Tupac Shakur Case

Tupac Shakur, one of hip-hop's most legendary idols, has become a primary icon in the hip-hop community and will live on through his compelling lyrics and poetic talent. "Most of Tupac's raps expressed growing up around violence, adversities in ghettos, and racial inequality in modern society"(Billet). Tupac's lyrics have a reputation for going into the depths of the meanings of multiple political and social topics including violence, and that was the reasoning behind his song, "Changes". A number of people would go so far as to refer to this as a "anti-war" song. It demonstrates how people have submitted to the fact that poverty, racism, and police brutality will always exist in the world. This is echoed by the lyrics, "Some things will never change".

The song shot to number one on the charts in several countries around the world. The public's reaction was solely "appalled". The black community was shocked that someone, a celebrity nonetheless, spoke out the way Tupac did. On the other side ,however, same reaction but with a more negative feeling towards the song. This lead to Tupac attaining a larger and more receptive audience to his provocative lyrics. Tupac used a great method to get his message and was the right person in the right position to do so.

When he raps the song, it firmly grabs the listener's attention because of the contentious lines and the way that they are spoken through the ryhme scheme. Tupac used his songs and lyrics to try and make a difference, while other rappers just rap about materialistic things. He brought heavily needed attention and insight to important issues, such as modern racism.

The first of these issues, aiming at racism, is when he says, "I'm tired of bein' poor and even worse I'm black...Cops give a damn about a Negro? Pull the trigger, kill a ni**a, he's a hero". This shows how difficult life is to be an underprivileged black man in the United States, with a likeness on issues with police cruelty, which Tupac experienced first-hand. This incident would be with the Oakland California Police Department when two of their officers cited him for jaywalking. Profanity was thrown around, on Tupac's part, and that is when the young rap artist was choked, hit with their nightsticks, and ending by having his head slammed into the street.

As the song develops, Tupac expresses that people must get used to these new environments. During a break in the song, he takes a moment to stop and bring the true purpose of the song by saying, "We gotta make a change... It's time for us as a people to start makin' some changes. Let's change the way we eat, let's change the way we live and let's change the way we treat each other. You see the old way wasn't working so it's on us to do what we gotta do, to survive". Through these lyrics, Tupac gives moral reasoning for the deceitful acts that these unfortunate people must resort to in order to live and or stay alive.

"It's time to fight back, that's what Huey said, two shots in the dark now Huey's dead", is a prime example of how Tupac expresses how simple it is for an entire race to wipe itself out. The "Huey" referred to in the song is Huey P. Newton, a co-leader and founder of the Black Panther party who had many endeavors for justice. Tupac's parents were active associates of the Black Panther Party as well. "In reference to the FBI's history of targeting the Black Panthers and other revolutionary frontrunners, the CIA is suspected of implementing tactics to execute them by vandalizing their public image"(Chandler). Clearly Tupac is trying to send a memo that this madness is not a good way to find the meanings to an end. If they wish to have some resolution to the hatred, then there must be "changes."

Although this entire song speaks volumes, there was one powerful line that stood out to me. "Cause both Black and White are smoking crack tonight". Black people don't make more crimes than white people but the difference is that white people imply that it is that way. Both kill, both commit heinous crimes,