The views and opinions expressed in the following feature editorial are those expressly of the writer of this piece and do not necessarily reflect those of HipHopDX.
“The American Dream wasn’t meant for me
Cause Lady Liberty is a hypocrite- she lied to me
Promised me freedom, education and equality
Never gave me nothing but slavery.” – Tupac Shakur
There are a number of glaring differences between “entertainment” marketed to African America and entertainment marketed to White folks. Perhaps biggest among them is the fact that contemporary Black entertainment is almost always maladaptive for personal and community health. Hip Hop, for example, has been the focus of criticism and analysis from inside and outside the Black community for problematic representations of Black masculinity and femininity, violence and misogyny, psychoactive drug use, and materialism. Regardless of your take on Hip Hop, it can’t be argued that there exists no comparable artform in the White community. In other words, whatever the blame rappers deserve, there exists nothing close to an industry which perpetuates and celebrates blatant attacks (physical, spiritual, psychological) on White folks. I was reminded of this the other day at a party with my brother. Most of the people at the party were White; most of the music at the party was Black. I’ve never been to a party where most of people there were Black and most of the music was White. Except for church.
In contrast, most entertainment in the White community is psychologically healthy and embraced in conjunction with educational objectives. Band and orchestra programs, for example, are staples in the extra-curricular agenda of high schools coast-to-coast. Cultural forms of entertainment such as ballet, opera, and European theatre are universally viewed as enlightening not only for White folks but for Black folks as well.
A critical distinction, then, should be made between entertainment and enlightenment in African America. Unfortunately this rarely happens. As a result, Black folks are left largely unable to decipher the harmful, intentionally destructive messages of entertainment pumped into their homes and minds on a near-constant basis. In their attempts to assimilate into the pluralistic White world of make-believe they mistakenly apply the synonymy witnessed between entertainment and enlightenment in the White community to African America. In other words, they assume that since White entertainment is good for White folks, Black entertainment must be good for Black folks, as well. They then crave, buy, and celebrate as authentically “Black” all manner of ‘hood degradation and debasement.
The good news is that the above applies only to the segment of Black art that has been co-opted by White capitalistic industrial systems. A fundamental dilemma, then, is parceling out those authentic representations of Black thought from the co-opted ones. Sociologically, this dilemma has plagued African America ever since the first descendants of slaves were allowed property designation and the illusion of ownership. It was at that point that what Amiri Baraka has referred to as the “twin character” of the African American struggle began: a struggle for democratic rights and a struggle for national liberation (Nuruddin, 2002; Baraka, 2002). Nowhere was that struggle evidenced more clearly than in the pendulum-swing from the integrationist thrust of the Civil Rights movement of the early 1960s to the Black Nationalist thrust commonly referred as the Black Power movement (Nuruddin, 2002). These two opposing ideologies (nationalism and assimilation) continue to compete for dominance within Hip Hop.
Black Nationalism & Assimilation
At its core, Black nationalism consists of separatism ideology; the notion of complete or partial division from White institutions as critical to the maintenance of self-determination for African people. Historically, Black nationalism has had many different practical manifestations, including the territorial nationalists (e.g. CORE), the revolutionary nationalists (e.g. the Black Panther Party), and the cultural nationalists (e.g. Karenga’s US organization). In contrast, assimilationist ideology involves attempts to psychologically or physically fit-in with mainstream society. Black folks routinely subjected to the physical and psychological brutality of White supremacy have historically groped for vestiges of Whiteness in attempts to allay their suffering and cease the mental anguish associated with their systematically denied humanity. Check out E. Franklin Frazier’s Black Bourgeoisie, a critical examination of the Black community’s pathological obsession with so-called “Middle-Class” White values and mores and its resulting self-identification as culturally, intellectually, and spiritually deficient in comparison.
Throughout the history of Rap music, both nationalism (think X-Clan, dead prez, Afrika Bambaata, Tupac Shakur, Wu-Tang Clan) and assimilation (think Will Smith, Jay-Z, LL Cool J, 50 Cent and the rest of #TeamGetMoney). Until very recently, artists could be conveniently classified as one or the other.
Che Guevara With Bling On?
However, recently we’ve seen the industry manufacture a new type of rapper, one which paradoxically embraces both nationalism and assimilation. This new rapper-image both reflects and reinforces a hybrid ideology in which the African individual psychologically distances himself from “Blackness.” This is done in an attempt to achieve a super-ordinate ‘American’ status while simultaneously valuing Blackness for its “special” or “unique” characteristics.
This hybrid ideology is epitomized by Meek Mill’s “Tupac Back” 
. For those of us old enough to actually remember Tupac Shakur (not merely learn about him in college), this harebrained track (production aside) is insulting. Nowhere in the verses or hook can any direct reference to Shakurian philosophy be found. *Cue Obama voice* Let me be clear: Tupac never said anything about stealing rims. Tupac said: “I didn’t choose the thug life, the thug life chose me.” Tupac never said anything close to having his “wrist on froze.” Tupac said: “All I’m trying to do is survive and make good out of the dirty, nasty, unbelievable lifestyle that they gave me.” What this track represents is a bastardizing conflation of Tupac’s nationalist flair and a classic assimilationist “American Dream” stance. Tupac critiqued the system; Meek Mill celebrates it.
The same is generally true of a whole slew of new rappers who simultaneously kick nationalist and assimilationist rhetoric. It is now common for rappers to invoke names Malcolm X, Huey Newton, Bobby Seale, Fred Hampton and Marcus Garvey as they narrate their own successes and triumphs in successfully negotiating the system that took these men’s lives. Am I the only one who cringes when I hear a rapper with a record deal rhyming about how fucked-up the recording industry is? I throw-up in my mouth a little bit every time someone says that so-and-so is actually dope because they espouse this contradictory hybrid ideology.
Artists like Big K.R.I.T., and Kendrick Lamar are merely industry upgrades of such earlier models of conceptual inconsistency as Rick Ross, DMX, and T.I. Jay-Z and Nas deserve some of the credit (blame) here as well. If not for Jay’s insistence that he “do[es] it for [his] culture” or Nas’ quips about how he and J-Lo were “like Joe DiMaggio and Marilyn Monroe…” maybe assimilationist jibberish wouldn’t be so easy for us to swallow.
Hip Hop Intellectuals
This perplexing nationalist/assimilationist hybrid ideology in today’s rap music is buttressed by a very active intellectual arm which substantiates, justifies, and validates it. In fact, such hybrid ideology is evidenced on a grand scale though the illusion of upward mobility offered to Africans by education itself. Witness for example, the meteoric rise of what Norman Kelley (2004) refers to as the “market intellectual”, a new pseudo-elite class of profit-driven Hip Hop intellectuals who use African cultural tenets to molest African community. Hip Hop intellectualism has become a micro-industry of sorts; a circus of entertainers vying for attention, accolades, and monetary compensation from the dominant power structure (i.e. media, college and university speaking audiences, lucrative book deals etc). The majority of this enterprise functions at the expense of the Black folk majority, largely because such pandering “progressives” only serve to reinforce the psychological colonization of Blacks while substantiating, rationalizing and apologizing for a European worldview that is diametrically opposed to Afrikan-centered paradigms of mental, physical, and spiritual health. A new generation of Black scholar-puppets has emerged to pick-up where Cornell West, Michael Eric Dyson and Henry Louis Gates, Jr. left off. Like their celebrity predecessors, these brothers are educated (read: trained) by the system to facilitate its deadly impact in places where the system would not otherwise be welcome; their rhetoric (as Kelley points-out) is actually regurgitated imperialist ideology. They too, are trained by White minds, and then fed Black thought. When they are unleashed (i.e. given a voice) they start reflexively producing what they believe to be their own ideas. These are, of course, the direct products of the very system that made them scholars in the first-place. The reality is that an entire slew of third-string, Gates-in-training sideshows are busily reversioning our world to make it seem like Black folks are the problem.
This is why there will always be a market for black folks talking about helping/ healing/ saving/ fixing/ improving the Black community. Preachers do it; politicians do it; CEOs do it; intellectuals do it too. The Hip Hop intellectual is in the business of convincing Black people to hate, question, and distrust themselves in order to sell them the latest illusory, poisonous version of the American Dream as medicine.
History Reversioned
Tupac is not back. If he was, he’d have us trying to figure out how the “greatest nation in the world” has money for war, but can’t feed the poor (see “Keep Ya Head Up”). Shamelessly claiming to represent what Tupac represented may seem ignorant and reckless; but in fact it is strategic. When people like Tupac Shakur die, the system that they fought always swallows-up that fight, and then, over time, convinces those of us who weren’t there to see it first-hand that there was no fight in the first place. The resistance value of authentic Black thought is thus ultimately sanitized and reduced to a mere spoke in the American wheel of imperialism. It has happened with Martin Luther King, Jr. in the form of a day off from work. More recently, it has happened with historian, author and scholar John Hope Franklin. For example, when Franklin died in 2009, newly “elected” president Baraka Obama issued the following statement:
“Because of the life John Hope Franklin lived, the public service he rendered, and the scholarship that was the mark of his distinguished career, we all have a richer understanding of who we are as Americans and our journey as a people. Dr. Franklin will be deeply missed, but his legacy is one that will surely endure. Michelle and I send our thoughts and prayers to his loved ones, as our nation mourns his loss.”
This statement provides the classic reversioning of authentic Black thought to fit the dominant narrative. Note how in his summation of Franklin’s life and legacy, Obama does not mention the fact that he was Black, nor does he even hint at the resistance value in much of Hope’s defining scholarship (e.g. From Slavery to Freedom). Like a sitcom laugh-track, the statement not only cues the reader into the important points of consideration (his “scholarship,” “distinguished career,” and “public service”), it also provides the appropriate response (mourning). It does however, refer to the country (twice), and even goes as far as to suggest that Franklin’s work is valuable precisely because of its ability to help us understand “who we are as Americans” and “our journey as a people.” Even in death, Franklin’s life served to reinforce White institutional dominance, as he was memorialized as Professor Emeritus at Duke University. Like the Atlanta Braves, the Washington Redskins, the Florida State Seminoles (the Red and Black Seminole nation in Florida was a collaborative effort between Native Americans and Africans that resisted white incursion for 120 years), and countless other bastardized representations of cultural integrity and focused resistance to White capitalist terrorism; future generations will appreciate and critically engage Dr. John Hope Franklin not as a stolen yet brilliant son of African blood and bondage but as an American hero. This tragedy is overshadowed only by the certain exclusion of those whose lives were more clearly devoted to resistance and struggle from the historical record.
There is a reason why record executives want to parade these new hybrid rappers in front of us. There is a reason why these wack-ass Hip Hop professor types want to educate us about our own shit. As the great Chicago philosopher once said, it’s “Cause they make us hate ourself and love they wealth.” Simple and plain. There is no such thing as Che Guevara with bling on. But there are plenty of un-confused artists, scholars, and activists out here who are telling it like it is, minus the can’t-knock-the-hustle gimmick. Tupac himself once said, “No matter what these people say about me, my music doesn’t glorify any image.” Get Your Mind Right: Tupac ain’t back. Nevermind what all these bitches screamin.
Baraka A. (2002) Socialism and Democracy, Vol.16, No. 1.
Nuruddin, Y. (2002) “Contemporary Black Patriotism and Historic Amnesia,” in Nadia Batool Ahmad, et al., Unveiling the Real Terrorist Mind. X-Libris,
Brian Carey Sims, Ph. D is a North Carolina-based author, journalist, lecturer and assistant professor at North Carolina A&T University. He is also executive director of the Hip Hop Journalists Association (HHJA). He has contributed to The Journal of Pan African Studies, Journal of Black Psychology and HipHopDX.com. Visit his website here. Twitter: @bsimsphd
My, my, my do you ignore so much of who St. Tupac was. St. Tupac died in a gang-bang in Vegas. He didn’t die fighting the revolution. He died because he was rolling with a Mob Piru Blood and because he beat down some Southside Crips. He didn’t die fighting against injustice or fighting Capitol Hill. He died just like every other gang affiliated asshole in the streets.
Stop making Tupac out to be something more than what he was. He was just as confused as the rest of us if not more so. He just had the ability to put his confusion down on paper a little better.
A friend of mine told me about one time in Marin when St. Tupac went on a who-ride with a few of the homies. The homies shot up the block and killed a young girl about 7 years old. Tupac never opened his mouth even though he was sitting in the damned car.
