Tupac: The first black president

I love Tupac Shakur, or at least my idea of him. Poet, actor, and of course a legendary rapper. I could go and list all of his accomplishments, and talk about what he’s meant to the music industry, but that wouldn’t fully capture his full impact. Tupac was bigger than music. 

One thing that sets him apart from the rest of his peers, was his unmatched charisma. You can feel it through the screen when you listen to his interviews and live performances. His voice was powerful, unique, and impossible to ignore. When he speaks, he commands your attention. He is larger than life. His rawness, his realness, made him charming, and easy to get behind. All of these things contributed to his ability to impact and drive the culture in a way that no one has been able to do before, during, or after his life. 

Tupac is perceived by some to be a common thug who happened to be a good rapper, but this is far from the truth. Both of his parents were members of the Black Panther party, so in a way he was born to be a social/civil rights activist. He started rapping as a way of getting his message across. With unlimited charisma, and a poetic mind, rapping was the most effective way to speak to the people. That being said, he didn’t have to rap to get his point across. While politics is something he would’ve frowned upon due to the inherent phoniness that comes with it, I believe he would’ve been a great politician. He’s a natural leader with a vision for how things should be. Before he blew up and became a world renowned rapper, he was offered to be the president of the Atlanta branch of the Black Panther party, which makes a lot of sense considering his personality and lineage. 

Tupac wanted to be the voice of the voiceless. His message was all about unity in the black community. He adopted the thug life persona as a way of speaking to the streets. In his song titled “Fuck the world,” he had a line where he said “I don’t give a fuck if you’re blood or cuz, as long as you got love for thugs.” This line perfectly describes what he was trying to accomplish. Unity between all aspects of black culture. He also tried to bring awareness to issues going on in the black community. Whether that be his perspective of being a black man in America, or various things that are going on in the streets, that the rest of Black America isn’t being exposed to. The best example of this is his song “Brenda’s had a baby.” Other examples are songs like “If i die tonight,” and “Death around the corner.” Both are songs from the perspective of a street thug, and the trials and tribulations that come with that. A common theme in Tupac’s music is him questioning his existence, and his purpose in life, as well as him contemplating the idea that he would die young. Which is really ominous all things considered. 

Calling Tupac a great rapper, actor, entertainer, or even artist, is a narrow and limited version of who he actually was. He was closer to a human rights activist than anything else. He just used music as a means to push his agenda. I have endless respect for Tupac. What he stood for as well as who he seemed to be as a person. He always seemed so cool to me. The fact that he died so young made him a martyr, and gives his legacy this aura that makes him almost like a folk hero. I look up to him and his legacy more than pretty much any other celebrity I can think of.

Check out this video about Tupac: