“I'd rather die like a man, than live like a coward.” Tupac
Shakur has been a voice speaking for the many youth and adults of the black community.
Shakur has expressed his experiences and anger regarding the oppression his
community has faced in recent times. Like many hip-hop artists, Tupac had started
out his career in poverty allowing to feel with the black Americans he fights
for in his music. Only a few artists such as Tupac have been able to make a
significant change and effect on the black community. Tupac talked to our journalist
Sami Dabbous to discuss the connection Tupac has with his community.
How have your
roots inspired your songs?
I was like any other black kid in the ghetto. Single
mama, family struggled putting food on the table, got into gangs, saw many brothers
fall victim to the street, and like everybody at the time was suffering in the
game. I was blessed by god making it out of the ghetto in one piece. You can
see it in my lyrics. The love I got for my brothers who be going through what I
went through. I do this for the kids who be crying themselves to sleep, hating
themselves, and need a person to look up to see that there be life outside of
the ghetto.
What connection do
you have with the Black American youth?
Back when I was young we never thought there was life outside
of it, it was always just trying to live another twenty-four. I had a one-dimensional
view on life yah feel me? I didn’t have nobody to look up, no black kid in the
gutter did. I want these ghetto kids who be vibing to my records thinking that a
person with the same color of their skin spitting the same language as they do,
came from nothing to making a couple million. That life is more than just the
ghetto.
Spitting the same language?
The brother and sisters in our community were taught the English
language the way I be speaking it right now. I feel that not only the kids but
anyone who be listening to anything in the words that they mama taught ‘em, you
gonna connect with they heart more.
What’s so
important about this connection?
I want to use this platform I’ve been blessed with to
make a change. The cycle. The white man has designed a cycle around the black
man to keep him down, and the only way we, the black community, are getting out
of this hellhole of a cycle is by making a change from within. Death is not the
greatest loss in life. The greatest loss is what dies inside while still alive.
Never surrender. And its that connection I have my listeners that gives me the
power to give my message to a whole generation of blacks. So, when I die at
least I got some young brothers out there who be keeping my legacy on and
making some sort of change out here.
What impact do you
feel you’ve had on the black community?
I’ve been using my media for a change. I’ve been speaking
a truth that nobody else has had the balls to say. That has had an impact. It’s
simple, the people are seeing that they are weak alone, but strong as a community.
Everyone’s been seeing the black lives matter movement and the call against oppression
by the black community. I don’t think I started this, but I got ‘em seeing that
they not the only ones out here going through s***.
Tupac Shakur has rallied a community behind his powerful
songs. Inspiring the black community to come together against the oppression they have faced for years. Hopefully the interview gave some of our readers a taste of the man
behind some of the highest selling albums in the Hip-Hop genre. Next month we
send our journalist to talk to Tupac’s east coast adversary Biggie Smalls
Sami! You're interview post was very entertaining to read. You did a very good job with capturing the authenticity of a real interview. You included a title, introduction and conclusion. You've also followed the conventions of having formal text as the interviewer, however you also showed how the artist interviewee spoke with an informal dialect. The interview seemed realistic, and you showed a good understanding of the conventions of the interview.
ReplyDeleteI really enjoyed this! One thing that I have to note and mention is your use of two distinct voices for the interviewer and interviewee. And to add on that, your trueness to Tupac's character/way of speaking was enjoyable to read. You also had an intro and conclusion which is a required convention for this type of text type.
ReplyDeleteGood job!