Many Americans don't see the uglier side of the U.S. Most people don't see the events that take place behind the music. When comparing Tupac and 50 Cent, one can see the flaws of American society. Both Tupac and 50 Cent come from a history of violence and drugs. They both had to make something out of what they had which was very little. They realized that if you want to achieve then you have to dream, and do whatever it takes you to achieve that dream. They had the ambition very few others had. Curtis Jackson (50 Cent) came from nothing and had to start providing for himself when he was twelve years old. Tupac had to watch his mother get locked away and he put himself through a performing arts school when he was only seventeen. Tupac made everyone want to become a gangster rapper after his first album went platinum. Teens across America thought they could pick up a bandanna, claim their allegiance to a gang and start rapping about drugs, death, and murder. He created the gangster image for the 90’s era of teens. Curtis Jackson showed that you can come from nothing and make something of yourself. He started selling drugs when he was 12 just so he could buy himself new shoes. If that doesn't show you ambition I don't know what does. They knew that if you wanted to be something in this life, you’re going to have to work for it and do everything you can to make sure you achieve that dream. in reality, the both of them were only trying to achieve the American dream of becoming rich and successful in the land of opportunity. When comparing Tupac and Curtis Jackson, one can see the flaws of American Society.
Assaults, robberies, shootings, they all surrounded Tupac Shakur in the dangerous lifestyle he chose. Tupac was originally born...
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...dream after three hours and went back to selling crack.” Curtis realized quickly that in order to become a rapper it took time and money. But he did have crack, and thats easy money right there. When comparing Curtis Jackson and Tupac, one can see the flaws in American society.
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Comparing LeBron James and Michael Jordan is like comparing apples and oranges. It just isn’t a fair comparison. There are too many differences. There are too many variables. There are too many fallacies that are involved to make a fair assessment to determine who the greatest basketball player of all time is. Unfortunately the comparison is being made seemingly every day, and the article by Mr. Mathis is full of fallacious material. His extreme uses of exaggeration and card stacking, along with many harsh examples of hasty generalizations, makes a claim that Michael Jordan is and always will be the greatest player to play basketball. An opinion is simply and opinion and anyone is entitled to their opinion, but using fallacies to formulate his response to the issue makes it too finite and too biased in favor of Michael Jordan.
Throughout all of this Tupac had made rivals with many people. He was beginning to be hated by just about everyone. He had his talent by his side though and he began filming movies.
Tupac Amaru Shakur was born on June 16, 1971 in New York City to Afeni Shakur, a Black Panther member since 1968. She gave birth to him 2 months after she was released from Women’s House of Detentions in Grenwich Village. She was charged with conspiracy to bomb several New York public locations and just had her bail revoked. In court she represented herself and won against the state of New York in a surprising turn out. In Incan dialect, his name Tupac Amaru means “shining serpent” and Shakur is Arabic for “thankful to God.” For most of his childhood his crack addicted mother shuffled Tupac between the ghettos of Harlem and the Bronx. Young Tupac began his performance career with the 127th Street Ensemble and then enrolled Baltimore School for the Arts where he was educated in ballet and acting. Tupac was forced to drop out of the school because he had to move to California with his mother, where his criminal career began. He left his house at the age of 17 because of the continuous fights with his mother he then began selling/doing drugs, and was homeless for about 2 years. His life was spiraling down wards at a rapid rate. Till one day he got his big break. Tupac always dreamt about being famous someday, now his dream was becoming a reality. He struck a recording deal with Interscope records. He was on his way to super stardom, but as we all know with fame comes problems. He was involved in the shooting of two off duty police officers, although the chargers were later dropped. He was also convicted of rape, and sentenced to 5 years in Clinton Correctional Facilities.
Since their arrival in North America, Blacks have been abused and oppressed into a state less than human. In an article written by W.E.B. Du Bois he said, “The sincere and passionate belief that somewhere between men and cattle God created a tertium quid, and called it a negro” (Du Bois). In the late 19th and 20th centuries a strong push for economic and social progress for African-Americans was being made. The prominent leaders of this movement amongst the Black community were Booker T. Washington and W.E.B. Du Bois, however they had very differing views on how to achieve this goal (PBS.org). Washington and Du Bois essentially split the Black community into two parties, radical and conservative. Du Bois, the radical, preached for a strong political and civil rights agenda, and uplift for Blacks through education. Washington pushed for Blacks to accept their racial discrimination until they had proven themselves through hard work and self help (PBS.org). It is common to refer to knowledge as power; if you prove to someone that you are intellectually equal or superior there, can be no further debate. That is why Du Bois’ push for higher education and political action were the means to equal citizenship for Blacks in a White supremacist America.
