Beruflich Dokumente
Kultur Dokumente
Index
I. Early life and career beginning.....................................................................................................3 II. 2Pacalypse Now, police brutality. shooting in Marin City........................................................4 III. Thug Life and rape charge.........................................................................................................5 IV. Prison sentence, Me Against the World and the sale of his soul..........................................5 V. Outlawz...........................................................................................................................................6 VI. Last album and new rapper name Makaveli........................................................................6 VII. East Coast vs. West Coast Beef.................................................................................................6 VIII. Tupac's Death / the end of East vs. West Coast Beef.............................................................7 IX. Influences and musical style.......................................................................................................8 X. Analysis of Changes..................................................................................................................8 XI. Tupac's message.........................................................................................................................10 XII. Woman equality.......................................................................................................................10 XIII. Legacy......................................................................................................................................10
caught in 1986 and imprisoned for the robbery of a truck in which two police officers and a guard were killed. Tupac also had an older stepbrother, Mopreme, who appeared in many of his recordings.
rappers from the West Coast. In October 1991, Tupac filed a $10 million civil suit against the Oakland Police Department, claiming they brutally beat him for jaywalking. On August 22, 1992, in Marin City, Shakur performed at an outdoor festival, and stayed for an hour afterwards signing autographs and pictures. A confrontation occurred in which someone pulled out a gun, and accidentally dropped it. As it was picked up, a bullet discharged. About 100 yards away, Qa'id Walker-Teal, a 6-year-old, was hit and killed by a bullet at a playground. On the other hand some other sources report that the child was the victim of a stray bullet in a shootout between Shakur's entourage and a rival group. Shakur and his brother Mopreme left in their car and were stopped by an angry mob. The police "rescued" them and took the two into prison, who were soon released without charge. Ballistics tests proved the bullet that killed the boy was not from Shakur's or any members of his entourage's gun. Shakur's lawyer said that the festival was a "nasty situation," and his client was saddened by the death of the young boy. He was dealt another huge blow as he learns that whilst he is on tour, his mother, Afeni, is addicted to crack. Tupac reacted badly to this, and refers to this moment in many of his songs as an awful time in his life. It is believed that Afenis partner had earlier introuduced Afeni to crack. Yet Tupac still carried on with Digital Underground, every day learning more, and every day pushing more for his own chance to get on his own stage. In the same year Tupac made his film debut, starring in Ernest Dickinsons film Juice, which brought Hollywood success, and earned him praise for his portrayel of his character, Bishop, for which he is perhaps best remebered for the line, Im crazy and I dont give a fuck!
IV. Prison sentence, Me Against the World and the sale of his soul (1995)
Shakur began serving his prison sentence February 14, 1995. Shortly afterward, he released his multi-platinum album Me Against the World. Shakur became the first artist to have an album at 5
number one on the Billboard 200 while serving a prison sentence. The album sold 240,000 copies in its first week, setting a record for highest first week sales for a solo male rap artist at the time. It is considered one of the greatest and most influential hip hop albums of all-time. While serving his sentence, he married his long-time girlfriend, Keisha Morris, on April 4, 1995; the couple divorced in 1996. While imprisoned, Shakur read many books by Niccol Machiavelli, Sun Tzu's The Art of War and other works of political philosophy and strategy. These things also characterize his later recorded songs. In this album, Tupac raps about contradictory themes of social inequality and injustice, unscrupulous aggression, sympathy, playfulness, and hope. Meanwhile Suge Knight president of Hip-Hops most successful and controversial label, Death Row Records, had arranged parole for Tupac, who had only served 8 months of his sentence, and posted the required $1.4 million bail. The deal was that Tupac signed to Death Row Records when released from jail and recorded 3 albums for the label. It was clear that he accepted this deal as he hated prison and would have done everything to get himself out there. The reality of it is that Tupac didn't want to join Deathrow as he said at the time he signed the contract I know Im selling my soul. But he couldnt stand another few years in prison. Newly signed to Death Row a double CD entitled All Eyez On Me was released by Tupac, the album received supporting and outstandingly good reviews and went over 9 times platinum, selling over 6 million in its first year. The album generated the hit single California Love with 2pac featuring rap legend Dr Dre. Tupac had gained worldwide success and was the biggest influence to the youth since the great N.W.A. In the same year Tupac received many acting offers and so began to concentrate on his acting career, appearing in films Gridlock'd and Bullet. In All Eyez Of Me many tracks are considered by many critics to be classics. All Eyez on Me was a change of style from his earlier works. While still containing socially aware songs and themes, Shakur's album was heavily influenced by party tracks and tended to have a more "feel good" vibe than his first albums. Shakur described it as a celebration of life, and the record was critically and commercially successful.
