I write this piece while listening to “Me Against the World” by one of the most visionary, influential and critically-acclaimed rap artists who too many new-age hip hop heads don’t know about, Tupac Shakur, also known as 2Pac.
Over this past weekend, I decided to take two of my international friends back to Kansas City with me to celebrate my birthday with my family. We played laser tag, I received a typewriter for a birthday cake and my wonderful girlfriend surprised me with a visit from her school out-of-state.
Needless to say, my celebrations were worthwhile, but those weren’t the only amazing things that happened.
In addition to introducing my friends to the popular and trendsetting R&B/pop group New Edition over the weekend, I was able to highlight the raw talent of Tupac Shakur.
“Ya’ll ain’t never heard of Tupac?” I asked them while driving from Emporia to KC.
They both shook their heads, clueless.
Of course, me being me, I jumped at the opportunity of assisting in broadening their musical horizons.
I asked them how it was possible they didn’t know who Tupac was and they mentioned how they knew of rap artists such as Kendrick Lamar and J Cole.
“What if I told you that everything you’ve heard from Kendrick and J Cole was influenced by Tupac?” I asked them. “I mean, Kendrick literally included a voice recording of Tupac in “To Pimp a Butterfly,” remember?”
“That was Tupac?”
“Yeah, man,” I retorted. “Even with J Cole’s last album you can see that there’s some sort of influence. He named it “4 Your Eyez Only” and one of Tupac’s album was called “All Eyez on Me,” so you can’t tell me that there’s not some sort of connection there.”
The rest of the trip, I explained the history of Tupac’s gangsta rap style as we listened to a lot of his hits.
Not everyone may know who Tupac is, but it’s important to understand that he had the same effect on the world and California, which is where he was from, as rap group N.W.A. His music was infused with poetry that mainly outlined the hardships and prosperities of African-American lives around the country.
Tupac had several family members who were a part of the revolutionary group The Black Panthers, which would probably explain the influence behind tracks such as “Ambitionz Az a Ridah” and “If I die 2Nite.”
A complex life, Tupac also had many different beefs with other notable rap artists, most notably Biggie Smalls or The Notorious B.I.G. With that being said, I want to make it completely clear that these “beefs” do not encompass Tupac as an artist and humanitarian overall.
Coincidentally, Tupac was shot and killed in 1996, the year that I was born. But like many other prominent black figures of America, his messages and his music lived on in the people who listened and most certainly the rap artists that came after his death.
While learning and consuming hip hop, it is always important to think about the great Tupac. A lot of folks refer to him as a prophet of his time and there could be a lot to learn in his music as we celebrate Black History Month.