Through all his family and education issues, he standup himself to become a well-known hip-hop artist according to his history background. From all his released a couple albums and then was offered to be some movies. He make some songs and music videos with them that made it big on the Billboard charts. For example, in this movies and albums called, “Power respect Juice” (1992), “Bullet”(1996), “Gang Related” (1997), “ all eyez on me”(1996),”Greatest Hits”(1998), and “Until the end of time”(2001), according to all these released, he won prizes from music and artist industry, people can recognized him. Tupac was became rich and famous and he is not showing off his own style. This showed that this is him and who he really is. People following his beliefs because he treated people equally and judged people equally. This is a big difference from him and other hip-hop artists. He has a lot of self-values that people are influenced about
In the same fashion that Elvis defined Rock ‘n’ Roll; Tupac Shakur defined the hip-hop music scene, as we know it today. What made Tupac (also known as 2Pac, or Makaveli) so special were his enormous talent, his on screen friendly looks, and the sense that he was “real” and talked the talk, while walking the walk. Tupac was born on June 16, 1971, Tupac Amaru Shakur. He was named after Tupac Amaru, the Inca Indian that was sentenced to death by the Spaniards. He was originally from Brooklyn, New York. Tupac spent a lot of time moving around as he was growing up. He was the son of a Black Panther activist Afeni Shakur and Billy Garland. Tupac moved from Harlem, to Baltimore, to Oakland. The constant moving caused Tupac to fit into his new communities by joining gangs, and his lengthy rap sheet was created even before his profalic entry into music and film. He was arrested eight times before even turning twenty (MTV.com).
Who really killed Tupac Shakur is one of the most intriguing questions of our generation. The conspiracy theories are endless as well as outlandishly speculative. Many factors contribute to answering this seemingly unanswerable question. Rivalries, money, and fame all play key factors in determining what happened to one of the most famous rappers of all time. Rivalry and tension among his many enemies were the driving causes of Shakur’s death. Even those whom he once called friends may have turned on him as a result of jealousy or revenge. Of all the theories regarding Tupac Shakur’s unsolved murder, the theory most likely to be true is that he was killed by the Crips.
...atching MTV music shows or any music channel on television. As we continue to watch these programs, we will then notice that almost all the rap and hip-hop artists being shown are African-Americans. It is the particular lifestyle, and behaviour that is connected to what particular artists chose to vocalize about. This usually can harm the image of African-Americans due to the fact that many artists aid in the misconceptions of their particular race such as the example provided with 50 Cent’s song entitled P.I.M.P. These lyrics and song titles simply reinforce the negative image some individuals may have of both Caucasian’s and people of colour. Rap and hip-hop is one of the most intimate, personal, legitimate and important art form. Instead of perpetuating injustice, and prejudice artists should be addressing these different issues in a different matter.
“While the rich kids is drivin ' Benz ,I 'm still tryin ' to hold on to my survivin ' friends.” In this quote Tupac had his audience take a second to image a rick kid driving in the hood with a Benz while a poor African Amirian boy is struggling to keep his friends. Tupac uses his lyrics to help paint a picture though his lyrics of the life of a black person which brings us to Imagery. The use of imagery in this song is amazing. Without even watching the music video and just listening to the song I could easily image everything that Tupac was trying to explain. This is what makes Tupac the best rapper still till this day! Another use of imagery is when he said “Dying inside, but outside you 're looking fearless, While tears, is rollin ' down your cheeks”. By this quote we as the audience should realize that there is more to this song that Tupac is trying to explain. In this quote I feel as though he was explaining that as African Americans more so black women tend to always wear this smile on our face no matter the situation when we know something in us is dying or is just not right. For some reason us black women have a habit of hiding our true feeling and situations. Last was the use of symbols which ties in with imagery. “They got money for wars, but can 't feed the poor”. What was Tupac really trying to say? This quote symbolize so much about America as a whole, and how as a nation we spend so much of our money on weapons for warfare but yet there are little kids who go days and weeks without no food. Is that fair? This quote symbolized pain and loss of hope because they (poor people) will never see a happy day. As they say we have to have the poor to have the
Malcolm X and Martin Luther King, Jr. African Americans are fortunate to have leaders who have fought for a difference in Black America. Martin Luther King, Jr. and Malcolm X are two powerful men in particular who brought hope to blacks in the United States. Both preached the same message about Blacks having power and strength in the midst of all the hatred that surrounded them. Even though they shared the same dream of equality for their people, the tactics they implied to make these dreams a reality were very different. The background, environment and philosophy of Martin Luther King, Jr. and Malcolm X were largely responsible for the distinctly varying responses to American racism.
