Sept. 13th marked the 18th anniversary of Tupac Shakur’s death.
The true rap God died or vanished to live on some secret island with Elvis, whichever you believe.
Like Elvis did in his time and genre, Shakur revolutionized rap music.
Shakur used rap as way to speak the truth instead of drowning people with fairytale stories.
“The themes of most of Tupac’s songs are the violence and hardship in inner cities, racism, social problems, and conflicts with other rappers during the East Coast–West Coast hip hop rivalry,” written in a biographical article for Genius Website.
Shakur’s lyrics stem from his past, which involved parents that were once Black Panthers.
His mother, Afeni Shakur, was put in jail on bombing charges while pregnant with Tupac.
Due to having such parents, Tupac was quickly aware of the harsh reality that awaited him in the real world.
Tupac wasted little time getting in to the music industry.
In 1990, at the age of 19, Tupac entered a rap group called Digital Underground as a dancer.
A year later, the young talent signed with the recording company Interscope and released his first album, 2pacalypse Now.
While beginning his music career, he also used his versatile talents to begin his acting career.
Tupac’s acting chops were created when he attended the Baltimore School of Arts as a teenager.
His best work includes the movies: Juice, Above The Rim and Poetic Justice from which he was given a critically acclaimed performance.
Tupac spoke the truth and the truth at that time was the ongoing drug and crime epidemic in urban societies.
Tupac attacked the problems everyone else turned their back on.
Even today, present-day rap artist would rather continue cashing in paychecks instead of attacking the problems in society.
As an example, in one of Tupac’s songs titled “Dear Mama,” he spoke of the troubles his mother went through while raising him.
Unfortunately, speaking what’s on your mind can be dangerous at times and Tupac’s blunt style helped start a war between East coast and West coast rappers.
This war allegedly caused the death of Tupac.
Even though Tupac’s life only lasted a quarter of a century, his words will live on forever.
No one is perfect, and this even goes for the rap god himself but he carved out an everlasting impact on the music industry and society itself.
