Preview

The Rose That Grew from Concrete

Powerful Essays
Open Document
Open Document
2010 Words
Grammar
Grammar
Plagiarism
Plagiarism
Writing
Writing
Score
Score
The Rose That Grew from Concrete
The Rose that Grew from Concrete

"Tupac Shakur could possibly be the most influential and compelling of all rappers" (Dyson 106) Do we really know who Tupac was? The famous phrase, "never judge a book by its cover" applies to Tupac 's own personality and character. A first look at Tupac and you see darkness, you see a violent man with no purpose or direction in his life. Then you look deeper inside him, you step into his shoes and see a kind, caring, but very confused man. Tupac 's life story is like any other typical "thug" lifestyle. Yet, he had accomplished what no other rapper had accomplished before, realism. "You know, I have read this report, and this young man seems to me to be absolutely remarkable" stated by a judge in one of Tupac 's hearings. (Dyson 248) He told us the reality of life and how he handles it. Not by violence, but by an always peaceful state of mind. Because Tupac showed to us his two different personalities as a person he has helped our youth and society to relate to his life and change our life. What we only see in Tupac is the violent life he lived and how he is the root of corruption among our youth. "They say Tupac [hip-hop] teaches our youth to be gangsters and has no positive message, but they forget the U.S. climate is negative." (Anonymous poem author) Judging someone by their outside character can never determine what they are feeling on the inside. In other words, Tupac was the true example of society today. We see the negative clearly, but how much do we know about the positive? Tupac 's mother, Afeni Shakur, contributed to Tupac 's other positive side. "He even wrote a song called "Dear Mama" addressed to his mother expressing his love for her and thanking her for always trying her best to raise him, even though she made some mistakes." ("Lexus" www.4freeessays.com) Just like his mother, Tupac made many mistakes in his lifetime and learned from them. Yet, by the time he learned from them it was too



Bibliography: Datcher, Michael. Tough Love: The Life and Death of Tupac Shakur. Black Words Inc., 1996 December Dyson, Michael Eric. Holler if you Hear Me: Searching for Tupac Shakur. BasicCivitas Books., 2001 August Light, Alan. Tupac Shakur. New York: Three Rivers Press, a division of Crown Publishing Inc. 1997, 1998 White, Armond. Rebel for the Hell of It. New York: Thunder 's Mouth Press, 1997 "Lexus" http://www.4freeessays.com/essays/838.shtml (website creator unknown) www.home.pi.be/~koenleen/English/influence.htm Jackson, Derrick. The Boston Globe. 22 August 1993 McFarson, Ginny. Entertainment Weekly. 21 August 1996 Browne, David. Entertainment Weekly. 22 November 1996

You May Also Find These Documents Helpful

  • Satisfactory Essays

    In the article, “Tupac and My Non –Thug Life the author of this article Jenee Desmonc-Harris writes about how a young California girl was so affected by Tupac’s death. She remembers rushing home from school crying about Tupac’s death. She was so influence by him she really loved him and was a huge fan. She knew him on a personal level which may have been way she was influenced. Listening to Tupac made the girl so proud of African American culture. She and her friend were valued Tupac’s music so much, after his death they tattooed a song lyric of his. They mourned Tupac’s death. She felt strongly grateful about his music, as she even mentioned, “his music represents the years when I was both forced and privileged to confront what it meant to be black.”…

    • 427 Words
    • 1 Page
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    Biggie vs Tupac

    • 1711 Words
    • 5 Pages

    I had watched a documentary, based off of the infamous rappers and their start up in the music industry, titled Tupac and Biggie where I got information on both sides. To begin with both rappers had similar upbringing for instance, were born in the state of New York, Tupac in Harlem and Biggie in Brooklyn. However, Tupac did move around growing up to Baltimore, Maryland in 1984 and finally to Oakland, California in 1988 by the age of 17. Biggie had more of an interesting beginning, unlike his soon to be rival, he had been raised by a single mother who was a teacher and had lived in a 3 bedroom apartment, not how he claimed on his song ‘Juice’ as a “one-room shack”. Meanwhile, Tupac was also raised by a single mother, however had been a part of the anti-government group the Black Panther Party, which would later be a foundation to his rap verses on political stans. Like most rappers they both would have a rough upbringing, and Biggie would start drug dealing at the age of 14 to help support his family, till discovered musically. Interestingly enough, Tupac had an interest in acting and attended performing art schools and create his passion for poetry, turned later to rap rhymes. Tupac was the…