If Tupac were alive today and 23 years old, he would be Meek Mill and if you knew anything about Meek Mill, then you would understand that there is real depth to this kid. He’s was just not raised by a Black Panther like Pac was. This is a BS article and an even bigger apples to oranges BS comparison.
n your ass prolly whit, die!
I don’t think you actually read the whole article if any of it Darrick.
”If Tupac were alive today and 23 years old, he would be Meek Mill” hmmm thats a bold statement there ol chap ..well lets see Tupac died when he was 25 and whats Meek Mill like 24 now? that gives him 1 year to make the greatest music ( and message like pac) in his life then he should retire when hes 25. At that time lets see if people and anyone will build school’s in his name. Lets see if People will break down his lyrics,critically and cherish them as long as pac. Then I will say Tupac is really back….
your ass prolly white, die
This is a great article and very true but to intelligent and mature for this website. All people do on this site is call each other haters and dickriders. Even as true as this article it still wont reach the minds of the people who support this style of hip-hop. They will just say that you hating on Meek Millz and are just mad cuz he making more money than you… Its a sad world.
I know, so sad.
Well done editor.
Jesus christttt give it a rest, so fuckin tired of ppl like this writer totally fixated on black black black white white white jus Shutup! stop bein so obsessed with race and keepin ppl in boxes. This whole article is pointless
fuckin ig’nant idiot, the typical example of what he said in the article white people try to make it seem like nothing happened n brainwash black folks. I”m guessin you white n if you not then that’s even more sad cos you just too far gone thinkin in terms of this bubble gum lil wayne hip hop of today. so sad
i aint ignorant an i dnt think or listen to some lil wayne bubblegum shit u dnt even no me! I still think this whole obsession with race gets ppl no where. In the uk where im at black n whites mix all the time, no ones focusin on this stupid seperation shit. leave that to americans
“Blacks and Whites mix all the time” in the UK? You fucking fool, the UK is one of the most racist societies in the world.
The hate and dislike among the blacks and whites is so deep and ingrained that, the society is on the brink of a violent uproar any given minute….
Look at the London riots….. what did it stem from x:?
@Literal black man- Are u even from the fuckin UK?? If so where u from? Ur the ignorant one, ‘the hate an dislike is so deep wiv blacks an whites’ Thats Bullshit! The riots aint got Nothin to do wiv hate among race u stupid guy! Bare whites were riotin an lootin as well u dumb cunt
It aint like america where nearly every white person is rich and you’d no that if u was from the uk. Every white person i live around is Workin Class
Agreed with Darrick. i cant say meek mill is one of the greatest rappers of this day and age, but i can definitely see that he is competing with the rest of them. Everyone reading this article or these comments have to read it with an open mind. I merely skimmed through this article and realized that it was bullshit cause we have to understand, as listeners (and critics) that each rapper comes with his own thing, something that the next guy wouldnt do. all of these freshmen come and spit their own shit, and its ALL revolutionary! Tupac had his own twisted way which everyone seems to respect, Meek mill comes with his street shit, and is able to make it deep and conceptual (like the LOX). J cole comes with raps where he is able to paint a lyrical picture of what is happening. K. Lamar, same damn thing, with a west coast twist. Big Krit, holding it down for the south, and keeps it real simultaneously. What im tryna say is that its just a title. And like Darrick said, you cant just keep making tupac look like a “saint” cause we all know he had thug life tatted on his torso, nuff said!
you an idiot, that wasn’t the point, No one said tupac was an angel shit Nas in’t no fuckin angel either but ppl still respect the cat maybe you just mad for some reason or you from NY. It’s not bout people reading it with an open mind cos then anyone can just take whatever you want from it like you did, and not what’s actually in it.
did you even read the post YSS
Did you know what Thug Life stood for? You just showed your youth because “Thug Life” had nothing to do with what a “Thug” is perceived as now.
wow so enlightenin. This right here is real, honest hopefully it talks some sense into this generation of today (which I’m part of btw) But I don’t listen to that bs mainstream crap and I only value hip hop that values hip hop culture n that goes way back. RIP Tupac Shakur
Props to Brian Sims for writing this. I am glad to see someone making an attempt to get HHDX to grow up. It used to seem like there was a balance between nationalism and assimilation in hip hop music but its very one sided presently. Its disheartening and the one of the main reasons I feel that the music has lost its soul.
The author makes several valid points, but for all the complaints about what rappers aren’t doing, people hardly support rappers who are doing. Stop wasting space on the assimilationists, and start supporting those who do their best to represent hip-hop in a positive light.
Case in point, more attention being paid to the latest Rick Ross release than Canibus.
Tell me, between those two, who has more thought provoking rhymes?
‘Bis can spit but c’mon he aint doing anything to “uplift the community”. Granted I haven’t heard his latest but he’s usually just an angry mofo talking about he’ll punch an emcees lights out. He just uses big words though lol
so true
Simply put, if you don’t like the song, don’t listen to it.
It’s not that simple when the name of the song is Tupac yet tupac is the hook and nothing in the song represents what Pac stood for.
In any other case I would agree with you but naming you song “Tupac Back” is more than misleading it’s down right blasphemous.
This article is strictly for angry black folks who still think that white ppl around them who aint got or never had anything to do with slavery are the same as the ppl who did. say no more
White people had a leg up from black by blacks from the jump why do you think they dominate society and were in a lower class position at every corner is it not do you think, all those white affirmative action programms that kept the blacks down through the centuries, the burnings, murders and the 400 years of being robbed from our very own essence..No you really think we were lucky to be brought here dont you!
Nas, you weren’t brought here homie, nor was your father or grandfather.. you we’re born here far after any of this happened… it didn’t happen to you, your people or your family within the last 60 years. over and above – get over it.
Yes it did happen to my fathers so I’ll never get over it, this is the least we can do, and it is true society will always be a reminder of what happend because this nation’s history was built on what happened…It should of never happened so we never forget as so history will never repeat itself in any simular form or fashion
You all must live in nice houses and your parents had good jobs and you were born with a silver spoon in your mouth if you don’t think black folks are still struggling. They brought dope over in the 60’s and 70’s to make sure black folks couldn’t not become a strong united front.
Why do you think they killed Martin Luther King and Malcom X? Because 10 strong black men will scare 100 white men any day. Inferiority complex….this has nothing to do with black people being angry about slavery. BUT we aren’t equal and will never be equal if black people are more worried about immulating a song made by a guy whose is a self proclaimed Drug King Pin but in actuality was a C.O. in a prison system and never had a scratch on his criminal record. Be real and please read the entire article go get a dictionary and look up the words you don’t understand. It’s easy to see the smoke screen that has been thrown in our face yet ya’ll breath it in.
@Luke: should the Jews get over the holocaust aswell?
@’jadakiss’ Nah u got it twisted I wasnt born wiv no silver spoon in my mouth an my single parent aint got a good job an im WHITE. U actin like black ppl the only ones in th world who in a struggle
My main problem is this. The line “This is why there will always be a market for black folks talking about helping/ healing/ saving/ fixing/ improving the Black community,” could easily be restated as, “This is why there will always be a market for FOLKS talking about helping/ healing/ saving/ fixing/ improving THE community.” The author makes good points and it makes an interesting read, but there is still a lot to be desired from his points.
NATION OF ISLAM RISE TO THE TOP
FUCK THEM WHITE CHILDREN
Be Real the Nation of Islam is in bed with White Folks. They are one of the biggest criminal organizations on the planet. Yet they mask their intentions better than anyone supremacist group active today.
Keep that shit to yourself. And do your research, learn and read for yourself and stop following so blindly behind a man whose only intentions is to seize power and become wealthy.
I think the Nation of Islam is the only black organization who are’nt controlled by white people…Whatever people say that is the only light… and Farrakhan is the most hated
Yet along with the help of rogue Black Panther members and the Nation of Islam…crack and coke was introduced into the black community in the 60’s and 70’s. The Nation as been implicated in many murders including Malcom X, Tupac, and Notorius B.I.G.
I mean if they are not they are just some hating mofo’s cause they have harmed the black community more than White Folks.
@Jadakiss88
What a load of crap, what source are you getting your facts from?
Go Read a book. And if you read any of the statements made by the men that implicated themselves in both murders (which have yet to be debunked) they both implicated the Nation of Islam in both murders (coincedence maybe).
Dude please believe the Nation is want you guys think it is. It’s just like any Christian that thinks all these Mega Churches are being built to further spread the word of God.
And nope I am not an Atheist I am a firm believer in God. Yet, I don’t practice my belief like mainstream Christianity.
As a matter of fact I would love for you to tell me that the Nation had nothing to do with Malcolm X being murdered. After they removed him from power when he began to realize that King’s way of thinking was right and very effective compared to his.
Every organization has a hater and an accuser, and nobody like The Nation of Islam, believe I’ve read every accusation it’s never ending, it’s not portrayed as something we would call good..OUT!
Allah can suck my cock
Nah BITCH FUCK them allah shoutin muthafuckin arab muslim muthafuckas! Thinkin u betta than every other race U radical supremist little girl
Are the words to big for you all to comprehend. Read what the dude is saying. Hip hop as black as people want to make it isn’t and the fact that hip-hop can not grow out of the “Bling Era” makes what hip hop was look like shit. Why would you put Tupac, Malcom X, Huey P. Newton, or any other strong, intellectual, and influential black male or women’s name as the title of your song, when sed song doesn’t represent what that person stood for.
Yes, Pac talked about women and but he made it clear that not all women are bitches and hoes but they do exist and if thats the way they want to be treated fine. Maybe the words are too big for you but realize this. Hip Hop hasn’t changed because big record exec’s realize they can make more money off ignorance than education. They realize you would rather hear about rims, fancy cars, promiscuous women, and making it ran than you would want to actually hear some poetry about the struggle or the government.
Hip Hop started as a form of expression to mask the fact that they were venting and fighting the powers that be (Public Enemy) White People don’t even like hip hop but evolving and conforming are two completely different things.
Some will say Wayne evolved that’s why millions of you rush to go buy or download the trash he consistently puts out. You ever wonder why his mixtapes are better than his albums and ARE FREE. Face it if your were born after 85 you know nothing of real hip hop. Gangsta music (thanks to 50 cent) has changed the way every black male thinks and each one believes going to jail or shooting someone is a right of passage.
Honestly you guys do not know hip hop. Now the only thing I didn’t agree with was what he said about KRIT if you actually listen to KRIT’s entire album you will understand while all you hear is pimping and riding ol schools KRIT comes from a darker place he is a country boy and I can relate with him on alot of the subject matter he talks about. However, never get me wrong I won’t change my way of thinking or doing things because of the way he lives his. I have my own path to follow. Why do you think every kid under 21 (and some over) wants to be a rapper. Well not all of them want to express themselves. The rap game is the dope game but all the guns and money are props brought in by White Execs, directors, video producers, and managers to perpetuate something that is about as real as a 4 dollar bill.
It’s true, but what will take to change the collective consciousness, because back in the days, most of the popular hip hop had a positive, or at least neutral message.
The only way we can change it is to stop buying it and supporting it. You effect a man’s pocket and he will listen. But it’s so many people that don’t care. I didn’t buy the Carter IV but the album still broke digital records. I would love to see groups like the Black Panthers or the Freedom Riders come back to life and actually make some moves in the black community.
But it takes more than one person to make a change.
Man, 2pac is and will alway be one of the Greatest Rapper die or alive, this nigga can make a song that make a grown man cry, he spoke form the heart of all ghetto kids that never had jack, and had to do what he have to do to get by, never one day gorify that material thing, these other rapper be on knowing that a regular kid in the ghetto cant buy, that nigga Pac is always going to be miss man, the nigga teach coming up, just like he said man, its much more to life than just live.
Hip hop (music) is a form of entertainment (granted in it’s pure form it is a culture) so, in that sense, pretty much all popular culture, i.e., media-driven content these days is pretty much negative.
I mean he has a point but his assertion at the beginning that entertainment geared towards white folk is pyscologically healthy and in conjuncture with education, I believe is inaccurate. Maybe a certain class of people- yuppies for lack of better term are into operas and sh*t, but most people are mad ignorant and are much more in tune with what the hell Snookie is up to
He was basically explaining that as far as music goes White people have more musical outlets and it’s accepted on a wider scale then black people.
If you play the Piano check and see how many black people will be in the audience compared to white people. If you black you got Jazz, Blues, Hip Hop (Rap), or R&B. If you are white you have a plethora of UNIVERSALLY accepted musical art forms.
