Sam RubinColettiEngl30115 May 2015

Exploring Society With My Homie TupacTupac Amaru Shakur was an American rapper, songwriter, poet and actor who is

recognized as one of the most influential rap artists of all time being ranked second on MTV’s top 10 rappers in history (MTV). Tupac was born in East Harlem in 1971 but relocated with his family several times first to Baltimore, Maryland and then Marin City California. Growing up Tupac always had an affirmation for the arts (Levs). He constantly studied acting, poetry, jazz and even ballet.

The major topics of Shakur’s work revolve around racism and the hardships youth in the inner city face (Joseph). His book of poetry The Rose That Grew From Concrete especially exemplifies these issues. In his poem In The Event Of My Demise Shakur illuminates his death, a topic often discussed and associated with black urban life. By discussing death in such a blunt fashion Tupac captures what it was like for youth growing up in the inner city trapped in the confines of poor socioeconomic condition and prejudice essentially forced to turn to violence and gang activity. The poem reads, “I Hope I Die for a Principle or a Belief that I had lived 4 (Shakur).” The question here however is did Tupac die for a cause that he believed in? In order to answer this question one has to understand Tupac’s background and his roll in the hip hop community in addition to recognizing the issues revolving around gang activity in the early 90s.

Shakur’s family was extremely politically involved which heavily influenced his writing. Both of his parents were active members of the Black Panther party and his household was always filled with members and activists. While in High School Shakur wrote a paper about his lyrics, it stated “Our raps not the sorry-story raps everyone is so tired of. They are about what happens in the real world. Our goal is [to] have people relate to our raps, making it easier to see what really is happening out there. Even more important, what we may do to better our world (Shakur)." The point being, his words are intentional. He has a purpose with his writing and that purpose is to challenge authority, as well as to tell his followers to do the same and to not let anyone oppress them.

In, In The Event Of My Demise, Tupac shares a grim but realistic outlook he has on his life the poem reads, “I will die before my time” (Shakur). The perception he has is that his life will come to an early end. He was right. These words however were not just Shakur rambling about his own death but rather an inference that all young black men are subjected to an early demise. His poem correlates to the struggles that many inner city youth faced. Due to oppression, lack of education and often-corrupt legal system impressionable young adults turn to violence. This violence is sometimes targeted toward the “oppressors” being the elite white male but more often toward each other.

Black on black crime is a consistent problem. During his life, Tupac unfortunately played a roll in it, which lead to his eminent death. In the early 90s a major feud dominated hip-hop. Tupac’s record label, Death Row Records represented the West Coast their rivals were Biggie Smalls and P. Diddy whose record company Bad Boy Records represented the east coast. Shakur was a major catalyst in the feud. After being shot and robbed in the lobby of Manhattan’s Quad Recording Studio, Shakur accused Biggie and Diddy of setting him up. Shortly after the shooting Biggie released a song entitled “Who

Shot Ya” which many people, including Tupac, thought was a direct taunt toward Shakur. Though the song was recorded before the shooting occurred, these two incidents sparked the most notorious feud in the history of Hip-Hop.

Tupac vocalized his animosity through his music. In his song Against All Odds Tupac crudely calls out Diddy and his East Coast rivals. He raps “Peep me, I take this war shit deeply; Done seen too many real players fall to let these bitch niggas beat me; Puffy lets be honest you a punk or you will see me with gloves (Shakur).” The hatred in his tone is clear and when impressionable young Tupac fans heard them, they intern hated the East Coast. Shakur rapping about fighting and killing strays away from the message of empowerment he had once discussed in his high school paper. He accused someone of shooting him and kept a grudge even after it was obvious that person had not. His anger caused a lot of turbulence in the rap world and more importantly within the African American community.

Tupac did not only act violently toward East Coasters but toward anyone who disrespected him or his affiliates. His rash behavior lead to his death. After leaving the Bruce Seldon versus Mike Tyson boxing match on September 7, 1996 with his Manager Suge Knight, a known member of the infamous gang The Bloods, Tupac struck Orland Anderson. Anderson was a member of The Crips rival gang The Bloods and earlier that year was involved in a robbery of some of Tupac and Knight’s entourage. After the altercation Knight was driving Tupac to a local nightclub when a Cadillac pulled up next to the car, rolled down a window and rapidly fired gunshots. Shakur was hit in the chest, pelvis and right hand with. One of the shots went into his right lung. After six days in University Medical Care of Southern Nevada’s critical care unit Tupac was pronounced dead of internal bleeding.

Tupac’s death was a direct repercussion of his actions but even more so to a greater problem, gang violence. In order to grasp why this altercation was so significant one must know the history behind Los Angles gang activity and more importantly the Bloods versus Crips rivalry. In 1991 a study done by researchers at West Virginia University found that as many as 4,881 gangs existed with almost 250,000 existed in the United States (National Youth Gang Information Center); two of the largest being the Bloods and the Crips especially amongst black communities.