    • 1711 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Good Essays

    Tupac Rhetorical Analysis

    • 449 Words
    • 2 Pages

    Tupac Shakur was a man born into poverty who knew all too well the struggles of black men in the late twentieth century. Tupac’s many achievements in bringing about racial equality have placed him among the few great civil rights advocates of his time. Tupac embedded his message of equality into his verses allowing it to reach many, and even in death his teachings continue to show us that there is hope for a brighter tomorrow and that no one should give up hope in the future.…

    • 449 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    Clayton P. Alderfer’s, ERG Theory explores how Tupac’s constant struggle to appease his basic “existence” ,“relatedness”, kept him in a regressive state, as well as him reaching towards self-actualization.…

    • 3110 Words
    • 13 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Better Essays

    2pac Bio

    • 2242 Words
    • 9 Pages

    He ain’t that type of rapper; he aint that type of an actor, he ain’t that type of fame explorer, but he is that type of a legend, precisely a revolutionary legend. His music didn’t end up on just rhyming lyrics and mind blowing beat, but a message; to black people, to the world, to the whole universe, and the coming generations. This man had this dream, of spreading justice, equality, freedom, but government stood in his way, racists too. Trying to suppress the minority (black people), from revolting against the government that had the main role in deceiving the Americans from what is true and obvious actually. This legend was a son of a Black Panther Party members (Generally black people seeking power for their race, and trying to establish in a racist community, and help stop police brutality against black males and females), this legend is 2PAC (Tupac Amaru Shakur 1971-1996).…

    • 2242 Words
    • 9 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Good Essays

    In this essay I will be comparing the differences and similarities between Tupac Amaru Shakur and Christopher Wallace also knows as “Biggie” who both are male rappers and reined a pretty short but yet famous mid 90’s career in the music industry. I first would start off with Notorious B.I.G and his differences from Tupac. Biggie is from Brooklyn, NY, he was the only child raised by his mother Voletta Wallace, who lived in the poverty-stricken projects of Brooklyn. Biggie took to his surroundings at young age by transporting and selling drugs and also raising his daughter who he didn’t get to see much. After an incident that involved him and his friend, Biggie was spared by his friends loyalty to him by taking the fall for felony gun and drug charges; which then drove Biggie to put his all into his music and then caused him to meet his soon to be manger/business partner/best friend/ Sean Comb also knows as Puff Daddy and many various names.…

    • 707 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Initially, Tupac Shakur is an outstanding example of resiliency because he maintained a growth mindset, made it out of the inner city and succeeded as one of the bestselling music artists of all time. According to the poem “The Rose That Grew From Concrete,” Tupac states “Proving nature’s…

    • 252 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Tupac Rhetoric

    • 541 Words
    • 3 Pages

    Maybe the religious background of the author influenced him to claim that people need to start loving each other to reduce hate in our world and therefore help to get rid of inequalities problems. The most evident value to find in this song is equality. That’s what the ethical issue is all about, Tupac asks for a country without low-income communities where problems are multiplicated by 10. Another value could be work because Tupac asks people to get up and work hard to change things. This value is an important part of the solution proposed by the…

    • 541 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Who Was Tupac A Hero

    • 486 Words
    • 2 Pages

    Tupac’s music plays a big role in pop culture. His music was heard by millions of people, and have moved many. The music he wrote and the things he would rap about was the real things. He never “sugar coated” his life growing up. In his music he talks about…

