I’m going to try and not make this post super long, but I had a manic episode a few days ago and that usually triggers some OCD issues along with it.
Well I have been immersing myself in (my term) “Intelligent Rap” that was mainly out when I was listening in high school. There is no problem listening to music normally for me but I’ve mainly become obsessive about #TupacShakur who has been my favorite rapper since he came on the scene in the mid ‘90s.
While I have always been suspicious about the many theories surrounding his death, I don’t want to go there tonight. I’m driving my husband crazy so I’m doing this post to get my obsessive thoughts out of my head in a semi-functional order.
So what I want to talk about now are the “intelligent rappers” from that time in the 90s and early 2000’s such as WU-TANG Clan, Common, Mos Def, Ice Cube, N.W.A., Public Enemy, Eazy-E, A Tribe Called Quest, De La Soul, Nas, Outkast, Scarface, Biggie, and of course my favorite Tupac. He just had something that nobody else before or after him has had in music, interviews, acting, poetry/spoken word, and a leader of his community with the many social issues that were near and dear to his heart.
So the Tupac/Makaveli music I have been listening to is mostly stuff he recorded before he died but was not released until after his supposed “death” (again, I’m not going there today) and even waaaay after his “death.” He completed a double disk called “All Eyez On Me” for his new management company (Death Row and the infamous Suge Knight) in only two weeks. Per his contract he had to complete 3 albums for them. His 3rd completed album was called “The Don Killuminati: The 7 Day Theory” and was released posthumously. Because of his work ethic, he had recorded a massive library of unreleased tracks that were also released after his “death.” by his mother after she gained control of his estate and music rights from Death Row. There are still relatively new tracks I’ve run across during my, let’s call it research and not obsessiveness, that I’ve never heard before until this week!
This music is highly emotional, social issue heavy, and he had managed to predict many of the issues he had with how blacks and minorities were being treated, his record with law enforcement, going to jail because of a lying groupie, being shot and living, and ultimately predicting his own “death.”
To quote Tupac he said that “he didn’t have a record UNTIL he RELEASED a record.” He felt he was being profiled due to his social leadership and that he was targeted because he was so popular and very vocal about his moral and ethical views.
His first bad cop run in was that Tupac was when he admittedly said he was jaywalking and the cops called out to him. They started hassling him when they approached him. He said he asked the cop to give him his citation and let him go about his day but the cops started beating him instead for no reason. The cops ended up arresting him for resisting arrest. There are very few documented photos showing what the police did to him but there are mass quantities of pictures and footage of him being walked into the police station and courts handcuffed. For being a concerned citizen seeing a man more or less attacking a woman on the public street. Unbelievable.
The many social issues he was speaking, writing, rapping and doing interviews about were about the mistreatment of black and minority women by the black and minority men, children having babies, police brutality, the poverty levels in black and minority communities, asking for equal rights, and the homelessness.
With the way things are right now, I believe Tupac would be heavily involved with these social issues in a leadership roll. He spoke and wrote music about the Federal and State Government along with a track called “Mr. President.” It was recorded for a year from 1995 to 1996 with his side project, THE OUTLAWS, but was not released until 1999, which was just over three years lsince his “death.” At the time it was released the video used previously recorded Tupac footage and footage from the Bush Sr. Presidency and war.
One of his famous quotes was from his songs called “Changes.” Here’s the lyrics:
“And still I see no changes can't a brother get a little peace?
It's war on the streets and the war in the Middle East
Instead of war on poverty they got a war on drugs
So the police can bother me”
He rapped and spoke about black on black crimes, police brutality, and that the war going on in the poverty stricken areas was focused on drugs and guns that the Government infiltrated into these areas as a sort of mind control and submission cocktail instead of focusing on how to fix poverty, appropriate schooling, full jails, and lack of jobs in these areas as well as homelessness.
His mother and the man Tupac accepted to be the father figure in his broken family, along with his mother, and his aunt were all members of The Black Panther 21. The Black Panther 21 is a group of twenty-one Black Panther members who were arrested and accused of planned coordinated bombing and long-range rifle attacks on two police stations and an education office in New York City.
On April 2, 1969 twenty-one Black Panther members were indicted. The number dropped from twenty-one to thirteen, who were arraigned before Judge Charles Marks with bail set at $100,000. The defendants could not make bail immediately and so many spent the months detained in Rikers Island.
Tupac’s mother was pregnant with him during her incarceration. Eventually the case fell apart and all were acquitted from the charges. So he grew up being around anti-government and social issue protesting at a young age. This is where he picked up his political and social issue mindset and made them his to talk about since no one else was being vocal about it at the time.
He spoke at the Nation of Islam about being more proactive and vocal about the issues that plages the minority areas that were basically being swept under the rug so the US could fund the long term Middle East War.
(Incidentally, I recently watched a show on Netflix about the war with Afghanistan. I had no idea that the US had been at war with Afghanistan for as long as I’ve been on this planet. ALMOST 43 YEARS! That is ridiculous and uncalled for. Ok back on topic...)
So my thoughts obviously were swirling for the past few days. If no one told you that these songs that were deeply rooted in the government and social issues of the 80s and 90s by a so-called “gagsta rapper” who is not with us currently, I think most people would assume the songs, poetry, and speeches were from our current time!
His words from an interview:
“If I know that in this hotel room they have food every day, and I’m knocking on the door every day to eat and they open the door, let me see the party, let me see them throwing salami all over; I mean, just throwing food around [and] they're telling me there’s no food. Every day, I'm standing outside trying to sing my way in: "We are hungry, please let us in. We are hungry, please let us in." After about a week that song is gonna change to, "We hungry, we need some food.” After two, three weeks, it’s like, "Give me the food or I’m breaking down the door." After a year you’re just like, "I’m picking the lock, coming through the door blasting!" It’s like, you hungry, you reached your level. We asked ten years ago. We was asking with the [Black] Panthers. We was asking with the Civil Rights Movement. We was asking. Those people that asked are dead and in jail. So now what do you think we’re gonna do? Ask?"