The Crips were formed in the 1960s in response to the large number of gangs that were occupying Los Angles. The gang rapidly grew thanks to its member’s violent behavior and criminal activity. As it grew and became more vicious, other gangs started resenting them and new gangs were formed in protection. The Bloods were formed and swiftly expanded after they were brutally demolished and outnumber by the Crips. Due to this The Bloods formed allies with many of other gangs in the area and rapidly enlarged (Dunn). The two gangs became extremely territorial and continue the feud to this day. Because of Tupac’s affiliation to Knight, he became tied to The Bloods.

In The Event Of My Demise obviously discusses Tupac, his death and his outlook on death. But it is also important to note that he talks about life and its importance just as much as death. He hoped to die for principle he believed in. He hoped to achieve various accomplishments. And he hoped to have loved those who were positive. The words Tupac chooses to capitalize are “Demise,” “Die,” “Principle,” “Belief” “Positivity” and “Demise.” These words are chosen intentionally to emphasize the main point of the poem, dying for what one believes in. So the question this brings up is did he live for

what he wrote about in this poem? The answer is simply no. Is gang violence positive? No. Does gang violence promote the well being of black people? No. Did Tupac die? Yes, but was it for a principle he believed in? No.

His poem is beautiful and the ideas in it are beautiful but the reality of Tupac’s death makes the poem seem insincere. His “demise” ended up being a product of his own doing. Granted society effect Tupac’s decision-making, he did not need to align himself with a gang member. The principles his parents taught him and fought for were all related to bringing justice to his race, not fighting against them. Tupac died over petty grievances. So when he says, “I hope I die for a principle or a belief that I lived for.” One can only wonder what he would have or could have died for. And when he says “I loved all who were positive,” it make one wonder if he thought the people he was surrounding himself with were positive. What this shows is a contrast in Tupac’s personality. Two sides are fighting for dominance, his scholarly and educated his side battling with his rebellious and aggressive side.

This contrast between two sides of Tupac can be further explored by noting his diction and subject matter in the poem. If one were to read the poem at its surface they would not be able to tell a 23-year-old, self proclaimed “outlaw” wrote it. He uses words like “demise” “depths” “grips” and gracefully strings his words and sentences together to bolster the subject matter into the readers head. At a completely stereotypical level, one would not expect someone who looks and acts like Tupac to have such a diverse lexicon and critical thoughts. But Tupac can and clearly does deviate from the stereotype people would give him on first impression. He is extremely aware of the world around him and extremely elegant, yet occasionally rolled with the wrong crowd, diminishing his greater judgment, minimalizing his genius and getting killed before his time.

Tupac’s literacy can be measured an infinite amount of way. His raps are extremely poetic and he loved to read. For example, Tupac read, performed and admired Shakespeare, a trait that strays far from “thug.” For example, Tupac read, performed and admired Shakespeare, a trait that strays far from “thug.” During a 1995 interview Shakur discusses his appreciation for Shakespeare. “I love Shakespeare. He wrote some of the rawest stories, man. I mean look at Romeo and Juliet. That's some serious ghetto shit. You got this guy Romeo from the Bloods who falls for Juliet, a female from the Crips, and everybody in both gangs are against them. So they have to sneak out and they end up dead for nothing. Real tragic stuff (Shakur).”

Tupac wrote in a similar way that Shakespeare did, looking at the world around him and then telling everyone what he saw (Philips). It is actually easy to see Shakespeare’s influence on Tupac when reading In The Event Of My Demise. The poem’s structure and content is similar to that of a Shakespearian sonnet. Structurally In The Event Of My Demise, is twelve lines with an abcb, dedf, ghgh rhyme patter. Granted neither the length of the poem nor the rhyme scheme is the exact same as a sonnet the similarities are clear. The first two quatrains differ from the last, which is a tactic correlated to Shakespeare’s final rhyming couplet. Rather then using the 13th and 14th line to create a couplet Tupac uses the 9th and 11th lines to emphasize and punch the point of his poem. After all that is the point of the final rhyming couplet. Both Shakespeare’s sonnets and Tupac’s remixed sonnet are short and powerful message which indulge in a lot of self-reflection.

Despite all his education, all the books he read, and all the change he wanted to make, Tupac was unable to avoid the eminent death he predicted. “I will die before my time” the most powerful line in the entire poem. But how did he know? Or did he just assume? The rational behind this poem goes deeper then just Tupac and his death. It embodies the death and the reality of an oppressed people. African Americans have always been at a disadvantage. They endure a cyclical repression of being born into poverty and constantly being set back. With minimal education and resources they often turn to crime to make money and a name for themselves, more often then not being killed in the process. In The Event Of My Demise briefly touches on the topic but Tupac’s writings, life and death are a perfect exemplar of this deep-rooted societal problem.

http://www.mtv.com/bands/h/hip_hop_week/2006/emcees/index10.jhtml

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