Tupac Shakur Dear Mama Analysis

The Swedish documentary, Black Mixtape, traces race relations in the United States from 1967-1975. The captivating documentary includes appearances by popular African American figures like Civil Rights activist Stokely Carmichael, Black Panther Party founders Bobby Seale and Huey P. Newton and Nation of Islam leader Louis Farrakhan. The purpose of the documentary is to show America in a different viewpoint than how it is portrayed internationally. Due to the Swedish dialect throughout the film, it is evident that there isn’t a specified audience. Black Americans have struggled to obtain equality and justice in this country for decades.

Peterson Dorelus Enc1101 9:30 Tupac Shakur Tupac Amaru shaker was born in New York 1971; known by his stage name 2pac was an American rapper. ‘’Shakur received an education in radical politics from his mother, but he also saw some of life's hardships through her struggles with substance abuse’ ‘Tupac was like an Elvis to hip hop in my eyes. Tupac was known for his rapping, his many talents like acting, Also his beef between the East coast and the West coast. To begin, ’‘I hear Brenda's got a baby

Sometimes I Cry by Tupac writes about the pain of feeling lonely and not having anyone to turn too to discuss or hear his true feelings. In this poem he writes how he wishes he could confide in someone and how selfish the world is by not having the time or patience to stop and listen to others pain. Tupac writes “The world moves fast and it would rather pass u by than to stop and see what made you cry”. Here he clearly admits to the lack of compassion the world has for those who are in pain. Feeling sad and not having someone ask you what’s wrong or care is what Tupac is writing about.

In Tupac and My Non- Thug Life Jenée Desmond writes a vividly narrated story about a well-known rapper Tupac Shukar and how she relates her image and identity connection with the former rapper. Raised in the white suburb town and the only black high school cheerleader Tupac 's music and lyrics helped her get through her interracial blend as an African American teen. Jenée expresses her emotions toward her former icon as a teen girl. In the contribution to his death, Jenée Recalls vivid descriptions of her obsession with her image through her teen-hood, when his passing accrued Jenée recollects her past and explains her vivid descriptions when he passed away. She described the moment of his death a tragic moment.

In “Tupac and My Non-Thug Life” by Jenee Desmond-Harris, the author writes about how the death of a famous rapper impacted her life. The author first talks about how the day she found out Tupac had passed affected her. The authors mind was thinking about things like her dance routines and exercise techniques. However, after coming home for the day the utterance or the words: “Your friend died” “You know that rapper you and Thea love so much!” from her mother made the whole day change and feelings of remorse and sadness follows.

In the poem "Family Tree" by Tupac Shukar, explains about how it doesn't matter where you come from because that doesn't determine your future. For example in Lines 1-4, tupac says that everyone is born equal despite where they come from, even though where they are born are not equal one another. Lines 5-8 shows that beauty is everyone despite their the differences we where all created for a reason. There are going to be people who bully you, who bring your gaurd down, and who want to see you suffer, but you've got to be strong. In lines 9-12, Tupac says that great are those who become someone out of nothing.

The story titled the Long Black Song has a controversial balance of power that is shown throughout the narrative. As time progresses, the struggle between men and women is heightened and there seems to be a passive partner paired with a mastery one. Sarah, a married housewife, was portrayed as being powerless within her own race, but when compared to the white man, Sarah gained physical and mental strength because she was curious about how being with the opposite race would feel, as well as the fact that black men were exceedingly domineering. Sarah was portrayed as a very frail character when equated to her husband, Silas, because the black men are the most dominant partner within an ethnically similar relationship.

In her essay “hip hop’s betrayal of black women,” Jennifer McLune implies that “(h)ip-hop owes its success to the ideology of women-hating” (193). She does not agree with Kevin Powell’s article that hip-hop does not mean to “offend” black women, but instead artists are only letting out their temper throughout their music. McLune feels infuriated that many artists in hip hop (including black men) rap about their community and downgrade their own women. In the hip-hop genre, sexism is mainly used, not only by black men but also by many other race hip-hop artists. Artists assume that women-hating in their rap songs will be accepted by women, but do not realize that it is affecting all women.

Hip-hop is an influential form of music that displays an artist’s honest and revealing story that many of the general public can relate to. One of the many songs that I can relate to is “Love Yourz” written by J Cole. The song talks about how Cole reflects on the most important things in life such as love and happiness. He realizes that the money and fame didn’t bring him the happiness he desired. To gain true happiness, he needed to appreciate himself and those that love him.

We all learned to respect and love our parents. Tita’s mother, Mama Elena, isn 't the motherly material everyone wants to have. She orders people around, discourage them, and always puts the family tradition first, but not in a good way. In the beginning, Tita tries to cope with Mama Elena and her orders. “I’m sorry Mami.

Frederick Douglass’s “What the Black Man Wants” captures the need for change in post Civil War America. The document presses the importance for change, with the mindset of the black man being, ‘if not now then never’. Parallel to this document is the letter of Jourdon Anderson, writing to his old master. Similar to Douglas, Mr. Anderson speaks of the same change and establishes his worth as freed man to his previous slave owner. These writings both teach and remind us about the evils of slavery and the continued need for equality, change, and reform.

The poem, “juxtaposing the black boy & the bullet”, is comparing a black boy to a bullet. Essentially, the poem is explaining the brutality the world has towards the black boy. It explains the similarities that the black boy and the bullet have . In the end the poem has them meet eventually and the paths that they similarly take throughout their life journey. It is structured as looking at both the bullet and the person and listing how their “lives” are more the same than different although they are on opposite ends.

The film Boyz N the Hood is a story about life in South Central Los Angeles. The film was wrote and directed by John Singleton in 1991. I chose this movie because of its relevance to the course and how it reflects pop culture in that time period. The opening line in the movie “one out of every twenty-one Black American males will be murdered in their lifetime” really catches the audience attention (Nicolaides & Singleton, 1991). This movie goes into detail and shows the life of three young males living in the hood of Los Angeles battling a life surrounded by drugs, violence, and questions of race.

Wherever we may come from, we can do amazing things in this world. In this world, every human being can be anything they strive to be. Lupe Fiasco released the inspirational song, “The Show Goes On,” on October 26, 2010, as the first single from his third studio album Lasers. He uses motivational and inspirational phrases to motivate the audience to never give up even if they are going through the hardest parts of their lives. Fiasco uses his past to connect to the targeted audience, that being the less fortunate families and those who grew up in harsh conditions.

Next, Tupac’s view of himself towards other people acts as a cornerstone for change. Shakur’s strong belief that he made something out of himself from nothing, and the audience can as well, is evident throughout all of his many poetic works. In the poem, “The Rose That Grew From Concrete”, Shakur explains that one must pursue their dreams and aspirations in order to live a long, healthy life. The “concrete” mentioned in the poem is a symbol for the ghettos that Shakur used to live in. Also, Shakur is stating where the rose grew, when he says “Did you hear about the rose that grew from a crack in the concrete” (The Rose That Grew From Concrete 1-2)?