    • 486 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Being born on May 21st, 1972, Biggie was caught in the middle of racial violence, gang wars, and a lifestyle that most people can’t relate to. At the age of fifteen, Biggie was selling crack on the streets of Brooklyn, being better known for dealing drugs than making rhymes. This part in Biggie’s life greatly influenced who he became, a world renowned rapper. His career started in basements and street corners around town, freestyling to his peers and neighborhood friends. People knew biggie as the street corner thug who could spit a rap when he wanted, and about what he wanted. His talent was nothing to overlook, he started rapping with the “Gold Brothers” and the “Techniques”, who ended up introducing Biggie to his first recording studio. At the age of 17 Biggie had dropped out of school, despite showing potential. The idea of money and power was too large to give up. He spent nine months in jail for drug charges, writing and preparing for his time in the lime light. Ounce he was released, he started to put together mix tapes, which bounced from source to source, causing Biggie’s name to gain publicity. Biggie’s first solo song, “Party and Bullshit” was featured in the film Who’s the Man? Not long after Biggie started to gain fame, music producer “Puffy”, or Sean Combs started to take interest, and began to record and produce for Biggie. In 1994 Biggie released his first album, “Ready to Die”, which exploded in the rap industry. Biggie had gone from hustling drugs on the corner in 1990, to being the “top-selling rap artist” in 1995 as MTV puts it. Things were looking up for biggie, until his fellow rap artist Tupac Shakur was killed in a drive by shooting. Tupac’s followers blamed Biggie and his crew, who denied any affiliation. Seven months later, Biggie was killed in a drive by shooting. Many believe the perpetrators belonged to Tupac’s crew, or a number of…

    • 644 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Better Essays

    Tupac

    • 1209 Words
    • 5 Pages

    The themes of most of Tupac's songs are the violence, racism, the hard conditions people in…

    • 1209 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Better Essays

    But that was fiction, some coward got the story twisted.” (Krishnamurthy.) This is not the only song that makes a person over think, the song “I Wonder If Heaven Has a Ghetto” entire four minutes has your head spinning not understanding whether a scene is a hidden message. Example, in the beginning of the music video you hear gunshots and he wakes up six days later inside of a resort infirmary. The video goes on and an old looking man comes to pick him up, on the radio it starts to blast, “breaking news on Tupac’s shooting” and then immediately shut down. Many people are shocked to see him, but there is also people who he runs into and they are not surprised and act natural, especially a young female that appeared to look like his wife was just glad he came…

    • 1659 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    Sociology

    • 3041 Words
    • 13 Pages

    > The sociological perspective is described as seeing the general in the particular. In this essay I will attempt to apply the sociological perspective to analyze song lyrics from the first verse of the song My Block by Tupac Shakur (see appendix for lyrics). Tupac (1971-1996) is the most famous gangster rap artist of all times. He was well known for his lyrics and their ability to express the grief of the Black community. He was an advocate for Black rights and very much against the societal system and class societies. Many say he exaggerated the conditions under which the Black community and the lower class were in because he was a wealthy man rapping about suppression. To other’s he was part of the petite-bourgeoisie, but he was consistent in attempting to better the conditions under which the lower class were in.…

    • 3041 Words
    • 13 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Good Essays

    Tupac Shakur is considered an rap icon. Some may say he is the MJ to the rap game. He didn’t just make music he made common situation into a song that everyone can bob their head to. Many artist say that they were influenced to rap because of Tupac such as Nas, Kendrick Lamar, J. Cole and so many more. Tupac’s mother (Afeni Shakur) was a single parent and she tried her best trying to make their childhood a great one. He thanked his mom for her effort in the song ‘Dear Mama‘. He may have been known to many people as an “Gangster” or “Thug”, but he also touched on issues that were going on at that moment of time. ‘Keep ya head up’ by 2pac was an anthem for women who were raising children on their own during the hard times during the 90’s, especially…

    • 1136 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Best Essays

    Gosa, Travis L. “Not Another Remix: How Obama became the first Hip-Hop President.” Journal of Popular Music Studies 22.4 (2010): 389-415.…

    • 3445 Words
    • 14 Pages
    Best Essays

Related Topics