It’s funny that time changes how we remember people. As sand continues to drop to the bottom of the hourglass, memories get sketchy and history becomes distorted.
In the case of the late Tupac Shakur, his history has been completely re-written in the ten years following his untimely death.
My colleagues in the industry seem to paint Pac almost totally in his “Thug Life” state, as if there were no other sides to the man known as Mr. Shakur.
And to this blatant attempt at character assassination by fans and members of the media, I say ENOUGH!
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For the last ten years, Tupac has been portrayed as a conflicted individual, who was able to weave together tales of hardship and pain, love, death and of course, thug life.
However, the self destructive years of his life threaten to eliminate the more conscious and politically aware side of Shakur that many of his earlier fans fell in love with.
That side often goes conveniently dormant when his name is scribed in the pages of magazines, spoken on television or typed on the net.
Before All Eyez on Me, before Makaveli, Before East vs. West, there was a revolutionary and highly political side of Pac that people either don’t remember or care about.
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Holla if ya hear me.
Pac was RBG before dead prez and in similar fashion to members of the Black Panther Party (Check the Shakur family lineage), his street dream was deferred in a hail of gun fire on the Las Vegas strip.
While we can’t bring Tupac back, we can stop the assassination of his character and memory. He is more than the angry Black male he’s often portrayed as and overlooking that in the interest of TV time constraints or article word counts does more harm than good.
More than a common crook and much more than a “gangsta” rapper.
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Tupac was many things to many people, however there is one thing that cannot be disputed. In spite of all the “bitches” uttered in his music, despite the vengeance he unleashed on enemies, from the cradle to the grave Mr. Shakur was about empowering and uplifting his people.
Empowerment and uplift, two things this Hip Hop generation have thrown by the wayside, but two things we need not forget.
In your efforts to emulate Pac, are you tearing down your brothers or lifting them up?
Are you treating your women as queens, or aiding their downward spiral?
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For every “Hit em Up”, there was a “When My Homies Call”, for every “Why We Call U Bitch”, there was a “Keep Your Head Up.”
Pac was, and is the closest thing this generation has to a revolutionary. His undeniable influence on fans probably scared the hell out of the powers that be. Think about it, when was the last time politicians really came out against a rapper (Eminem doesn’t count)?
With the Hip Hop studio gangsta body count at a record high, isn’t it odd that the folks on Capitol Hill haven’t used “gangsta rap” as a political platform? This indicates that while the lyrics have gotten more profane, more violent and more misogynistic in the new millennium, they just aren’t scared of us anymore.
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Tupac scared the shit out of people.
Just like his character Bishop in Juice, he was young, Black and didn’t give a fuck. However, he was different, he was aware, he was active and he was ready to make some changes.
Had he been able to live up to his full potential, the possibilities are endless. Think about the movement he could’ve started and the minds he could’ve influenced. When the powers that be want to kill a movement, two things are certain to occur
The leader of the movement will die.
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History will be re-written
So here we are, ten years after the death of the revolution’s prince and what are we left with? Numerous images of a thugged out, criminalized, emotional and angry Tupac Shakur. There’s no disputing that Pac has problems, but we all know there was more to him than we generally see on TV and magazines.
Just because the mass media has embraced Tupac in death does not mean he has been accepted by the mainstream. All coverage isn’t quality coverage, nor is it positive. His legacy has been smeared in similar fashion to the legacy of many of the Black Panthers (including his God Mother, Assata Shakur).
Is it any surprise that some of the most destructive elements of Tupac’s existence have been elevated to cult like status while his revolutionary roots are left to die? Since the public refused to let Pac rest in peace, media outlets were forced to give fans what they wanted to see: Tupac.
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Am I the only one that finds it strange that his many positive accomplishments and compositions (minus “Dear Momma” and “Keep Your Head Up”) have been thrown by the wayside in favor of middle fingers, volatile outbursts and saliva aimed at TV news cameras?
But maybe it’s the emcees who shoulder the bulk of the blame. In the year’s following his death, your favorite rapper and former favorite rappers (you don’t have to admit it now, SOMEBODY liked Ja Rule) were all too quick to run with the image and even quicker to discard Pac’s ideas and theories on how to make life better.
Once again, we’ve let outsiders and those who don’t have our best interests at heart define one of Hip Hop’s icons for us, and because Pac’s face was on it, we ate it up.
On the tenth anniversary of Tupac Shakur’s death, consider this a call to action to the entire Hip Hop community. If you want to be like Pac (and even if you don’t), uplift instead of tearing down, find out the real reason behind Thug Life, get involved and get active.
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That’s the side of Tupac Shakur that I remember.
I challenge all the fans to go back and take a close listen to the lyrics, even on some of the songs that speak of violence and death.
There’s a message in the music, a message of hope for a better day.
As Pac said on “White Man’s World”, “It ain’t them that’s killing us, it’s us that’s killing us.”
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It takes skill to be real, time to heal each other. How will you remember Tupac Shakur?
R.I.P.
