially isolated. Garner, an unarmed black man, was killed after being tackled and held in a “chokehold.” According to the AP Polls in December 2014, “Police killings of unarmed blacks were the most important news stories of 2014.” The problem is that young black men are targeted by police officers in which they have responded with the misuse of force and policy brutality. It is evident that this issue affects many people nationwide. The civilians do not trust the police department and the justice system because they hold the perceptions that police officers are immune from prosecution despite their actions. In particular, black individuals, specifically black males, do not feel safe in the presence of police officers because they are not held accountable for their mistakes.
In 1995, Notorious B.I.G released the song “Who Shot Ya.” Tupac interpreted this as a mocking of the previous shooting. Tupac later retaliated with the song “Hit Em Up” where he claimed to have sex with B.IG’s wife. In “Hit Em Up,” Tupac directly calls out Notorious B.I.G for his song, “Who Shot Ya” and told him how his men couldn’t finish the job. He also goes on to say that he’s on a different level from B.I.G and that he shouldn’t be making threats because he rides with killers. (Daniel
These articles depict the controversies of the hip hop industry and how that makes it difficult for one to succeed. Many of these complications and disputes may be invisible to the population, but these articles take the time to reveal them.
Hook--Tupac Shakur and The Notorious B.I.G. (Christopher Wallace) were different in many ways, but there were also some major similarities between them. While they were both extremely influential rappers in their day, there was a lot of fighting between them considering the fact that Tupac was a West Coast rapper, and Biggie --The Notorious B.I.G.-- was an East Coast rapper. Tupac tended to be a lot more poetic and respectful to women he had better lyrics than Biggie, but Tupac had little flow.
Stated by John Ramsey, “As I was walking through the basement, I opened the door to a room, and knew immediately that I’d found her because there was a white blanket- her eyes were closed, I feared the worse but yet- I’d found her” (Bardesley, and Bellamy). On December 26, 1996, one of the most famous, unsolved murders took place in Boulder, Colorado (Christopher). The murder caused many events including accusations, interrogations, false claims, and examining of evidence. The case also caused the Ramsey family to go through a hard time. The murder of JonBenet Ramsey was very shocking and caused a huge investigation that is yet unsolved.
Rap’s Controversy The most popular new music to emerge from the ‘80’s was rap music. It first developed in the mid ‘70’s in New York City, and soon in other urban areas, primarily amongst African-American teenagers. It became very popular with the urban public and soon began to spread throughout the United States and much of the world. It replaced rock music as the creative force in music of the ‘80’s and ‘90’s. However, as popular as it was then and it is now, the lyrics of many rap songs have caused controversy.
Convicted for armed robbery in 1960, James Earl Ray escaped from Missouri State Penitentiary on April 22, 1967. Ray’s hatred for the black population and support for Nazism fueled his drive to assassinate pacifistic leader, Martin Luther King, Jr. During the civil rights era, Martin Luther King, Jr.’s strong political and religious presence caused him to be a potential target as many denounced his promotion of equality amongst blacks and whites in America. Moreover, with the use of a Remington rifle, Ray shot King from a bathroom window of a hotel located across the street from the Lorraine Motel in Memphis, Tennessee, where he had a perfect view of King standing on the motel room balcony. On the eve of April 4, 1968, King was pronounced dead. Afterwards, Ray fled to Canada where he changed his identify and created a fake passport which would later be used to flee to Brussels, Belgium from a Scottish airport. However, Ray was caught at Heathrow Airport on June 8, 1968 and was deported back to America. James Earl Ray was convicted in March 1969 for the assassination of Martin Luther King, Jr. In court, Ray voluntarily pleaded guilty before Judge W. Preston Battle which reduced his sentence to 99 years in prison instead of the death penalty . As will become evident, the assassination of Martin Luther King, Jr. resulted in the immediate outburst of riots, Robert Kennedy eulogizing King, the high attendance of King’s funeral service, and the implementation of the Fair Housing Act; the prosecution of James Earl Ray; and in the longer term, the creation of Martin Luther King National Holiday as well as the desire to reopen the case of James Earl Ray in 1997.