W.E.B. Du Bois and Booker T. Washington were two very influential leaders in the black community during the late 19th century, early 20th century. However, they both had different views on improvement of social and economic standing for blacks. Booker T. Washington, an ex-slave, put into practice his educational ideas at Tuskegee, which opened in 1881. Washington stressed patience, manual training, and hard work. He believed that blacks should go to school, learn skills, and work their way up the ladder. Washington also urged blacks to accept racial discrimination for the time being, and once they worked their way up, they would gain the respect of whites and be fully accepted as citizens. W.E.B. Du Bois on the other hand, wanted a more aggressive strategy. He studied at Fisk University in Tennessee and the University of Berlin before he went on to study at Harvard. He then took a low paying research job at the University of Pennsylvania, using a new discipline of sociology which emphasized factual observation in the field to study the condition of blacks. The first study of the effect of urban life on blacks, it cited a wealth of statistics, all suggesting that crime in the ward stemmed not from inborn degeneracy but from the environment in which blacks lived. Change the environment, and people would change too; education was a good way to go about it. The different strategies offered by W.E.B. Du Bois and Booker T. Washington in dealing with the problems of poverty and discrimination faced by Black Americans were education, developing economic skills, and insisting on things continually such as the right to vote. ...
Tupac Amaru Shakur was an African-American rapper, poet, and record producer during the 1990’s. In his adolescent years, he attended the Baltimore School for the Arts where he took acting and dance classes, like ballet. He was taught radical politics by his mother, which helped him develop ideas about topics he would later use in his many works. At an early age, Tupac had seen the injustices of the real world. His mother was a former Black Panther activist who turned to substance abuse during Tupac’s childhood. Aside from that, he and his mother also moved many times while they lived together in New York City. While Tupac was in Baltimore, he discovered rap; not long after, he and his mother moved to the West Coast where he joined the rap group
It is so hard to become a rapper. But it is harder to become a Great Rapper. I believe Tupac is a great rapper. Not only a great rapper, but the greatest rapper. Like Snoop Dogg had said, “Tupac was many different things at once. Hardheaded and intellectual, courageous and afraid, revolutionary and….oh yeah, don’t get it f***ed up, gangsta.” To be a great rapper, you must have impact, commercial success, be good at song writing, a lot of performances and live shows and lastly, hella good rapping. The first song I heard from tupac was “ambitions az a ridah and all eyes on me” and it was real original so I went and listened to ‘Brenda got a baby’ which made me think “dammmmm he good, he good as hell”
“ Poverty, murder, violence and never a day 2 rest.” Those were the words of Tupac Shakur, a legendary rapper. Tupac Amaru Shakur (born June 16, 1971 – September 13, 1996), also known by his stage names 2Pac, Makaveli, or simply Pac, was an American artist renowned for his rapping and hip hop music, as well as his movie roles, poetry, and his social activism. He is recognized in the Guinness Book of World Records as the highest-selling rap artist, with over 75 million albums sold worldwide, including over 50 millions in the United States alone. Most of Shakur's songs are about growing up around violence and hardship in ghettos, racism, problems in society, and sometimes qualms with other rappers. Shakur's work is known for advocating political, economic, social, and racial equality as well as his raw descriptions of violence, drug and alcohol abuse, and conflicts with the law. Many fans, critics, and industry insiders rank him as the greatest rapper ever.
In the eyes of the general public, all of Hip-Hop is usually categorized in the same way. Labeled as the poison of the Black community because nowadays, most Hip-Hop lyrics all sound the same generic way always talking about money, women, cars, drugs, or some type of beef that all these rappers sooner or later continuously have with one another. But what this new generation doesn’t know about are the positive and creative flows that were spit not so long ago in the 80’s and 90’s. Rappers back in the day like Tupac and Ice Cube both had times when they had to show off their thug sides but they both had reasons or a call-to-arms for that, and indeed were in tune with that era’s problems as well as the society where they were raised. Moreover, even though some new school songs actually look promising, old school songs are still always great classics that anybody in this day and age will most certainly vibe to.