People often compare Tupac and Biggie just because they were friends at the beginning of their careers but turned into rival musicians during the last part of their time here with us. A music magazine (I can’t find or remember which one and I don’t want to pass along bad information) was who actually started the rivalry between the East Coast/West Coast rappers and didn’t verify that this was a legitimate issue. In reality Tupac and Biggie had just had a disagreement between them stopped being friends, but there was no rapper war until the magazine printed it. Then the East Coast teamed up and so the West Coast. Gang members also picked sides creating all the extra security problems and danger for these rappers. If the magazine hadn’t reported a false rivalry then the gang involvement and drive-by shootings of both Tupac and Biggie may have never happened.
Tupac worked with DEATH ROW RECORDS and it was common knowledge that members of the Bloods gang were used for security at the studio, shows, and public outings. Biggie worked with Bad Boy Records and was backed up by the Crips gang. I don’t think anyone ever verified anyone from the Crips being employed by Bad Boy Records, though.
So aside from being the two most popular rappers at their prime at the exact same time, and having this bogus rivalry they were nothing alike. While Tupac did his fair share of pop rap and funny rap (with Digital Underground) most of his music was very emotional and deep about all the problems these people have suffered with for DECADES. (Rosa Parks sat on the bus in 1955. Tupac died in September of 1996. So that’s around 41 years of this social and economic problems when Tupac was shot in Las Vegas.)
Biggie, who was slain in LA only 6 months after Tupac, was extremely talented in his own right. He never wrote his lyrics down and his flow was something that was unique to him. You knew it was Biggie as soon as he opened his mouth. But those are the only things that I can really think of to compare the two at. Their content was on opposite ends of the spectrum. So the debate on which one was the G.O.A.T (greatest of all time) rapper between Tupac and Biggie is basically moot.
As said by Shock G from Digital Underground:
“They just mean what he [Tupac] had to say was the most potent, most relevant and that he was the better human being."
So if you are still with me after this 2 hour post, what are your thoughts about if Tupac was still here with us:
•Would he still be involved with music or would he be using his political side and helping this country (really our planet) focus on the problems we are currently going through with the #BLM movement and protests?
•Would he be a leader in getting this country cleaned up and back on track so we don’t have to read about shady law enforcement officers killing black people all the time and pray the cop didn’t kill the person because of some idiotic thing?
•Would the poverty levels be lower?
•Would the homelessness be lower?
•Would the inner city kids have the same materials and equipment that the suburban schools have?
•Would black on black crime be so prevalent still?
•Would the jails and prisons still be packed and mostly black and minorities?
•Would kids still be going to school with no lunch or no lunch money because they simply don’t have it?
•What would he say about how President Trump handled the Presidency especially since Tupac had issues with Bush Sr.* (whom I would gladly take back - or his son even - if he was still alive or Jr. was permitted to do a MONTH long term or so) to get Trump out of Biden’s way so he could transition already?!?)
*I did not vote for Bush Sr. nor Bush Jr. since I stated I’m a Democrat.
**Don’t be mean if you want to respond to that last question up there. ^^^^I’m a sensitive, democrat with emotional health concerns and I can’t handle heavy debate but a chat would be great!
I am just trying to find all the #TupacMakaveli enthusiasts out there so that I can quit driving my husband up the wall with all my research, music, videos, poetry, interviews and documentaries on his life so I can get my thoughts to settle down.
I already feel like some weight has been removed from my shoulders. So that’s a step in the right direction. I just hope at least one person comments or would like to discuss this topic with me. Otherwise I just wasted 2.5 hours writing it.
I will save you from my thoughts on the sketchiness that surrounds his “murder” and save that for another day and time!
These are all rhetorical questions that you have no reason to respond to if you don’t want to but I could get into a discussion with any #TupacShakur / #Makaveli lovers out there. I tied to just focus on Tupac and to only bring Biggie in for comparison reasons and general info if anyone was unfamiliar with these two prolific rappers that were taken from us at age 25 (Tupac) and age 24 (Biggie). We truly lost two extremely talented men to the dangers of gang violence and gang retaliation, being vocal about the issues with the Government and the social economic problems. It’s hard to say but I believe if Tupac was still here in the USA he would be working hard to clean this place up.
Here’s two last quotes from Tupac and one of his posthumous song releases that I’ve been compulsively listening to for quite some time. 🤷🏻♀️
“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~
“It’s not about black or white, cuz we’re human” ~Tupac Amaru Shakur~
“I felt the pain and the rain, but I'm still here
I traveled places, caught cases, what a ill year
I never did cry, and even though I had pain..so much pain
I'm tryin' to tell you when it's on
You gotta keep your head to the sky
And be strong, most of all, hold on!”
~Tupac Amaru Shakur~
#TupacAmaruShakur #Tupac #MakaveliTheDon #Makaveli #WhatIfTupacWasStillAlive #CouldTupac #FixOurBrokenCountry #BLM #Poverty #PoliceBrutality #BabiesHavingBabies #Homelessness #HungerIssues #SocialEconomicIssues #BringOurTroopsHome #EndTheWarsInTheMiddleEast
THE LINK BELOW IS FOR HIS POSTHUMOUS SONG “THE ROSE.” THIS SONG AND POETRY IS SO EMOTIONAL AND SAD TO THINK WE ARE STILL DEALING WITH THE SAME PROBLEMS HE KEPT TELLING US WERE GOING ON 26 AGO! THAT’S A YEAR LONGER THAN HE EAS ALIVE!!
**edited 10/11/2020
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