V. Outlawz
The Outlawz is an American hip hop group founded by Tupac Shakur in late 1995 after Shakur's release from prison. Tuapc was part of it until the day he died. While being in prison, he apparantly never recieved one visit or phone call form his homies who he thought betrayed him. Fueled by his anger that these people, he started ideas to construct a group consisting of Thug Life soldiers . Together, they are best known for the numerous songs, albums and offensively diss songs they did with Tupac. Yafeu Fula was Tupacs godbrother and the pair became inseparable growing up together living in the same households at times. When Tupac was incarcerated in 1995 Yafeu would visit Tupac daily, and it was there in one of those visits that they decided to form the rap group Outlawz which is a backronym for Operating Under Thug Laws As Warriorz. The other memebers would join from another group which first appeared on a Tupac Shakur single in 1993. The Outlawz were a second family for Tupac but also a bad influence, as they pushed him to make more offensively diss songs and sell drugs on the streets to get cash.
death and his first studio album to be posthumously released. The emotion and anger showcased on the album has been admired by a large part of the hip-hop community, including other rappers. This album was certified 4 Platinum on June 15, 1999.
VIII. Tupac's Death / end of East vs. West Coast Beef (1996)
On the night of September 7, 1996, Tupac attended the Mike TysonBruce Seldon boxing match at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas. After leaving the match, one of Knight's associates spotted 21-yearold Orlando Anderson, who had robbed a member of Death Row's entourage. Knight's partner told Shakur, who attacked Anderson. Shakur's entourage, as well as Knight and his followers, assisted in attacking Anderson. After the brawl, Shakur went with Knight to go to a Death Row-owned Club. He rode in Knight's limousine as part of a larger convoy, including many in Shakur's entourage. At around 11:0011:05 pm, they were halted on Las Vegas Boulevard by Metro bicycle police for playing the car stereo too loudly. The party was released without being fined a few minutes later. At about 11:10 pm, while they were stopped at a red light, a vehicle occupied by two women pulled up on their left side. Shakur, who was standing up through the sunroof, exchanged words with the two women, and invited them to go to the Club with them. At approximately 11:15 pm, a white, fourdoor, late-model Cadillac with an unknown number of occupants pulled up to the limousine's right side, rolled down a window, and rapidly fired gunshots at Shakur. He was hit in the chest, pelvis, and his right hand and thigh. One of the rounds went into Shakur's right lung. At the hospital, Shakur was heavily wounded and was placed on life support machines. While in the critical care unit, on the afternoon of Friday, September 13, 1996, Shakur died of internal bleeding; Shakur's body was cremated the next day and some of his ashes were later mixed with marijuana and smoked by members of the Outlawz. Yet Tupac seemed to know that because of his lifestyle and the controversy he seemed to cause, that he would die before he was 30 as he expressed this through many of his songs. There are many complications in his death and he often rapped about faking his own death, leading his big fans to believe he was still alive, faking his death to avaid enemies. He had changed his alias to Makaveli, referring to the Italian politician Machiavelli who wrote about cheating death, he also rapped about the death / murder of The Notorious B.I.G., which happened after his death in 1997. With Notorious B.I.G.'s death the East Coast vs. West Coast Beef ended. Unfortunatly, both murders remain unsolved!