Real, raw hip hop in an enlightneing form is better than opera or ballet. I’ve no idea why he states that European music is the only music that is inspirational. There are plenty of Underground Hip Hop artist that touch the soul and opera or ballet or any other music deemed “appropriate” can not hold a candle to them.
I dont know what these words mean so imma post stupid shit in the comments. anyways very good post, i also puke every time i hear “tupac back”
Exactly!!!
this is why i rock snapbacks and listen to rick ross, lil wayne, and YM
I remember 2pac well I heard all his albums til his death i heard all the makaveli bootleg underground jams the way he originally made them yers they are better than the crap eminem, 50, and others remixed them into. gangster rap used to be intimidating nwa, ice t, public enemy, 2 live crew, geto boys, snoop, pac they all caused controversy and scared the hell out of white and black america. the industry forever cares about nothing except money so why not promote the so called thug image and since some rappers were too radical certain rappers had to be dealt with. professor griff was ran out of pe for being a racist agaisnt jews, eazy e was given aids, pac could’nt stay out of trouble finally ended up in prison then a year later killed, big ended up dead, numerous rappers were imprisoned suge knight, pimp c, odb, slick rick, turk, c murder, shyne, and plenty others. with all the serious rappers who know real hip hop out the way, dead, or played out the industry put out crappy rappers and made it to where whites can come in the rap game eminem blew up overnight, then you had all these whites rapping and trying to act ghetto, n sync was getting props that nkotb could’nt even buy back in the day. now homosexuality has taken over the rap game nicki minaj is promoting the gay lifestyle along with rihanna, ciara, katy perry, britney spears, and everybody else.
“We think everything that touches our life, should be a instrument of our liberation. And anything that we are a part of,that fails,to be a instrument of our liberation, should be thrown in the ash can of history” Dr. John Henrik Clarke
“Now if we do want to live a thug life and a gangsta life and all of that,
ok, so stop being cowards and lets have a revolution
but we dont wanna do that, dudes just wanna live of character
They wanna be cartoons, but if they really wanted to do something
if they was that tough, alright, lets start our own country
lets start a revolution, lets get out of here, lets do something”
Tupac Amuar Shakur
Tupac’s whole family is about black nationalisim , unity. Period. Not house negroes who just wanna sell records for bling bling.
Man I know that right there hurt alot of peoples pride. Well put!!!
excatly!
TL;DR
He said a bunch of nothing, instead of writing this irrelevant article about a idea that is unrealistic at best. GTFOH with making tupac seem like a revolutionary rapper or something, he mos def conveyed the issues our people have been dealing with well before his creation, but wtf did he do about it…..he paraded around like he had been turned into a thug, when he made very clear choices that led to hia demise. You have the audacity to mention the likes of ChairMan Fred Hampton and others when Tupac did NOTHING to fall into their category. Kendrick Lamar has made very thought provoking songs and you label him as HIP HOP INTELLECT…if so then what the fuck are you….and for the record im pretty sure the people know TUPAC IS NOT BACK…its a song goofy do something for the struggle and quit ya bitch ass SPECTATING thats is all your are doing.
You ignorant black fuck. Go eat a dick with aids on the tip.
This is why hiphopdx wasnt nominated for a BET hiphop award as best website because you arent afraid to hold up a mirror to black culture. Worlstarhiphop would explode if this much knowledge was ever dropped on their website. Keep up the good work and BET can hate all they want because they make billions promoting stereotypes and ignorance.
Why is it that anytime there is a honest, truthful and enlightening article on here there is a disclaimer talking about how the “views and opinions in this article does not reflect those of HipHopDX” but when there is a typical ignorant article there is no disclaimer.. Interesting
Duhh 2pac aint back, why? cause he never left, some people really believe what happen in Vegas,really happen,Wow,SMH.
HRH
Most commenters seem to get this, some don’t.
This article wasn’t written to knock white folk it was written to restate that there are two distinct viewpoints (Nationalism v. Assimilation) or in rappers (Pac v. Jay). Dr. Sims is stating that you can not rap about both, as so many do, and still be genuine. He argues that “Tupac’s Back” is blasphemous because it contradicts Pac’s beliefs and therefore weakens the overall power of Tupac’s image. He compares how Martin Luther King’s image has been diminished since his death. Another good example would be Che Guevera, who was extremely radical and had political beliefs (most of them fair) that contradicted capitalism. But Capitalism just absorbed his image, (like they did MLK, like they are doing Pacs) and made him just a dude on a T-Shirt. How can you be inspired by a man who is just a dude on a T-Shirt? How can people who weren’t old for Tupac be inspired by him, when they associate him with “need for a brand new mercedes”? You can’t.
House nigga
Tupac died
at least hhdx has something semi educational and worth reading for once instead of Birdman denying he didnt buy copies of c4.
stay outta this whiteshit
what the fuck school is this guy from? Never heard of it? Maybe he should go talk to professor bun b and get some inside information about hip hop and its positive qualities on the black community.
W3$T$!D3 !N TH!$ MUTH4FUCK4 R!GHT H3R3!
So because he isn’t from a College or University you’ve heard of ,that makes his thoughts invalid? Man STFU you uneducated motherfucker. You’re probably the same dumbass that voted for Obama, on the fact that he promised change, was black, and attended Harvard University, and had no idea of his political agenda or views. IGNORANCE IS BLISS
“Hip Hop, for example, has been the focus of criticism and analysis from inside and outside the Black community for problematic representations of Black masculinity and femininity, violence and misogyny, psychoactive drug use, and materialism. Regardless of your take on Hip Hop, it can’t be argued that there exists no comparable artform in the White community.”
Ok ok, so you have been educated. Or at least you have a document from an institution that says you’re educated. That institution is built on the same white policies and principles you complain about. Whats worse is that your like every other educated person who points out what is wrong and fails to offer a valid solution. 2Pac also said “I GET AROUND” Fuck off!
I agree with many of your points but one that truly bothers me is the fact that you state Kanye as a great philosopher. He used to be in it for the art of the music. Now, all that is important to him is the materialism he spews out with the garbage that he made with Jay-Z. Nothing in the radio today touches the soul anymore, it does not inspire to better yourself.
This whole article seems like a contradiction. I will agree with a lot that was said in this article. I was a huge 2pac fan, I was 15 when he died. I remember his impact and how at times he was political. He seemed anti-establishment. So here is where I’m finding contradictions in this essay.
1. Sims says “Tupac never said anything about stealing rims.” However he did say, “Nygga got smoked by a fiend, tryin to floss on ’em/ blind to a broken manz dream/ a cold lesson.” -2pac on song 2 Live & Die in LA. So he is basically saying, hey, if ur ballin and flossin in the hood, expect to get robbed or killed by someone who doesn’t have that type of money. So to me, even though 2pac didn’t mention stealing rims per se, he still mentioned that your possessions can be taken from you. That pretty much sounds like the same concept of stealing rims.
Then this writer goes on to say, “Am I the only one who cringes when I hear a rapper with a record deal rhyming about how fucked-up the recording industry is? I throw-up in my mouth a little bit every time someone says that so-and-so is actually dope because they espouse this contradictory hybrid ideology.”
2. Kurupt said this on the song Respect on the Dogg Food album, mind you this is 1995. “Industry shady, my safety’s in jeopardy/ Control the mind with mental telepathy nygga.” So he is basically saying the record industry controls your views and thoughts. He is saying that you cannot be anti establishment or pro black. The industry ie Deathrow Records-who WAS OWNED BY INTERSCOPE control what comes out of an artist mouth.
Don’t believe me? Go check Jadakiss verse on “all about the benjamins.” He said a line that says “stack chips like Hebrews” It was edited completely out the song. Hebrew is the language for Jewish people. Who controls the industry? Exactly.
To say that 2pac was the opposite of todays rappers is not only misleading to the reader who doesn’t know their history, it is also incorrect.
What about songs like “picture me rollin” on 2pac’s All Eyez On Me? What about 2pac having “Ballin” TATTOED ON HIS BACK? What about him having “BOSS PLAYAZ” WITH A CROWN TATTOED ON THE BACK OF HIS DAMN NECK?
See, this writer left all this out. So my question is: What was the writer’s agenda? This article comes out 4 days before the 15 year anniversary of 2pac’s death (Sep. 13, 1996)?
Where was the outrage from this writer when this song “tupac back” came out? It’s been out since at least May, video came out in June. So why the story now?
3. Lastly, let’s go over Pac’s affiliations: Bonethugs, Spice 1, Richie Rich, Snoop, Dogg Pound, Kokane, Smiff n Wesson, Boot Camp Clik, Dru Down, E-40…etc. None of these nyggas is trying or tried to start a revolution even when they were in the same studio making tracks together. Why? How big was 2pac’s influence amongst his peers to create change?
In the words of 2pac on Ambitionz of a Ridah “My attitude was fuck it cuz muthafuckaz love it.” He basically told u that his thug image and M.O.B. lifestyle was just an image he portrayed for record sales because it generated interest. He used propaganda on purpose because he knew it worked. He was the one who taught Notorious BIG how to make radio friendly songs, according to 2pac’s own admission.
So what was so authentic and exclusionary about 2pac compared to today’s artists? If 2pac was such a political figure, he should’ve stayed in that lane. The gangsta part is what got him killed, that was not his lane.
Bottom line is this man, if you live in America, you are owned. Period. 2pac did nothing revolutionary unfortunately. No differnt from Ice Cube in the 80s and early 90s or Dead Prez from 2000.
Your post was a much better read then that clown’s whole essay. He didn’t even have a set direction on where he was going with his article. He calls out Cornell West and Michael Eric Dyson, calling them puppets when they are the ones who are really shedding light on things that others aren’t. He calls them Puppets? They aren’t as controled by the industry as someone like Pac or other mainstream rappers. He put Nas in the same category as T.I and Rick Ross. I admit Nas contradicts himself but Pac did it more then any other rapper I can think of. If anything was conceptually inconsistent it was this article this Simms clown wrote. I huge waste of my time.
First let me say that I think Tupac was the realest to ever do it. I understand his background and his understanding of our culture. Lets not act like Tupac had the discipline of Malcom. One of the reasons I luv Tupac is because the balance that he showed. He was down for the cause and really represented it like no other(maybe chuck D) but he also fell victim to the same ills that plague us today. I remember Tupac on MTV (on the set to california love)flaunting cash. I think Tupac cause Hennesy Stock to go up. Tupac talke aobout materialistic things. But overall he was a good dude and I see that more than the things that caused his demise. I don’t dislike Rick Ross or the track. I think the problem is balance where is your Talib to balance that out. wish I could write more but I just got off. Be safe this weekend bcuz somebody isn’t going to make it. Good article though
DMX IS REAL PAC IS NOT BACK BUT DMX IS BACK!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
DMX is a minister to our church of Hip-Hop
DMX is just a durg addict/alcoholic who ruined his own career…
Its a common tradition with music, and its not special to blacks because they did it with punk rock as well
Anytime summin viewed as “Dangerous” comes along the powers that be try to co-op the music
Keep the Look & Style, Eliminate the Message
When Punk Rock came out screamin about Anarcy & Rebellion, the industry took over and replaced the Sex Pistols & Bad Brains with Green Day and Blink 182
When Heavy Metal came out and sold records singing about the Dark side of life, the Industry stepped in and tried to replace hardcore acts like Slayer and Megadeath with Pop Metal Bands like Poison & Warrant who were just as loud but sang nothing but love songs
It happens all the time, its alot less about race and more about Greed
Agreed.
RON PAUL 2012
Simple point is that he gives you a bunch of problems but no solutions. So this article doesnt get my respect. FYI Tupac woulda neva had shit bad to say about non of the ppl u firein shots at he embraced the thug lifestyle and everything that came with it which includes stealin rims. SMMFH…
the article is supposed to make you think. stop waiting for someone to outline solutions for you and do it yourself. and fyi pac was saying a lot of stuff about people in songs and interviews.
2 PAC WAS THE BEST NO RAPPER TODAY CAN EVEN COME CLOSE NUFF SAID
this article is the epitome of a holier-than-thou intellectual mindset. that the writer seems uneducated to the world at large only makes it worse. it reminds me of the film the matrix: its tries to seem sophisticated, well thought out, and intelligent through its presentation and wording but in reality its points have holes easily poked in them at the very stem of their arguments and all of its sophistication is superficial. Pathetic writing, but then again this is a hhdx blog so what can you expect.
