One out of many artists that I consider to be a gangster rap artist is Tupac. He openly uses his street smarts to write his music which contains violent lyrics of gang life. Tupac also openly displayed his tattoo that read “thug 4 life.” This is a tattoo that only a gang member living the thug life would get. The friends that Tupac grew up with or sometimes rapped with were usually gang members as well. Some will agree that he is a gangster rap artist and others view him as a poet. This is where some will disagree that he is a gangster if they see him as a poet. His father was not around and his family grew up in the time of the black panthers when racism was huge. His mother was pregnant with him and she was put in prison. I think that these life events had a lot to do with him falling into the gang life. His father was also a gang member. He admits to feeling lonely as a child in his life documentary. As a young kid, he began acting, and this is when he realized that he loved the fame and loved performing.
Tupac began rapping when he was 17 and he rapped about life struggles that many were going through at the time. He saw hunger, violence, and gang members. He admits that he hung out with drug dealers and gang members because he looked to men for role models and unfortunately the only men around him were the dope dealers and gang members. His mother became addicted to crack and this made his life even more difficult to where he needed other adults to turn to. He missed out on a lot of his childhood because he had to worry about supporting himself and this let to hanging out with bad role models. He became famous thanks to a 15 year old girl who listened to his music and liked it. Her father was a producer.
Tupac is well known for his controversial lyrics and images in his music videos. He rapped about what was going on in the world regarding racism, violence, and crime. Tupac did not get arrested until he became famous. He got arrested about 12 times and I think that this triggered him to become more out of control. I think that he would not resist the gangster rap label. He Tupac has two sides to him. He is hard but he is also very sensitive because he was raised by his mother. However, Tupac considers himself a thug. He admits that he will always be a thug. This is him admitting that he is a gangster living the thug life. He thinks that being a thug comes from pride from having nothing but being strong and holding his head up high no matter his situation. He is against certain acts of crime though. He is not all bad as some would believe from some of his music.
I agree that there were different sides to the music of Tupac. There was the obvious side of hard, gangster rapper that many saw and loved, but there was also the caring and emotional side. The true fans were able to embrace both sides of his character. Of course there were hits like “2 of Americaz Most Wanted” that drew the “gangster” fans to him, especially for staying true to his west coast roots, but there are also songs like “Dear Mama” that show that he can feel emotions and express these emotions without fear of being called soft. Personally my favorite piece by Tupac would be “Changes.” The whole feel of the song is very positive. This song was written with fast, in your face verses that will appeal to the hardcore rap fans, and the hooks were filled with the message of changing the world, one person at a time. He was able to tell the story of what was (is) happening on the streets in Los Angeles and across the nation and get people to realize that there is nothing that will change unless we as a society change. Granted, this change will most likely never happen due to the fact that there will always be racism, gangs and murder, but just getting the idea out there and accepted is a big step.
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