Tupac's Other Positive Side example essay topic

The Rose that Grew from Concrete "Tupac Shakur could possibly be the most influential and compelling of all rappers" (Dyson 106) Do we really know who Tupac was? The famous phrase, "never judge a book by its cover" applies to Tupac's own personality and character. A first look at Tupac and you see darkness, you see a violent man with no purpose or direction in his life. Then you look deeper inside him, you step into his shoes and see a kind, caring, but very confused man. Tupac's life story is like any other typical "thug" lifestyle.

Yet, he had accomplished what no other rapper had accomplished before, realism. "You know, I have read this report, and this young man seems to me to be absolutely remarkable" stated by a judge in one of Tupac's hearings. (Dyson 248) He told us the reality of life and how he handles it. Not by violence, but by an always peaceful state of mind. Because Tupac showed to us his two different personalities as a person he has helped our youth and society to relate to his life and change our life. What we only see in Tupac is the violent life he lived and how he is the root of corruption among our youth.

"They say Tupac [hip-hop] teaches our youth to be gangsters and has no positive message, but they forget the U.S. climate is negative". (Anonymous poem author) Judging someone by their outside character can never determine what they are feeling on the inside. In other words, Tupac was the true example of society today. We see the negative clearly, but how much do we know about the positive? Tupac's mother, Afe ni Shakur, contributed to Tupac's other positive side. "He even wrote a song called "Dear Mama" addressed to his mother expressing his love for her and thanking her for always trying her best to raise him, even though she made some mistakes".

("Lexus" web) Just like his mother, Tupac made many mistakes in his lifetime and learned from them. Yet, by the time he learned from them it was too late to change his "thug life" ("Lexus" web) ways. Tupac's fans saw two sides to Tupac, the negative and the positive. "His identity crisis manifested itself in his music, which developed an almost psychotic split personality: liberal minded thoughtfulness one moment, raging misogynistic hostility the next" (Browne 58) These two sides is what inspired fans to love Tupac Shakur so much. The people who listened to Tupac's lyrics were affected by his reality of life and realized that Tupac was a mirror image of themselves. Tupac's lifestyle was definitely not like the great Martin Luther King Jr. or the kind Pope John Paul II.

He was convicted of several serious criminal charges (though he claims it was a set up) including rape, weapon possession, and deliberately hitting a fan just because she kindly asked him for an autograph. Those were just a few, neither the media nor do I know about the other "minor" criminal charges against him before his rap career. How many times though do we make mistakes? Should we be judged by the influence we get from the lives we are forced to live in, like Tupac was? To get the money and attention the media will make a big deal out of the negative side of any artist so it is easy to mistaken an artist for whom they really are ("Lexus" web) This is exactly why so many of Tupac's fans supported him in whatever he did because they knew (if they ever experienced pain in their life) how hard it is to live a good life when you live in such a negative one.

Take a look on the other side of the mirror and look into Tupac's heart. What do you see? Some will see "just another rapper trying to be hardcore" (Light 88). I see a young man struggling with his life and desperately trying to change. Tupac hid most of his "other side" in himself; even in interviews he wouldn't admit that he wasn't so "gangsta" after all.

Various situations proved this, "One time we were driving around L.A. in his new Rolls Royce, he had The Cranberries blaring. He was on Crenshaw Blvd. stopped at a red light. Some [brothers] pulled up and said, 'Pac, what are you listening to?' 'Just the radio' he said. But, it wasn't the radio, it was the CD" (White 196) Tupac hid himself under the thug image that he was to his fans and his friends.

He was afraid that he wouldn't get respect from other rappers and some loyal hardcore hip-hop fans if he reveled himself. Isn't this what we all do though? We all hide ourselves by putting a fake character on just so we can be accepted and so we won't lose our "reputation". This is probably one of the main reasons why so many people could relate to him, they saw what Tupac was going through, and they were going through it too. Tupac's two sides though very different from each other, one could not survive without the other. One moment you could have Tupac on TV sitting in a courtroom or sitting in prison.

Then you could have him sitting at the benefit for San Salvador rapping about world peace and reciting lyrics like, "they got money for wars, but can't feed the poor" (Tupac's "Keep Ya Head Up") You saw Tupac holding a gun in one hand and a middle finger up in the other. Then you see him with a cross in one hand and his other hand on his heart. "By mixing the positive and the negative, he (Tupac) reached people through the experiences that they were familiar with" (web) Tupac also was a big supporter of women's rights most apparent by his famous song, "Keep Ya Head Up". You know what makes me unhappy, when brothers make babies, and leave a young mother to be a pappy. And since we all came from a women, got our name from a women, and our game from a women. I wonder why we take from our women, why we rape our women, do we hate our women?