Tell me why this dudes views seem alittle extreme, millitant, and contradicting? Yeah you are part of the system but that doesn’t mean you shouldn’t try and capitalize from it. What do you expect someone like Jay-z to do? You want him to be a underground backpacker who has a decent enough fan base and little notoriety. Or a mainstream rapper/mogul who is inspiration to many young black men(aside from the selling of drugs and bragging about it.) But to be honest I don’t even know what it is this article is trying to say. Yeah there aren’t many rappers like Pac who speak on social injustice, racism, violence ect. But even pac rapped about getting money and he was part of this industry that you claim is owned and constructed by the white man. So?? what is it you want these black public figures to do? Also what do you want their white counterparts to do? In your opening statements you were talking about how Black culture constantly badgering white people and how white people supports and celebrate black music. Then you make it seem that the white man is the enemy and is intentionally trying to keep the black man in a cycle leading nowhere. Then You criticize those like Cornell West and Michael Eric Dyson who speak intelligently about these topics yet you make it seem that there efforts are for not. I think you should of gathered your thoughts more before posting this. This article is so sporadic and inconsistent it’s not even funny. Was it good for pac to speak openly speak about the hardships of blacks or wasn’t it. Tupac did films with white directors and did business deals with white people. Was Pac also a puppet? Nas is the most similar rapper I can think of when it comes to Pac and yet he’s an assimilation? Like what was it that you were trying to say?
seriously, you ain’t got it yet. it’s blatantly evident that most are not studying the culture, they are following the trends for the sake of being entertained and apart of the happening crowd. most people are not even inspired by jay, they just want to associate with his riches. they actually want him to retire because they think they will comfortably fit into his rap spot even though they have no clue of the business they want to be in.
You’re absolutely right. Notice how the author reveres Tupac like he is the perfect example of a human being. Apparently he hasn’t listened to California Love or Thug 4 Life… Pac talked about smoking, fucking bitches, going to jail, dealing drugs, etc. He’s not exactly a role model in all of his songs.
Sure he has some really great songs – Dear Mama, Keep Ya Head Up, I Ain’t Mad At Cha, Changes, and FINALLY renounced THUG LIFE – but no one remembers that. all they remember is he had it tattooed on his stomach. “A thug nigga’s in the house.” “Thug for life, high till I die why these stupidass bitches ask why” come on man there are so many terrible pac lines that make him look like a womanizer, thug, and drug addict (need I remind everyone what he was doing less than an hour before his death? the final act he did with his last breaths? KICKING THE SHIT OUT OF SOMEONE IN A CASINO)
comments are calling the professor a house nigg*r, but i bet many of you live a house nigg*r lifestyle, that you think is ghetto and real. what I typed is exactly what he took thousands of words to say.
and you are the problem he’s talking about. tupac been dead. i would agree with you if rappers were still making songs like keep your head up and brenda had a baby but all i hear is when a rapper wants to state how street and gully they are, they call tupac’s name.
and yes i am aware that the author has a Ph.D. Just because you have studied education and psychology doesn’t mean you are an expert regarding cultural differences and norms, sociology, history, economics and the complicated relationships between them. spare us your worthless opinions, fool. and if the author disagrees with my assessment then i encourage him to attach this article to his resume in the future.
cole world
and i will state that the true house nigg*rs are these rap guys who refuse to talk to the fan, but talk down to you and tell you how much better than you they are, because they are under pressure to meet the master’s goal of selling x amount of records to where they can’t even be their true selves. the wool has been completely pulled over many of your eyes. Why? because you keep buying into it. example is lil wayne, sold almost a million of cds where he tells you you are nothing and he has money, and many of you like it and get mad when someone points this out.
i have a question. if there wasn’t any rap music around, which black person would you draw inspiration from? do you even know any other blacks besides rappers to draw inspiration from? no entertainers or musicians or athletes. can you name one?
and i also agree, the caucasian commenters need to stay out of this thread.
it’s all in your head bro,if it hurts you that they have more money than you then don’t listen to it,not every song is about money,cars,and hoes.even lil wayne can sometime spit some real shit ,example(mirror song on c4)rap is about struggle and the underdog and me being white doesn’t mean i can’t relate. I love tupac,biggie,krit,j.cole,beanie sigel etc etc.sell out rappers are sell out rappers no matter what race they are pretty much every rapper that went mainstream had to do something against their will that the label told them too but that comes with the territory.
I Have never envied anyone over anything : If a person is going in the fire ,how could i envy him over some worldly matter when he is destined for fire ?!
KILL WHITEY!
that comment right above me using my name is obviously from a young caucasian person trying to distract the board from speaking a long overdue discussion. if its not a caucasian, stop being childish and step away from the grown folks table.
be like mike, i can see where you’re coming from, but you haven’t got it either. this posting is meant for thoughts like that. and i still haven’t seen one person yet who can name a prominent black person who inspires them beyond a media figure.
this posting has already predicted the comments.
This article was well written vocabulary wise and the author did make some good individual points, however the article as a whole wasn’t cohesive enough, your points were too unorganized. You took us all over the hiphop and black culture to make a fairly simple point, The song Tupac back isn’t a good representation of Tupac’s ideology. You do also contradict yourself in a few ways which does confuse the reader. Tupacs legacy CAN NEVER BE RECONSTRUCTED BY THE INDUSTRYS OR ANYONE’S INTERPRETATION OF HIM OVERALL CUS ALL YOU HAVE TO DO IS LISTEN TOO HIS MUSIC. Also you don’t acknowledge the other side of Tupac that did rap about getting money and fucking bitches, you act like he was a hiphop always politically couscous saint. This article overall was too racial for me honestly, im not saying race doesnt matter but that “the white man is holding us down mentality” is a pre 2000’s mindset. THE ONLY THING HOLDING BLACK PEOPLE DOWN IS BLACK PEOPLE. You notice that all the things that will help are race are seen as “lame or wack”, going too college, talking properly and using words with more then 2 syllables. I GET CALLED A WHITE BOY EVERYDAY AT SCHOOL BECAUSE I TALK “WHITE” AS IN EDUCATED. When a latino individual sees another one its all love, like yo what country you from?!, then they start speaking spanish and there cool…WHEN A BLACK PERSON (A BLACK MALE SPECIALCLY) SEES ANOTHER ONE THERE IS AN AUTOMATIC SENSE OF SUSPICIOUS AND COMPETITIVENESS, there is a if I dont know that nigga fuck’em attitude (ive been around a ton of black people). BLACK PEOPLE HOLD THEMSELVES DOWN, YEAH THERE ARE STILL SOME RACIST WHITE PEOPLE OUT THERE and yeah that white lady may hold her purse tighter when your standing next too her but thats not an excuse to get yours through the sytem (not through selling drugs the system ALWAYS wins). MALCOLM X spent his whole life trying to figure out what is wrong with the black community and came too a conclusion. We are too reliant on others we should own the nail salons and hair salons in the hoods (we are huge hair product consumers), but we don’t Asians do (sorry that’s not a stereotype Asians own that industry). Maybe me writing all this doesn’t matter but im tired of black people making excuses, find a passion in life and follow it “Until the End Of Time”, r.i.p Tupac.
good point
best comment
sorry about all the misspelled words I wrote so much I didn’t feel like going through my comment with editing.
Black music, White music???? fuk man there is no separation between black and white music anymore people need to stop using something as small as skin color to classify music.
Separation is the first step to segregation
well other than that this is an AMZAIN article. best i have read on hip hop dx
I’ve never understood this. Isn’t music something that’s universally human, not belonging to one race. Using this guy’s logic wouldn’t rap music belong to the caveman, weren’t they the first people to bang on a drum and go along with it….
fact of the matter is, black ppl have a slave culture that was forced upon them over hundreds of years. the civil rights movement just ended some decades ago. that’s a whole race who’s culture was taken and twisted into a culture based on slavery and that mentality cannot just be erased in 30 years. and a lot of the ppl who are in power now are ppl that never wanted equal rights for blacks. i think a whole generation will have to die before it can start to get better
I got too much of an opinion to sit here all nite n type it but i will say this: There is no black music or white music anymore unless your a racist. Different genres of music are bein fused together everyday to try to unite people, its not trying to turn black kids white or vice versa. And as far as Ross talkin bout “Tupac Back”…Muthafucka Tupac was never a corrections officer nor did he take stories from other peoples lives and try to make them his own so how the FUCK is Tupac back?? CB4 ass muthafucka! And another thing…this guy has a point about all that flashy glamour bullshit rap. All the broke ass people listenin to that shit are stupid cuz them rappers actually are tellin the listeners theyre better than they are cuz they make bank like that! Psshh as far as Im concerned most of these rappers have no love for hiphop anymore. Its all about the “benjamins” to those assholes and thats what makes the content quality of an album or song extremely poor!
first of i wanna say the Race War still out there no one can deny this fact, if you’re black you know what i’m talking about, now the main reason why the black culture or Hiphop is suffering is because black people sold out bottom-line, this new generation sold out they dont even represent us blacks no more, light skin niggaz making fun of darker skin niggaz it’s like people don’t wanna be black anymore, they don’t keep it real with themselves they don’t care about being respected and appreciated by their own kind but instead they wanna please the other man or the white folks trying to mingle and to be accepted outside of their world and that’s what selling out basically is, so its about blacks in the first place its us that bringing us down cause niggaz sold out like 2pac said “niggaz done changed” true story!
don’t even put rick ross’ name in the same fucking sentence with pac.. or meek.
This article is well written and outspoken. That being said, it hurts the fucking brain. Not simply because it contains a heavy amount of intense vocabulary (probably so that it will be deciphered by those who at least got there diploma on time)but because it is confusing and inflammatory for no real reason.
You reeled me in with the comparison of Tupac and Rick Ross + Meek Mill, but then you hit us with all of this we need to do better, but in a black way shit and it seriously made my brain hurt. I understand that alot of today’s rappers are talking about the same materialistic shit line in and line out. Such is the reason why I dont listen to the radio. But then you go on and on about how this is the white guy’s fault (which to a big extent it is, but wherein do we stop blaming them and finally improve ourselves) and it’s all just one giant article that shows off your impressive vocabulary.
I dont know if you’re trying to show by example that this is how Black people are supposed to act, or if you’re trying to spark up a revolution, but you’re points are polarizing. I dont know guy, maybe I just need to read this alot slower or something to get it
Either become owned and make a shit ton of money under a controlled industry, or make jack shit with a liberated free thought making music.
“Wah wah, rappers are selling out.” Bullshit, if a rapper wants to make money he is forced to sell out. That is the only way they are going to get food on the table. Mos Def is probably one of the realest out right now. Realest as in talks about politics and what is wrong with the world in his raps. But he doesn’t nearly sell as many cds as Lil Wayne, who raps about sex, drugs, and violence.
Yes, Tupac spoke of a lot of the harsh realities of America. But he also raved about the money he was stacking.SO he was also part, if not the beginning of the movement to spit about the new and opulent living rappers acquired.
The bottom line is if you want to make money in the rap game, your free thought will be obscured. So a listener has no right to judge the rappers making the most money because 9/10 fans/listeners/enthusiast would do the same shit. Quit complaining world.
Peace
your wrong my dude, art is belief. there’s no room to dwell on materialism when you got something to say. to sell out is to send a filthy message, to speak your beliefs is to liberate and question the minds of the people. pac rapped about his money, not because he was flaunting it but because he was trying to send a message that YOU TOO can have this lifestyle by simply speaking the truth and NOT conforming. he said look at me i got the most poetic prolific shit out right now AND i got all of these luxuries simply by believing in myself. to base your entire CAREER and all your lyrics around cars drugs bitches and bullshit is to lie to people because the truth about rappers like rick ross is that they are selling emptiness and trash. and guess what,the best rappers/fans/listeners/enthusiasts ARE the one percenters so 1 out of 10 people who read this will get what the fuck im saying. peace god.
HHDX?
