Tupac Shakur is one of
the most creditable, influential and compelling American rappers of all time.
His rise to fame has been iconic and has been subject to much media speculation
and controversy but within his genre, who could expect any less?
Having been raised in
the ghettos of America, Tupac was accustomed to a life of poverty and crime
which enabled him to witness the true cracks in society. Shakur used his music
to proclaim societal and political issues from the corruption of authority to
sexual abuse and in effect, gave a voice to the majority of American’s living
in the ghetto. Tupac began his professional career in the 1990’s having
released his first EP in 1990 and his first solo album, 2Pacalypse Now, a year
later. His debut instantly received high critical acclaim as well as out-right
criticism, a divide that inevitably followed throughout his career. His first
official release, Brenda’s Got A Baby, is a prime example of Tupac’s signature
style not only in the use simple urban beats, soulful backing vocalists and straight-forward
yet poetry-like style, but also the topics he discusses for the lyrics to this
particular song were formed after having read a newspaper report on Brenda, a
12 year old girl who fell pregnant at the hands of her cousin, which triggered
his criticisms of how society treats teenage pregnancy and how quick they are
to outcast young mothers which then has a knock on effect to crime and
prostitution.
Rap artist, 50 Cent once stated
that "every rapper who grew up
in the Nineties owes something to Tupac” commemorating Tupac for being a
pioneer of the rap genre and for rather than allowing himself to be comparable
to other artists of the 90’s, he set himself apart as someone to whom future
artists are can be comparable to. Tupac has achieved high respect even within
modern pop culture and many rap artists still use their songs in homage
to him. J. Cole, an American rapper who released his debut, Cole World: The
Sideline Story, late 2011, actually cites the chorus of Tupac’s Hail Mary within
his EP Single, Enchanted. J. Cole has been credited with having an extremely
similar style to Tupac and has further shown that Tupac represents the soul of
the rap industry by discussing similar society centred topics with the urban
roughness and explicitly that initially set Tupac apart from the rest.
However, Tupac wasn’t
always criticised in his represented in a critical manner for the music video
to Changes, was released after his death as homage to Tupac and his achievements
within the rap industry. This video is a documentary style montage of Tupac at
various points within his career and various clip are collected from media
reports. Amongst these are some of Tupac’s troubles and various run-ins with
the police but rather than use this against him, the clips are combined with
photographic images to portray him as “only human” and as an honest American
who grew up in the ghetto. A clip of Tupac himself is shown addressing his
approach to representation from which the audio can be herd of Tupac calling
him a thug by nature and accepting responsibility for himself yet acknowledging
he cannot be representative of “every black male”. This thus disregards all
negative press that had classified him a “bad role-model” for Tupac makes it
clear he never set out to become a “role-model” at all.
“I wanted to keep it
real, and that’s what I thought I was doing, But let somebody else represent
it. I represented it too much.” - Tupac Shakur on the thug life.
As this quote suggests,
throughout his career, Tupac has carefully represented and branded himself as a
thug and in music videos such as I Get Around, he glorifies the “thug life”. I
Get Around represents Tupac to lead an opulent lifestyle in which house parties
are thrown, he is surrounded by young attractive women and bathes whilst
wearing heavy chains. Tupac also represents himself as a thug through personal
image such as his reputation for wearing a white vest, a doo rag and expensive gold
jewellery which all serve as stereotypical imagery for the rap genre. This thus
represents rap to be centred on superficial luxuries and power, “forgive me I’m
a rider, still I’m just a simple man, all I want is money…”, however Tupac also
uses this phrase by associating it with all the troubles and traumas that life
has offered him such as Thugz Mansion and Thug N U Thug N Me. Tupac mocks the
representation of a “thug” by citing that for his fans that are living well
lives, Tupac’s lyrics will seem to “glorify” the thug life but for his fans
that actually do live in the ghettos, it’s a way of helping them out of it.
Most male rappers are
stereotypically represented as misogynistic whereas Tupac understands and
explains the trials and tribulations of women and appreciates their presence
and the power that they have over men. In Tupacs first posthumous single, Thugs
Get Lonely Too, he assumes the voice of a typical thug and their sexual desires
however he emphasises on the hold that women have over them by creating a
scenario in which he is transfixed on a woman and when he is alone, is unable
to stop thinking about her. Further more in Wonder, Why They Call You A Bitch, Tupac conveys how women should act in order to be respected by men and offers
positive influence by stating “keep your mind on your money, enrol in school”
and “keep your head up, legs closed, eyes open” for Tupac understands that some
men may use women but and he doesn’t aim to change that, yet he defies the
representation of rappers being misogynistic by educating his female audience
and willing them to be wise with their body and to take control.
However, one point
during Tupac career which was particular subject to harsh criticism was when he
was sentenced to serve 1½ – 4½ jail time
when charged with rape in November, 1993. This destroyed a significant amount
of Tupac’s reputation as the media often represented him as being violent and
brutal however prior run-ins with the law added to his reputation such as a
shoot-out in Atlanta in the early 1990’s made Tupac even more of a “hero” in the
eyes of his fans for he became more real and more relatable thus having a
positive representative effect.
In contrast to the
negative responses of the media, Tupac is represented as a heavy influence
towards many rap and hip-hop artists and has a variety of songs dedicated to
him after his death such as Ashanti and T.I’s – Pac’s Life in which they state
how Tupac rose to success against all odds and still manages to have a lasting
impact, “all the shit you went through meant a lot to me…”. Other rap artists
such as Eminem state that Tupac “set a standard” for all rap artists by proving
that you have to be relatable in every aspect which is one of Tupac’s greatest
achievements for he had an experience and a lyric for almost every trouble a
person may face growing up. Eminem further states in the same interview on this
remix with Biggie Smalls and Tupac that whilst Tupac represents many Americans,
“there was only one Tupac” thus suggesting him to be the most original rap
artist of all time. And so, despite his criticisms, of which all artists have
been subject too, Tupac is generally remembered in a positive light and to have
an everlasting impact upon the entire rap industry.