(Tupac's "Keep Ya Head Up") "Tupac Shakur, admired by teenagers, loathed by politicians" (McFarson pg. # unknown) How can we say Tupac was loathed by politicians? Well, as I stated before our society will point out the negative side of a person and will always hide the positive side. Society for some reason enjoys the negative side and finds it much more interesting then the positive. I mean, who wants to watch a movie about Martin Luther King when you can watch The Terminator blow up some cars? What Tupac has definitely shown though is that he is society, he is reality. All of his actions and criminal trials weren't for publicity, but to show society at its worst.

His songs about world peace and changing our lives weren't just for entertainment, but to show society at its best that we don't see often enough to notice. In the words of Omar Epps (a co-star in one of Tupac's motion pictures, "Juice"), "Pac was just the truth. He always brought it from the heart. Sometimes the truth hurts or sometimes can set you free, in this case it did both" (web) "I defend rap as a window to the rage and pain young people feel". (Jackson 23) Is Tupac what everyone says he is or is he just an ordinary rapper?

Perhaps we can look for that answer by asking people that really knew him, like fellow rappers. "The brother just went into the studio and did songs that a lot of people can relate to and learn from before he went out. Like he said, he is just a thug who has a lot of money. But, on the other hand, he is a thug who is giving a positive message to kids, "as said by fellow rap artist "Ray J" (Dyson 3) To tell children that "this is wrong" and "that is wrong" and "don't do it" sometimes goes through one ear and out the other.

Then, when you give them something or someone to relate to, they believe reality more and can think before they act. This is exactly what Tupac did; he lived a life of drugs, violence, and death but in the end could still express positive values for youths everywhere. "His shoes trod the same dirt and asphalt as ours that is if we choose to check the bottom of our feet" (Datcher 59) Think of the worst thing that could possibly happen to you, well Tupac probably lived that. They say the best people get into the worst situations so their weaknesses and strengths are tested. Tupac is no exception, he lived our lives and troubles (and probably even worse troubles) everyday. We have to admit that out lives are not perfect and sometimes we must "check the bottoms of our feet" to know where we have been and how we can make the present not turn into our future.

Tupac showed us this through his music and lifestyle. I do not believe Tupac's future was what he lived in the present. Another idea we must remember about Tupac is that sometimes we only really appreciate someone when they die. When Tupac died more and more books were written about his influence and the impact he had on society.

Were any written when he was alive about his "positive side?" No, because we didn't realize till after he died how special this man really was. This man definitely was no ordinary man. The first people that come to mind when you think of "influence" are Martin Luther King Jr., Princess Diana, Mother Theresa, and so on. Would you think of Tupac as an important influence on American life? No, because his image as a person was ruined because of the media and political leaders. Tupac's two "personalities" or "sides" related to us and helped us decide which one we should live by.

Tupac unfortunately choose the negative side most of his life, but you cannot blame himself for that. You can blame the life he was born into for teaching him one side, negative. Tupac deep down inside himself, has a positive side that everyone knew he had when he did songs like, Keep Ya Head Up, Dear Mama, Life Goes On, or Changes. "Tupac gets love and respect because we all know that to dream is to fly and while we criticized Tupac's troubled flight, we did it so safely from the ground. (Datcher 37) To look into the eyes of Tupac all you see is violence.

To step into his shoes all you see is yourself, struggling to decide what is right and wrong from Tupac's point of view. Maybe the famous rapper Jay-Z (Shawn Carter) was right; "Come experience life as we know it, as some of you should know it" (Jay-Z's "Coming of Age")

Bibliography

Datcher, Michael. Tough Love: The Life and Death of Tupac Shakur. Black Words Inc., 1996 December Dyson, Michael Eric.
Holler if you Hear Me: Searching for Tupac Shakur. Basic Civitas Books., 2001 August Light, Alan.
Tupac Shakur. New York: Three Rivers Press, a division of Crown Publishing Inc. 1997, 1998 White, Armond.
Rebel for the Hell of It. New York: Thunder's Mouth Press, 1997"Lexus" web (website creator unknown) web Jackson, Derrick.
The Boston Globe. 22 August 1993 McFarson, Ginny.
Entertainment Weekly. 21 August 1996 Browne, David.
Entertainment Weekly. 22 November 1996.