After reading this article & reading the comments I will say this: Black people: we did this to ourselves. Yes, I said it and I repeat. We… did… this… to… ourselves. We sat and watched while Malcolm X was gunned down and didnt bother to pick up where he left off. We sat and watched while Martin got his death calling card, and declared the dream dead. Same with 2pac, Biggie, & others. Since we so “real”, I’ll say this. Ya’ll don’t give a fuck about 2Pac or any of those names I mentioned. If you did, we should be investigating and asking questions till there’s no tomorrow. If you really cared about 2Pac, it would show through your actions. In fact I will stick my own neck out and say I don’t care that much about 2Pac’s death because if I did, I would be all in Suge, Jimmy Iovine, or any other person affiliated with him until we got some answers. Look at this shithole of a country we’re in where they assasinate whoever the fuck they want and all we do is sit and mope about how things is fucked up but don’t do shit. Be real with yaself for once, you don’t care because it didn’t happen to you. Even Afeni Shakur knows ya’ll wouldnt give a fuck about Pac if he wasn’t as talented as he was. That’s why they pimp yo asses. I honestly ain’t mad at the rappers for talking down to us, yes I said us, you included. Because with all the talk about how we say we for this and for that, you ain’t even for what’s right so what’s left. And please don’t say your down for the revolution because if it meant no pussy, no money, uncertainty in a place to stay, you would say fuck this shit I gotta get money, a bad bitch, and get them new J’s. Man, i’m 25 and I hate my generation cuz they such pussies. They’ll fight each other before they fight the real problem. Displaced anger at its finest. Idk about ya’ll but I’m sick of being pushed around. It’s time to step the fuck up NOW! Fight for what YOU believe in. Our ancestors got hung, maimed, raped, pillaged, dehumanized, demoralized, stripped of knowledge of self and knowledge of history and what’s your response… In fact, why even bother saying this shit, you would rather live in shit than let the world watch you carry a shovel. Lupe said it best “A rebel in yo thoughts ain’t goin make it halt/ if you don’t become an actor, you’ll never be a factor.” And then I woke up.
Oh yeah I forgot, I’m not saying this be an asshole, I’m saying this because I love us. Peace God
Looooong boring article full of pro black propaganda bullshit and big words. It’s simple homie, Cash Rules Everything Around Me. Money is power, and hip hop whether you want to believe it or not is a job and a business not a fucking culture. I am so sick of these stuck up niggaz blaming everything on todays rappers because their favorite rapper fell off. Uh news flash if the fans don’t buy it they wouldn’t do it. Isn’t the nature of a business to sell products people want? Music has evolved and that backpacker rhyming the biggest word competition bullshit doesn’t make money anymore. Most of these dumb fucks who keep screaming hip hop is dead, don’t vote with their money everyone screams Rakim this and that but when he drop albums the shit sells about 2k copies. Fake fans respect don’t extend to their wallet i guess. So it seems Hip Hop has fake fans and Rap has the real fans. Before you attempt to discredit someone you need to have credit. And i don’t know who the fuck you are or what the fuck you have done besides this unnecesary article.
How are you going to comment on something that in your very first sentence, you basically admit to not reading or even being able to understand it if you did?
Anyone who wasn’t alive or a handful of years old when 2Pac was still around shouldn’t be leaving comments about this article too. You have no real idea as to how far ahead 2Pac was at that time compared to every other artist in his genre and for the most part still is to this day. Rap & Hip-Hop basically took nearly a decade nap after his death in terms of the quality of music and the message behind it.
The fact that in the mid 1990s the genre had 2Pac, and today we have someone like Lil Wayne claiming to be the “Greatest Rapper Alive” almost shows the true lack of growth in the industry.
comments like rocc’s come from teenage to early adult caucasian males who leave comments to joke around and cause confusion. no black person would open a comment complaining about using a pro black stance. this is why people have stated that caucasians should not comment on this subject. that comment proves to me that that person has no clue whatsoever about what the article is saying, they’re just reading words and think their emotions, which they mistake as being an opinion, matter.
if you dont think Hip Hop is a culture you dont know what Hip Hop is plain and simple
This guy ignores the existence of metal, and other dark rock forms that are violent, negative, and generally speaking produced by white people.
not fully agreed with, but fully appreciated
Finally someone said it ! Still can’t believe the outlawz let that ride. Tupac died and mainstream hiphop continued its metamorphosis into a musical version of walmart. (cheap underpriced products) that are peddled within every lowerclass neighborhood across the country. Shit is changing though. No longer do artists have to rely on majors to get that money. (enter tech n9ne). He’s no tupac but strange music is setting the precident for young aspiring artists who dint want to become dependant on that major label tit. Labels like strang and rhymesayers are hiohops last shining star in the night air. I’m an optimist THINGS WILL GET BETTER!
I appreciate this article very much. This is something people should think about more often, thank you for speaking about it. Not because of anything racial, but because of what music nowadays is doing to people. Think about the kids that grow up brainwashed off this shit. And if you don’t like it then do something about it. Just my opinion.
For the record, I am not black or white I just listened to Pac when he spoke.
I see the author loves 2Pac. Tupac was multifaceted. I am 34 and I was a fan of tupac from the jumpoff. Pac himself was a diverse persona. While you embrace aspects of Pac others embrace the other side of the coin.
Clearly music is all over the map. KRIT and Lamar are god-send in the musical climate today and to take shots at them only divides the generation gap. Where there is division there is conflict. These artist today are in a completely different arena. They are faced with a different economic reality in relationship to their music. KRIT, Lamar, Stalley and a hand full of other artist are speaking to the bourgeoning generation just like Pac was doing back then.
Historically I applaud your article. I usually dont get writing like this on a site like this. But overall these guys have no idea who pac was. Maybe we don’t but he wasn’t as myopic as the media makes him out to be.
Why Asian girls go for white men (MOST of the time) is a complex issue; but I think there are a few basic reasons for why this is so common (these are only my opinions except for the stats). One is, men from wealthier, more powerful nations and races will snatch up women from weaker races and nations. For example, in America, more Native American women married white men, rather than the other way around. From a biological and socioeconomic standpoint, women go for money and security. Another thing is, most East Asian women don’t have a strong cultural pride as Hispanic, black, Middle Eastern, and Indian/Pakistani women do. I see Indians/Pakistanis and Hispanics proudly speaking their languages to each other all over college campuses. But Asians, meh, I guess the international students do, but the ones born here don’t do it as much, like the girl in the video who said “when my ex speaks Mandarin, he sounds very gay to me.†Most East Asian women love white culture and desperately want to be a part of it. Asian culture is very patriachal and puts alot of pressure on Asian women to be sweet, humble, submissive (especially around their controlling husbands, fathers, and meddling Mothers-in law), beautiful (aka: look as caucasion as possible), highly educated, an expert chef, and constantly pregnant with boys. Marrying a white man and rejecting Asian guys is a way of rejecting a culture that rejected them first and is a way of finally escaping an oppressive culture and easily assimilating into the liberty, loving majority. White, western raised men, grew up in a culture that (at least nowadays) looked upon women as equals and have been courting/dating longer than Asian cultures have (Asian cultures have only recently started shedding arranged marriages) thus they are generally better with women and relationships. They know how to not be too shy around girls or (as is the case with Indian/Pakistani guys) seem too desperate and needy either. Asian women (having been raised in an oppressive society) are experts in being gentle, humble, and submissive. This highly feminine sweetness can be very appealing to white men who are surrounded by white women who (because of the feminist movement and modern cultural views) in a sense have forgotten how to be women and aggresively demand equality in marriage rather selflessly serve their husbands as Asian women are trained to do. Asian women are thrilled at the prospective of having a husband who actually appreciates this about them, rather than take it for granted as Asian men do, because Asian men are generally used to it. The humbleness of Asian women, and the appreciativeness of white guys creates a perfect combination. According to statistics: white-white couples have a fifty percent divorce rate, Asian men/white women have a seventy to eighty percent divorce rate, and Asian women/ white men have a twenty to thirty percent divorce rate. Although Asian marriages last longer than western marriages, we have to admit, the few good western marriages that do exist have a special depth that Asian marriages usually lack. Women of all cultures crave that, especially Asian women, who don’t want to end up like their parents- just “tolerating†each other instead of being truly in love and having a best friend for life. Hollywood, romance novels, and other love stories usually portray white men as the handsome (preppy) ultra cool hero who sweeps the woman off of her feet. Usually, Asian guys are the nerdy side kicks. Indian guys have comical accents, medicore/below average looks, goofy personalities (Mean Girls, The Simpsons, Harold and Kumar, etc) and Chinese guys are computer nerds, math geeks, creepy serial killers, or just plain weird (William Hung). Many Asian women (unfortunately) buy into this stereotype that white guys are cool and Asians guys are silly, feminine nerds. The irony is, Asian women on the other hand, are viewed by Hollywood and society as beautiful and exotic (rather than nerdy and geeky). White society has a different standard of beauty when it comes to Asian people (men and women). You’ll rarely see a truly hot Asian girl with a white guy. I saw a pair of Pakistani sisters once: the older sister was short, dark, talked like a trucker, and had a large nose. Her younger sister was thin, tall, porcelin white, and had silky straight hair. The younger sister is the ideal Pakistani beauty, and yet her older sister (who Pakistani guys wouldn’t even look twice at) married a gorgeous, tall white lawyer. Speaking of sexual attraction, human beings are generally attracted to people who are different from them- but not too different. White skin and black skin is too different. But Asian and white is different, but close enough. Because white people think Asian women are exotic and lovely, and because Asian women are so enamored by white culture (including white looks) the thought of having a child with blonde hair and other caucasion features is appealing to them. And also, if you’re a minority living in another country, the odds are against you that the “purity†of your bloodline will last a long time. If you are a new immigrant (Asian/black/hispanic) living in America, within a few generations, your bloodline WILL get mixed in with other races. If you have a problem with that, go back to your home country, because that is an undeniable fact. Women (modern, open minded ones at least) usually aren’t as concerned about bloodline and preserving their heritage as men are. Thus, you’ll see more minority women with white men than the reverse. The only exception is black women/ white men which is a whole other story, and will require another blog entry. Finally, minorities usually produce their own little cliques when they live in another country. They are encouraged to see everyone in the group as their brothers and sisters. Therefore, Asian women will look at Asian guys as brothers in this strange new land, and see white guys as exotic, potential romantic partners. I have an Asian female friend who said she wouldn’t date Asian guys because “its like Im dating my brother.†These are only my guesses. Feel free to reply!
do us a favor and stop trying to take away from the real subject. once i saw you named asians and whites then called blacks minorities, i knew where you’re coming from. go away there are other threads on this site for you.
I agree with most of that. I’m from Vancouver, where our generation is highly integrated. White culture has been flushed with almost everyother, aside from Europe, and likewise. If you’re from East Vancouver, you speak with an accent, influenced by all the other accents that mix themselves up, creating East Vancouver’s accent. There is no such thing as a culture of isolation, aside from our Chinese population, who are still apart of an everlasting rascist way of thinking. Other than the Chinese, the Vietnamese, Filipino, and Japanese women, who are about 20 percent of our population(The Chinese being 50%, White people being 15%, Black people 5%, Brown people 10%) are largely attracted to White men. They aren’t shy of the others, including their own, but still mostly attracted to someone who resembles what they saw on television, or seen in film. This isn’t hard to see. And White men are the same. I grew up listening my father’s comments regarding Asian women. It was regarded as a fact growing up that Asian women were far more attractive than White women, and we all noticed this. My first girlfriend was Vietnamese, her Chinese bestfriend was my second in bed, her cousin was my third, and I could remember never giving a White woman a second thought. White women were almost part of a different culture than the culture we had embraced. The White women only dated White guys, and this was a funny fact about them. White women very much did not fit in. Nowadays, White women aren’t so particular, but only if she’s born after ’88, if she was born prior to this, she’s the stereotypical White girl. I’ve only ever dated one White girl, and she was not apart of our culture at all. Dating her was 3 years of something almost exotic. Today though, Asian women are no longer as attractive as they used to be. That White women has a light around her, and a lot of mystery. If she’s blonde hair and blue eyes, men of every race and culture give her the top of the shelf. So I think it’s whatever woman that your population, culture, or neighborhood has not been spoiled with that is seen as the woman of desire. I’m almost always the only White male, in several of the circles of friends I have, so this is not my opinion alone. This is the opinion of the most multi-cultural society in the world most likely. Asian woman can be flawless, but only if she’s still seen as an exotic oppertunity.
real talk, y’all gonna let these clowns fuk up the only real discussion we’ve had on here for months? LIKE CATS IS SO SOFT Y’ALL LET SOME eRACISTS STOP YOU FROM TALKING TO YOUR BROTHERS? absorb that
What so African Americans calling each other nigga is alright, and not just perpetuating a cycle? SMH.
The only problem with articles like this, is that they always Over-Simplify. It has never been “Nationalists vs TeamGetMoney.” And, the idea that 2pac never celebrated riches or “talked about his wrist being on froze” is utterly RIDICULOUS. In fact, the reason Pac is so loved is that he WAS the perfect paradox between the two, PLUS he backed both sides of it up with ACTION. He got the riches and wealth, but he applied it back. He had the revolutionary mind state, and he SPREAD it. Without discrimination between whose “down” and who ain’t. Pac ran with Hollywood stars, and he also ran with stone-cold killers and gang members, and he also ran with OG Panthers, and he was the SAME PAC no matter what.
2pac really was “Che Guevara with Bling On.”
And the thing about it is… that’s the way it has to be. Because in our community, people don’t respect you unless you have something PHYSICAL to show for yourself. Unless you have physical representation of how your ideas have brought you “success” and “prosperity.” Khalid Muhammad and Muhammad Ali both talked about the same issue.
It’s not the same Here, as being in Cuba or in Kenya or in eastern Europe. The gap is not as in-your-face. You have to be able to master all realms and move in ANY arena here. Because it’s not like other places where the caste system is OBVIOUS. You have to be clever enough to make people see it, without them putting up that defensive wall.
Americans love to talk about freedom fighters, but they despise Upheaval. Other places, they don’t care about delving into the chaos of TRUE social change. And this is why it’s so much harder here. For as much as people like to talk about “The Revolutionary War,” the people in this country are VERY Anti-Revolutionary. Peoples first reaction is, “If you don’t like it here, go somewhere else,” when that’s totally a bullshit cop-out to not address the problems.
This article is good. But, it falls into a lot of the same old traps of speaking in generic terms. You have to be more nuanced about it. Because Jay-Z has had just as much to say about Mumia, Katrina, the Prison system, the Criminal inJustice system, foreign wars, as Common has had to say about “bitches” and chasing ass.
I can wholy appreciate your interpretation of this article as well as finding the holes in it. I was fortunate enough to read this one specifically. Articles such as this are just as much a paradox as the subject they are “attempting” shed light on.
2pac started alot of Bling / wrist on froze trends… One of which was the BMW watches and rings. The gold egyptian queen head. Quite a few fashion and jewelry trends. But, that’s not all of what Pac was.
Pac just gets treated with a special respect where people actually delve into his complexity.
Whereas people these days, who obvious don’t even really know who Pac was, only judge emcees on the surface. It’s easy to put Dead Prez vs. Jay-Z, but obviously, behind the scenes they have some common grounds, or they wouldn’t have done music together.
No unity no life for us! We will neva have justice in a FORIEGN GOVERNMENT! As long as your black there will be a constant war against U! Crackers FEAR The Brown Skinned Man! protect yourself wit education and weapons! be smart and wise and love each other, y cant blacks go back to unity, were all just part of a system that from the time it was created had no thought or consideration for the brown skinned man! So I might be wild, I might call ladies hoes, I might be violent but thats cause were born into the sinn! When I was cummin up Pac help me OVERSTAND these things! he help me to direct my enrgies to the real problems in my life n for him im still here. To me wen these gay ass rappers holla out his name its really showin the world who they should be paying attention too. Pacs mom is a soldier and mutulu is a soldier n Pac was a soldier. He was a leader, a teacher, a poet, and a brown skinned man behind Enemy Lines!!!
Im not gonna speak on all the racial shit cus that doesnt matter too him. Tupac was a very complex person too me. He was a true artist and Artist draw from there environment. I can just see Death row influenced him….I dont think any pac fan should claim they know every part of his philosophy and reasoning and just him as a person. I think the big change with pac was when he went to jail for a year (I think) for something he didnt do, and he realized everyone around him was motivated by money. He even said “fear is stronger then love”. Then he said “I dont have no friends I have people im cool with but I dont have no friends”, he was adamant about not “clicking up, be by yourself”. Pac named thug life he didn’t create it, he aligned himself with it cus he wanted the people living the life to be able to relate too him so he could speak too them directly. He wanted to stay connected to the black community. Noone wants to see an African American that niggas in the hood cant relate with preachin at them. Pac didn’t “preach” change, he documented reality and showed the BRUTALITY of it in order to wake people up and spark change, He turned himself into a thug to put it in the forefront of Americas mind (he was the biggest rapper of his time) yet he could still speak intelligently so people couldn’t blow him off. I think there was pac (intelligent,ballet taking, art loving reading) and there was the image that pac self projected (thug life) for a REASON. Thats not to say the persona Pac projected didn’t have any roots in his true personality. But the thug persona (which he undeniably had) started melting into him as a person when fucked up shit began too happen too him (going too jail for something he didn’t do, having his friends turn they back on him, There was a point where he truly wasn’t popular in the industry)After he went through all that and went too death row where he really was AROUND THUGS, it probably blurred his personality and intentions (if you look at his interviews you can see some contradiction) Pac was killed at a transitional period in his life I think he was still finding himself people forget he was only 25. I could go on and on. Fuck suge knight. Hope detox has at least one song dedicated too pac on it seeing as how its Dres last album. r.i.p Tupac Shakur.
Rapers thats not a type o, thats what they are, they exploit the hood n dont give back in ways that the communities can see, these rapers make millions of dollars a year and yet in my hood(mtvernonny, home of puffy, heav d, pete rock,) we have nothing! I guess they can throw 50 thousand at a whore at a club or buying clothes and promoting other rapers of the black communities are good(platinum, diamonds, crystal,etc). Point blank its our fault we have to stop supporting the exploiters of our hood, communities, and culture! rapers constantly giv up black secrets, slang, weed spots,certian codes, its all dry snitchin, and for whutt? I have mad love for all races, especially there females i do not discriminate at all, i just think that other races have there homelands to return to, n they have there secrets about there culture or rituals that they hold on to, we as black americans cannot think or believe that our history or culture is worth any less than the next mans! to me my blackness means everything n I like wen other spokespeople of the black community feel the same! We have to make these rapers more responsible for being representatives of us or stop supporting them! Peace to the Real and Death to All the haters!
Best article i have ever read on this site. Nationalism or Assimilation? That is the end decision after self-realization. Most African-Americans dont know their own history or the history of the country when dealing with African-Americans. The end of slavery and civil right movement were only given to maintain order in America not to return human rights to African Americans. They both given to head off the potential for militant behavior and mutany by African Americans and their suppporters. Fast forward to the 90’s and you see the same thing happening with Hip-Hop. With Hip-hop beginning to provide a voice and indentity to millions of youth who had either no idea about the civil rights movement or didnt identify with it, the government saw this as a problem. Add this to the fact you have two rappers with huge followings, both of whom do not focus on assimilation but nationalism. Then you see why Tupac and Biggie were killed. Exit introspective self-identifying, unifying music….and enter Bling Bling, and the Shiny Suit Era all the way down to cookin with Lil B and Flocka’s countles BOW BOW BOW’s. HipHop is now a way for the dominate culture to be entertained by the ‘shuckin and jivin’ negroes (see minstrel shows & jazz #NothingNew. And whats worse is African Americans play right into this with the feeling of “Sheeet imma get this money fuck the consequences” Well the consequence is a highjacking of another manisfestation of Black Culture that could have been transformational but now is just a further means of stripping Black identity and selling it to the highest bidder.
anyone who doesnt see this for what it really is and who percieve it as “intellectual” “intelligent” is a fool, and has fallen into the trap of believing in the illusion that just because the author has access to a thesaurus what he/she is stating holds weight, it doesnt.
This was nothing more than the narrow minded perceptions of an intellectually challenged individual who views people as nothing more than the colour of their skin and believes in maintaining and furthering segregation amongst the various “races”
very sad…
Cosigned.
i completely agree
One of the best comments I seen except for the one I made about this idiot previously.
You guys are either young, or just plain idiots. Clearly you didnt get the point of this article, and no offense, but if you’re white, you wont really understand anyway. You dont know the culture. FOH
Jay
I’m 30 with an IQ of 185 and have been a part if Hip Hop culture since 1990 and from the name you posted under along with your message I can guarantee your
late teens to early 20s no higher than a high school education poss studying something in college but nothing impressive as you have no greater than a mid level intelligence prolly float around the middle level performance in academia, your from the suburbs and you really don’t understand either this article or Hip Hop culture it’s history or why it was created in the first place
and “white people don’t understand hip hop culture” is a beyond retarded statement, so The Beastie Boys don’t understand the culture? MC Serch doesn’t understand the culture? Jedi Mind Tricks don’t understand Hip Hop culture? child please run along now…
Free your mind proff… You appear stuck in a dimension that’s fading away..
Stop complaining, let Ross and Mill celebrate a rapper who inspired them when they were young.
That attitude is the problem son…its not okay. Word to Bey.
Didn’t read the article but 2pac is far different from any rapper seen today. Yes some of his songs were about partying… but songs like Changes, Brenda’s Got a Baby, and I Ain’t Mad at Cha actually had a message.
Rappers today seem to have one message “I’m rich”. We get it. That is why today’s mainstream rap is mediocre.
Fuk outta here. What type of idiot comments on something they havent even read….again kind sir….get tha Fuk outta here wit that!
Good to see an article where people aren’t arguing over Watch the Throne and Tha Carter IV. With that said, I do have a problem using someone else’s name especially when it doesn’t represent that person. Not to say Pac never rapped about bitches and money, but the song ‘Tupac Back’does nothing to further his legacy. Just because you recite a couple lines from Pac doesn’t mean youre paying homage. The same way rappers uses Malcolm X’s “By Any Means Necessary” to decribe the drug game when it has nothing to do with what Malcolm stood for.
People should enjoy the music and stop looking at entertainers as our heroes anyway. Rappers don’t have an obligation to kick knowledge. I just wish people would stop looking at rappers as our leaders.
You do realize that malcom x was a pimp and a drug dealer though right i mean i had to write a paper anaylyzing everything he did and he did some crazy stuff that some of these rappers talking about all you have to do is read the knowledge is right in front of you
I get what you’re saying Smitty. But that was in his past. By Any Means was about blacks doing what they had to to have equal rights, not glorifying the drug and pimp game.
SALUTE! This article is LONG overdue. People have become used to this “anything is ok, as long as I call it ok” psychology. Not only is it destructive, it’s ignorant. And the really sad part is…the younger cats don’t get it. They actually think this type of…sideways talk…is HONORABLE. I’m concerned…very concerned about the state of the mind right now in the young black male. If this type of…”anything goes” psyche is acceptable…where does it end?
In contrast, most entertainment in the White community is psychologically healthy and embraced in conjunction with educational objectives? This is perception. The same messages are projected in white music, it’s just that African Americans have been raised to hate themselves
To acknowledge that the white community has a broader scale of educational activities available to them for artistic expression and recreation than the black community, but then to say it makes you sick to hear rappers say they hate the recording industry is very interesting. Just as you said Tupac was â€just trying to make good†out of the “dirty†street life he was handed, just like Tupac, many of today’s artists make it clear that they use hip hop as a means of taking their talent and turning it into a better life. That doesn’t mean they have to be in love with the industry, just as Pac didn’t have to be in love with the streets.
To take a few uplifting songs or lines from a man who supported the belief that the black community should better position themselves through force and violence instead of peace, and using it in an attempt to tear down or tarnish some of the visionary and talented artists in the industry today puts into question any of the points you made which may have otherwise been received with a bit more acceptance. You deem Kanye West, a flashy and materialistic man of intense ego, a “great philosopher†but Kendrick Lamar (10 years his junior, who makes it very clear through his music that he wants to learn and make sense of life) gets bashed as a watered down industry model of inconsistency? We, as humans, are naturally complex. Tupac, the street thug who committed and immortalized through his music, acts of violence yet turned around and speaks with a conscience, is hardly the picturesque image of certainty. No matter what his motives for violence, if he felt that guilty about them he would never have recorded them to be heard by people of all ages for years to come (see: hit em up). People relate to the honesty hip hop presents, and honesty usually comes along with contradictions and questions.
Today’s artists merely speak their opinion, if the black community is broken, I assure you hip hop is not at the root of it and it will not be the thing that completely repairs the damage. Nor should we be looking to a form of artistic expression to do so.
Maybe you were right and there will always be a market for people wanting to “help repair the black communityâ€, perhaps because our neighborhoods rarely have fresh vegetables readily accessible, forcing us to consume foods which significantly increase our rates of heart disease and Alzheimer’s. Maybe we do need someone to uplift us, contrary to your suggestion, but I’m certain no one will be looking in your direction to do it.
One of the realest responses to this article that I’ve seen so far…
(applauds this man’s comment)
Yep. These are real righteous words right here.
It’s amazing the mass of idiots that come on here and hate on this guy.
Yeah yall keep partying and getting fucked up. Hip Hop is a movement not a category of music and any of you who think that it has no responsibility to the education of the people dont know the history.
Everyone that says tupac talked of jewelry doesnt understand the bind Death Row placed him in by bailing him out of jail. He did not have full control of his music or how he wanted to portray himself. Just look at his shit before Death Row and look at the Makaveli album (only commercial song was Toss it up), there is none of that bullshit.
You think Warren Buffet running around buying chains? Dude had the same house since forever, barely buys new shoes and on the verge of owning all your asses
Keep hip hop dead cause ignorance is bliss
Rappers sell our people a dream, they don’t show the struggle, and these rich rappers, they preach to the youth some of the most backward priorities. These are what were looking up to and idolizing and it does nothing to uplift our minds..Aleast these days niggas will have to read books to learn anything of reality
Education is the key, seek knowledge everywhere uplift your brothers and sisters Unite and create for yourselves a good economy, then become a voice which will not and cannot continue to be rejected, disrespected and ignored. Lets make them portray us how we want to be portrayed through the media
I love 2pac but don’t write an article semi-bashing artists like Kendrick Lamar and Big K.R.I.T because their lyrics show to sides of the negro mind when Tupac’s music did the exact same thing. Pac could talk about how drugs were killing the community in which we are forced to live and then spit “im up before sunrise, first to hit the block, little bad motherf@#$er with a pocket full of rocks. Pac’s whole mentality for his duplictic rhymes, besides it being naturally humanistic was to reach all types of black men. That’s why you have Waka Flocka fans that love pac and Nas fans who do to. He realized that there is barrier between socially aware brothers and ingnorant brothers that many people can not walk both sides of. So when artist like Big KRIT raps about the many social ills that plague his community and then spits about rims it isn’t because he’s some new industry toy, its because he understands to different negro mentalities that many of us fight with. The need for change, and the want for a piece of change and all the frivolous baubles that comes with it. These brothers are putting out deep introspective pieces that 2pac is probably very proud of.
How proud would he be of you for seperating brothers trying to do the right thing from artists like Dead Prez simply because they may say “ho, cash, or rims” when Pac himself discussed the same subject matter, and it wasn’t because he was on death row and it wasn’t because he waw high. Pac understood to reach all black men, to get us all to see the change we need he had to speak in a language gripping enough to grab each persons attention. Tupac ain’t back and he won’t be coming back but to dismiss artists who are going against what the industry wants right now because they don’t fit your description is elitist and that my friend is a very amerikkkan attitude.
I also get annoyed and irritated with the industry when they fabricate stories about dead artists to make more money off of a tragic death. It degrades the art, and the artist and the labels should be ashamed of themselves, worshiping death over life. There is no winner, only money made for a industry head that has way more then enough already.
“Cause they make us hate ourself and love they wealth.”
great line, and its true, for blacks, Hispanics,American Indians, everyone even some white people…
Neither are even close to Tupac. Meek is better the The fake Boss of nothing. But still no one will ever be Tupac. He will always be him and no one can duplicate him ever.
That was probably the best article I have read on this site. Great detail, TUPAC Back!!! I was personally angry when I heard this sorry excuse for a song.
Is Tupac Back ?
I thought he was dead
Shot in the desert by niggas an Feds/
Nigga this article sucked first of all cause tupac said fuck the people after that one bitch said he tried to blah blah blah. second im mixed, and you said well never be able to escape people talking black this black that, but you JUST DID IT!!!! Tupac wasnt anywhere near the best rapper dead or alive, he was just a tool TOO you dumb fuck, and he wasnt a SAINT!!! just cause muh fuckas talkin bout diamonds NOWADAYS doesnt mean tupac didnt glorify violence, sex, drugs, and liqour. But you swollow it up cause you have a qoute of him contradicting himself saying he DOESNT glorify it…. but in his other song you heard him say ” bitches and shit, money over bitches, smoke weed,HENNESSEY!!” you get my drift? Just cause youll ride tupacs dick even after his casket dropped dont mean shit, your a hypocrite too! tupac IS one of the best of all time, But there is no need for this article because one tupac never GOT nearly anywhere near what rick ross makes (cause suge) so whos to say if tupac wasnt alive today he wouldnt be talkin bout diamonds, I bet you he would have….
tupac was a hypocrite…. you are too… and everyone else in the world.
but the great thing about tupac is he called the krackers out on their bullshit.
cops, judges, lawyers. all evil.
@ Xavier Your such a dumb fuck!
Clearly you’ve no idea about Black History, HipHop and the arroundings in which it started. Your comparing Rick Ross to Tupac? Tupac wore diamonds and rolxes, versace etc etc, because he started off with nothing. HE got money and he wanted to enjoy it, and righfully so! BUt that has nothing to do with what his substance as a rapper was. Tupac wasnt the best? HE certainly was one OF the best rappers of all time. The reason he IS that even now is coz of what he had toi say, and the way he said it. Why you think everybody, even rappers themselvesm, use Pac as a level of greatness. A level to which rappers should strive, coz pound for pound, he had the MOST needful things to say. Sure he talked about bitches, money of bitches and Hennesey, nigga coz taht wat he did in his Free time….you need to get your thoughts straight, coz your Not understanding the entire subtance of this article….
A well written article, but I feel this piece nothing more than the author preaching his belief that the differences between white and black must be identified. This to me is nothing more than what needs to stop. Pointing out these differences is nothing more than further segregating what should not be segregated. Viewing people by color is the issue. It’s upsetting to me that people still feel this way.
And relating to rap, I find it odd that the author refers to Kanye West, one of the most flashy, swagger personified rappers out, as a “philosopher” but takes issue with Kendrick Lamar and Big K.R.I.T.
Word is bond.
i dont think you completely understood the article….. the author was not pointing out the differences, he was pointing out how black artists gotta water down the blackness of their music to feed a larger market.
I perceived it as specifying black and white…obviously I could be wrong. People can interpret things in a thousand different ways.
FYI
“we got money for war but cant feed the poor”
is from Changes NOT keep your head up son
“You know it’s funny when it rains it pours
They got money for wars, but can’t feed the poor
Say there ain’t no hope for the youth and the truth is
it ain’t no hope for tha future
And then they wonder why we crazy
I blame my mother, for turning my brother into a crack baby
We ain’t meant to survive, cause it’s a setup
And even though you’re fed up
Huh, ya got to keep your head up
” – Keep Your Head Up
so yeah it is
its in both songs
yea I feel what he’s say, BUT PAC wasn’t a saint by no means!!!
C’com sun
pac wasnt a saint, he never claimed to be.
but he never did anything as bad as the crooked cops, judges, and businessmen.
and if he was a “saint”, he probably would have never made it in the rap game…. its thug life nigga.
Makaveli is back.
hes just not famous yet.
no one in the rap game rite now is close to pac. but someone out there is, we just gotta find him.
pac will come back reincarnated, he wont look like pac did, but the ideas will be the same.
I think Pac was one of the greatest of all time but gtfo
“Shakurian Philosophy” hahahahaha hahahahahah tsssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssss
Thank you
DEATH TOO ALL THESE FAKE RAPPERS….THE INDUSTRY IS TOO CONTROLLED TO HAVE ANOTHER TU[AC…ONCE THEY FOUND THE FORMULA TO SUCCESS THEY PLANTED THESE MINDLESS DRONES U HEAR TODAY…STOP SUPPORTING THEM…….TUPAC ROLLIN IN HIS GRAVE
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rRixZliY18c
support a kid like me just enjoyin himself
Shouldn’t Rick Ross be screaming biggie back.. Hes a little fat to be pac. ?
I don’t “party”, “get fucked up”, or look to an art form to raise or educate my children, peers, or self. Bottom line, we need to be responsibility for our own community and stop pointing the finger or placing the blame on hip hop.
You can’t restrict how people artistically express themselves because your placing the responsibility of shaping our community on their shoulders.
If it has a positive effect on culture, wonderful, if not, we can’t blame ARTISTS for writing about and speaking about what they know and earning a living from it if possible. AGAIN, if there are issues in our community we shouldn’t be looking to hip hop to fix them. The idea of expecting education to seek me out through music as opposed to taking the initiative myself to read books and form my own opinions it what sounds idiotic.
Finally got to reading this article. It was cool. It brought up a few good points.
I agree that Pac was truly way past a bunch of people…but he also fell victim to the very thing that this article speaks. From what I understand, his main mission ultimately was to get out there any way he possible could so he can build his voice up to reach many people and speak on the many ills that go on and how we as a people pimp ourselves basically.
Maybe I’m wrong in thinking this… I truly don’t know. What I do know is that we all must become more and more mature on the strive for perfection; learn ourselves; learn the gifts we have been given and use those gifts to make a difference in at least one person’s life; know our very purpose and what God wills for us individually and as a collective; then set forth on the journey.
Maybe I’m thinking too much into it. But maybe I’m not having people think enough.
Pac was way too intelligent and powerful and honest he had no chance.
He was also one of the few people his age who could remember when this country systematically murdered every Black leader it produced during the 60s and 70s.
So Pac was most likely murdered by the Feds.
WHAT??!!! Man, it’s too many big wurds in this shyt. I don’t read so I don’t understand shyt like this, Bruh Bruh. I just know it said sumthin bout Tupac and Rick Ross. THUG LIFE, BITCHES!!!
screen name “ignorant nigga” your post is obviously fake bruh get outta here wit dat sht cuz it aint funny homie..
Yo Momma, Hoe!
I iz ignant, Bitch. And you calling somebody fake with tha name Makavelli, like u really dat nigga. GTFOH
This article does nothing for the community. Neither does the authors mentality. Focus on negative, only get negative. Let go of the temptation and negativity and things can become clearer.
Also, keep focusing on and complaining about color. It will get you nowehere in the America of today. It doesnt improve self a all. It contributes to further self destruction. You’re just as sheep as the sheep you critique. Unhappy at life. Try a different viewpoint.
You Win for your choice of topic, you also win for your analysis of Tupac’s genuineness in contrast to the so called Che Guevara with bling. but you lose for your opening statements. One in particular that I found makes you look shall I say not so well traveled is when you say “I was reminded of this the other day at a party with my brother. Most of the people at the party were White; most of the music at the party was Black. I’ve never been to a party where most of people there were Black and most of the music was White. Except for church”? C’mon really? You sound like you’ve been stuck in a room reading books on life instead of living it. There are plenty parties/ gatherings etc.. that Black folk frequent that don’t have so called Black music. The truth is Black people are very dynamic and just because some don’t listen to a type of music doesn’t mean shit.
Your reference to Jay z saying “he does it for the culture” is also weak because before Jay z there were little to no multi-millionaire rappers, So ide say that is somewhat of a good look for US as a whole. I’m getting the impression that you are somewhat racist as well in your analysis of Nas referencing Joe DiMaggio and Marilyn Monroe. It’s like you’re saying because these people are white, black people shouldn’t be looking up to them? And in my understanding being pro black is not being anti-white is it? If you have been off the campus you would know better. I actually like your contrast of today’s rappers to yesterday’s rappers, but you are leaving out the grey area’s and giving the readers the impression that we shouldn’t assimilate into society or accept anything from our white brothers and sisters. There is much to be learned from our predecessors, white and black. In conclusion I agree that Rick Ross Meek Mills don’t have a leg to stand on when being compared to Tupac Shakur. These are post bling era rappers feeling a conexion to their culture as a whole. So if they embrace Tupac and bring awareness to his legacy then there is no harm done. And you my friend are nit picking. When Tupac was alive there weren’t many rappers that had his ability to weave insights regarding our cultural struggles into his songs.
Tupac was one of our greats, his voice can never be duplicated his struggle is my struggle but why cant he be a Rich revolutionary showing our youth how to make power moves in the mainstream instead of standing aside complaining about the ills that plague our community? Most cats that follow Ross or Mills may have never heard of Pac if it weren’t for them. So I urge you to show some respect and not call other brotha’s bitches because you don’t agree with their expressions. That aint hot bruh.
You liberals are so uneducated about history, callin 2Pac “Che Gueverra” is an insult to 2Pac. Che was RACIST AGAINST BLACK PEOPLE, READ HIS OWN WORDS! He said blacks were an inferior race! Not to mention Che was a MURDERER! I listened to all of Pac’s albums, saw shit load of interviews, I never heard him talkin about goin around to villages and killing people execution style.
And my man 2Pac, raised by a black panther, was misinformed about history as well. For example, when he says the American Dream wasnt designed for black people, he was wrong.
James Madison on the floor of the Constitution Convention in 1787: “We have seen the mere distinction of colour made in the most enlightened period of time, a ground of the most oppressive dominion ever exercised by man over man”.
Later in the Federalist Papers, he and Hamilton describe that the abolition of slavery was planted into the Constitution, via the expiration of the international slave trade in 1808, and the 3/5’s clause.
The Founders, except for some from Georgia, SC, and NC, did not just believe in the end of slavery, they believed in the EQUALITY of the RACES. In Federalist Paper #42, James Madison even says “Happy would it be for the unfortunate Africans, if an equal prospect lay before them of being redeemed from the oppressions of their European brethren!”
Profressor Sims is fuckin nuts, for example, he derides Rick Ross for invoking Malcolm X, because Ross has “negotiated with the [white] system that killed him”. Professor Sims stop misleading the youth, Malcolm X was killed by the Nation of Islam!
If u want to read some shit that makes sense about America, don’t read Professor Sims.
Read Abraham Lincoln, read Martin Luther King they fought so hard against evil that they were shot and killed for it, see what they thought about things.
Read Fredrick Douglass, read Booker T Washington, read the Federalist Papers.
Did dx purposely edit my post or what?
You Win for your choice of topic, you also win for your analysis of Tupac’s genuineness in contrast to the so called Che Guevara with bling. but you lose for your opening statements. One in particular that I found makes you look shall I say not so well traveled is when you say “I was reminded of this the other day at a party with my brother. Most of the people at the party were White; most of the music at the party was Black. I’ve never been to a party where most of people there were Black and most of the music was White. Except for church”? C’mon really? You sound like you’ve been stuck in a room reading books on life instead of living it. There are plenty parties/ gatherings etc.. that Black folk frequent that don’t have so called Black music. The truth is Black people are very dynamic and just because some don’t listen to a type of music doesn’t mean shit.
Your reference to Jay z saying “he does it for the culture” is also weak because before Jay z there were little to no multi-millionaire rappers, So ide say that is somewhat of a good look for US as a whole. I’m getting the impression that you are somewhat racist as well in your analysis of Nas referencing Joe DiMaggio and Marilyn Monroe. It’s like you’re saying because these people are white, black people shouldn’t be looking up to them? And in my understanding being pro black is not being anti-white is it? If you have been off the campus you would know better. I actually like your contrast of today’s rappers to yesterday’s rappers, but you are leaving out the grey area’s and giving the readers the impression that we shouldn’t assimilate into society or accept anything from our white brothers and sisters. There is much to be learned from our predecessors, white and black. In conclusion I agree that Rick Ross Meek Mills don’t have a leg to stand on when being compared to Tupac Shakur. These are post bling era rappers feeling a conexion to their culture as a whole. So if they embrace Tupac and bring awareness to his legacy then there is no harm done. And you my friend are nit picking. When Tupac was alive there weren’t many rappers that had his ability to weave insights regarding our cultural struggles into his songs.
Tupac was one of our greats, his voice can never be duplicated his struggle is my struggle but why cant he be a Rich revolutionary showing our youth how to make power moves in the mainstream instead of standing aside complaining about the ills that plague our community? Most cats that follow Ross or Mills may have never heard of Pac if it weren’t for them. So I urge you to show some respect and not call other brotha’s bitches because you don’t agree with their expressions. That aint hot bruh.
@REALTALK101 Those quotes were written by Che when he was 24 and encountered blacks for the first time in a Venezuelan slum during his Motorcycle trip around South America. However, months later he announced himself a transformed man and even denounced the racism he encountered while living in Miami for a month. Those quotes were from 1952, before he was Che.
~ Years later in Cuba he showed he was not racist through his actions ~
– Che pushed for racially integrating the schools in Cuba, years before they were racially integrated in the Southern United States.
– Che’s friend and personal bodyguard was Harry “Pombo” Villegas, who was Afro-Cuban (black). Pombo accompanied Che to the Congo and to Bolivia, where he survived and now lives in Cuba. Of note, Pombo speaks glowingly of Guevara to this day
– When Che spoke before the U.N. in 1964 he spoke out in favor of black musician Paul Robeson, in support of slain black leader Patrice Lumumba (who he heralded as one of his heroes), against white segregation in the Southern U.S. (which still unfortunately existed), and against the white South African apartheid regime (long before it became the Western ’cause de jour’).
– Che was also heralded by Malcolm X during this trip to NY and in contact with his associates to whom he sent a letter, and later on behalf of his actions in Africa – praised by Nelson Mandela and the Black Panther’s Stokely Carmichael.
– When Guevara ventured to the Congo, he fought with a Cuban force of 100 Afro-Cubans (blacks) including those black Congolese fighters who he fought alongside against a force comprised partly of White South African mercenaries. This resembled the fight in Cuba, where Che’s units were also made up of mostly mulattos and blacks.
– Later Guevara offered assistance to fight alongside the (black) FRELIMO in Mozambique, for their independence from the Portuguese.
– Lastly, in August 1961 (9 years after his “indolent” remark), Guevara attacked the U.S. for “discrimination against blacks, and outrages by the Ku Klux Klan”, which matched his declarations in 1964 before the United Nations (12 years after his “indolent” remark), where Guevara denounced the United States policy towards their black population, stating:
Yes your right, the journey of Che on race is similar to the journey of the Democrat Party that founded the KKK and other racist Progressives.
The Democrats are racist Confederates, until they decided they needed to switch mobs for political convenience, because REPUBLICANS finally were able to pass the 1964 Civil Rights Bill after DEMOCRATS shot down every other Civil Rights bill. So suddenly racist Lyndon B Johnson and every other Democrat has a fuckin visit from God that tells them to stop being racist!
Socialist Progressive Margaret Sanger had a similar epiphiny. I am Pro Choice, but I am against groups like Planned Parenthood TARGETING black people for some sick eugenics agenda! Now to be fair, I am not certain that Planned Parenthood is the same organization as when it was founded but. Read Margaret Sanger’s words about her theories of promoting abortions and birth control among the “lesser inferior races”. Than in the 30’s, she finally has a fuckin epiphany about racism and links up wit black Facist WEB Dubois (who studied in Germany wit Nazis) and they build the first Planned Parenthood in middle of fuckin Harlem!
Similarly ya boy, the violent radical tyrant RACIST Che Guevera suddenly had as a fuckin epiphany conveniently when he’s workin wit Castro to exploit the black Cubans to rise up and have their GLORIOUS Marxist revolution.
So how’s Cuba doin today? Boy, I wish America were just like Cuba, DAMN! They have such a GREAT system, CASTRO IS A HERO! He just let his fuckin people have CELL PHONES last year!! Your fuckin hilarious wit ur scholarly explanation of how great Che Guevera is, give me a fuckin break LMAO!!!
Once a RACIST always a RACIST. And yall communist would NEVER forgive some of America’s Founders for some of their terrible transgressions like owning slaves, but you admire MURDERERS like Che??!!
Besides MURDERING innocent people in villages that opposed him, Che Guevara said this and he MEANT it: “The black is indolent and a dreamer; spending his meager wage on frivolity or drink; the European has a tradition of work and saving, which has pursued him as far as this corner of America and drives him to advance himself, even independently of his own individual aspirations.”
Let me respond real quick to the dickhead who got bitchie on me for bringin St. Tupac down to Earth.
#1. I’m blacker than the nighttime sky in Bed-Stuy, in July.
#2 I told y’all true story about how Pac was involved in a drive-by shooting that killed a 7 year old girl and said nothing to give that child justice and your ignorant assessing attack me for bringing down your idol.
#3. I love Tupac as I love all my brothers; even you. Pac and I have more than one mutual friend in common as I am a NorCal representative. My honor was actually in Strictly Dope with the homie when they were 17 and 18. Y’all amateurs prolly have no idea about SD. Tuoac spoke my pain as a black man and I love him for it, but don’t get it twisted. He was as materialistic, misogynistic, and violent in his lyrics as anyone else. Pac exhibited the conscious black man’s struggle: how do I thrive without selling my people out? How do I represent all of who society has made me to be? He was an everyman, if anything at all. But, he was no Brother J, Wise Intelligent, nor a Chuck , all of whom are measurably more politically active and whom presented strong messages.
#4. Meek Mill is Tupac without Afeni. He is the 2011 Thugs Life. He speaks of chasing dreams and inspires his listeners to work hard and to succeed. He speaks plainly about the ghetto and about his Father being killed. He speaks directly to the same person Pac was trying to reach. If Pac were alive today, he would be the hottest thing smokin. He’d be the R.O.Y. and the only way he could do that would be through his Gangsta side. He would be Meek Mill.
Lastly, it has been 15 years today; Rest in Peace brother Tuoac Amaru Shakur…you are lived and you are missed.
Correction: Meant to say that my “homie” was in Strictly Dope…not “honor”.
BTW While you’re debating, I’ll be checking on my friend today to make sure he’s ok because that was his brother and because he is mine.
“And they say it’s the white man I should fear
But, it’s my own kind doin all the killin here
I can’t lie, ain’t no love for the other side
Jealousy inside, make em wish I died”
2Pac – Only god can judge me
Interesting article but I have a problem with equating “High” culture with “white” culture. Ever been to a punk rock show or metal gig that was “psychologically healthy and embraced in conjunction with educational objectives”?
The problems with Hip Hop are general to all forms of music that have emerged as a reaction to the mainstream since the dawn of the music industry, i think locating those problems strictly within a black / white paradigm is to miss the point and failure to grasp the dynamic between underground and mainstream culture.
I was going to say EXACTLY the same thing.
I thought society was at a point where we stopped thinking race vs. race, and started thinking about rich vs. poor because motherfuckers at the top are making it hard for me. I’m Mexican, 23 years old, and my father wanted to spit some racist shit to me when I was younger. Do I believe racism’s still alive? Yes, but it’s because of the old timers. As a young cat, I have no feeling of superiority or inferiority due to race.
Please stop being victims because of race. Get over that shit and let’s try to get money. And if the people at the top won’t let us, we gotta find a way to break that other than crying “racist” and blaming invisible hate and people for our hard times.
The author talks about race in this article as if he himself is not racist. What an idiot. Fuck race. That shit is made up. The more we think about it the less we progress as a people. We’re all brothers. Getting to Rick Ross. Fuck him too. That Tupac Back was the biggest insult to hip hop ever. He pretty much pissed on Pac’s grave. Pac contradicted himself but, who the fuck doesn’t? His contradictions made him human and relateable.
i must say this article is not very good. u fail to miss the point that blacks created rap and they know what they signed up for. its not like whites forced them into rap, than criticized them for what they’re doing. not even close. they, in a way, brought it on themselves. and i know the american dream. it’s possible. my dad came to this country from yugoslavia at 6 years old with his parents. none of them spoke a single word of english and they grew up in one of the poorest sections of the inner city. my dad’s middle school and high school are synomous with crime and drugs and were roughly 70% black at the time, now 98%. my dad eventually went to community college (unable to afford real college) partially thanks to his dad working 2 jobs. my dad eventually transferred and got a degree in civil engineering and i now live in the suburbs. he came to this country with far less than pac (literally nothing but clothes). everyone in this country has a chance. is it harder for some? absolutely, but no one, no one, is handed a life time of misery and bad decision making and crime.
I think (for the sake of expediency) that rappers like Kendrick Lamar and Big K.R.I.T., who seem to adopt both assimilation and nationalism, do so because of how the culture developed. As a young adolescent I personally listened to Dead Prez religiously, but then I would flip around and listen to an artist like 50 cent or Snoop Dogg. Since skill, technique, and talent are also factors in the music, a lot of us, being the mid-80’s, early 90’s babies, dealt with and are still dealing with this. They are only inconsistent if you try to make them one-dimensional artists who can only do, want, or desire one thing. You can be about the growth and spread of culture in a nice car. The difference between K.R.I.T. talking about a chain and an artist like JIBBS doing so, is at the end of the day K.R.I.T. will always display more than that chain. He’s a sphere…not a flat circle. He shows dimensions of character and personality. Humans, black, white, asian, etc. are complex. I believe many rap artists today are still embracing that.