X. Analysis of Changes
"Changes" is a hip hop song by 2Pac. The song was originally recorded in 1992, but later remixed during 1997-1998. When Tupac was shot to death in 1996, he left behind a great deal of unreleased material. This is one of many songs that surfaced after his death. The song samples the 1986 hit "The Way It Is" by Bruce Hornsby and the Range. The song makes references to the Black Panther 8
Party. "Changes" remains one of 2Pac's most notable and popular songs. In this song, many subjects concerning African-Americans injustices are being conveyed. Subjects like racial-profiling, poverty and racism affect the everyday life of African-American. In the song Changes, Tuapc gives an inside look at the daily life of an African-American. Tupac seems to be trying to express the idea that changes needs to be made to therefore stop poverty and racism that African-American are facing every day. Tupac also criticizes the dispersion of African-Americans over the idea to unite to overcome poverty and racism facing them. The title of Tupacs song is called Changes. It is call Changes for numerous obvious reasons. Tupac starts the song by stating; I see no changes. He is possibly referring to the changes that were brought upon after the AfricanAmerican Civil Right Movement, during the 50s and 60s. African-American Civil Movement was supposed to bring an end to social issues like racism and poverty afflicting African-American population. But in the song Changes, he states that he sees no changes. The same social issues that concerns African-Americans before the Civil Right Movement are still common afterwards. Throughout the song, Tupac gives an inside look on the social problems afflicting AfricanAmericans and suggests possible resolutions. In the first stanza of the song Changes, Tupac first talks about how certain social issues are link together; he makes a correlation between his skin color and being poor: I'm tired of bein' poor and even worse I'm black. Then he explains how poverty causes crime: My stomach hurts, so I'm lookin' for a purse to snatch. And finally, he demonstrates the relationship between police brutality and race: Cops give a damn about a negro? Pull the trigger, kill a nigga, he's a hero. Following the links between the social issues, Tupac makes interesting observation on why African-American communities have trouble dealing with these social problems: First ship 'em dope & let 'em deal the brothers. Give 'em guns, step back, and watch 'em kill each other. His observation could be interpreted as a conspiracy into eliminating or significantly diminish the African-American population in the United States of America. However, Tupac does not mention who is behind the plot. Tupac suggests the solution of unity into solving the social issues that African-Americans are facing. African-Americans should united together to solve poverty, racism and violence. I got love for my brother, but we can never go nowhere unless we share with each other. We gotta start makin' changes. In these two verses, it could be notice that Tupac uses the pronoun we to represent unity among African-American. The importance of unity makes it possible for changing the ways to deal with these complex social issues. At the end of the first paragraph of the song Changes, Tupac seems to be making a criticism of how social issues would not solve itself if they were just ignored: I'd love to go back to when we played as kids, but things change, and that's the way it is. In the second stanza of the song Changes, Tupac reconfirms social issues that afflicts African-Americans; violence: And only time we chill is when we kill each other. and drugs: 'Cause mo' black than white is smokin' crack tonight. A couple of verses further, Tupac makes the ultimate point that the unity for changes has not happen because there are too many individualistic people who are not willing to give up their personal interests. Try to show another way, but they stayin' in the dope game. This verse shows the people have a choice but instead they choose the life of crime. How are they able to change the social issues afflicting them if some are not cooperating. It could be assume that Tupac is clearly stating the importance of African-American unity to overcome the challenging social issues facing them; violence, racial profiling and drugs. After the second paragraph he's saying that thing's will always stay the same until black people change it themselves, instead of waiting for other people to take action. "It's time for us as a people to make a change. Let's change the way we eat, change the way we live, and change the way we treat each other. You see the old way wasn't working so it's on us to do; What we gotta do to survive" He wants them to change everything, the old way they were going about life wasn't working so he wants them to change in order to survive. The last paragraph of the song is about Tupac drops the idea of unity because of the fact that nobody is following it. He has to therefore do what is best for him like everyone. Some things will never change! is the last verse of this song and Tupac tries to say that some things will never change, if you don't change your 9
attitude.
XIII. Legacy
Although Tupac is since 1996 dead, he still remains a cultural icon and a modern legend in many countries. Moreover to preserve Shakur's legacy, his mother founded the Shakur Family Foundation (later renamed the Tupac Amaru Shakur Foundation or TASF) in 1997. The TASF's givin mission is 10
to "provide training and support for students who tend to improve their creative talents." The TASF sponsors essay contests, charity events, a performing arts day camp for teenagers and undergraduate scholarships. The Foundation officially opened the Tupac Amaru Shakur Center for the Arts (TASCA) in Georgia, in 2005. In 2003, a documentary about Shakur entitled Tupac: Resurrection was released under the monitoring of his mother and narrated completely in his voice. It was nominated for Best Documentary in the 2005 Academy Awards. Proceeds will go to a charity set up by Shakur's mother Afeni. Also in 2003, Harvard University co-sponsored an academic symposium entitled "All Eyez on Me: Tupac Shakur and the Search for the Modern Folk Hero." The speakers discussed a wide range of topics dealing with Shakur's impact on entertainment. According to Forbes, in 2008 Shakur's estate made $15 million. At the 2011 White House Correspondents Dinner, President Barack Obama roasted mogul Donald Trump, referencing Shakur and Biggie Smalls.No one is happier, no one is prouder, to put this birth certificate matter to rest than The Donald.And thats because he can get back to focusing on the issues that matter, like did we fake the moon landing? What really happened at Roswell? And where are Biggie and Tupac? Years later Tupac is still releasing albums from the grave and still inspiring the masses. Current rappers use his songs to mix with their own in post mortem duets. Almost every rapper lists him among their greatest influences and inspirations. No other rapper in history has been so deep and so real in his lyrics. He was not a character, he was a larger than life figure that is still a mystery to this day. Perhaps he was the last true poet, not far off from the likes of Bob Dylan. Unfortunatly towards the end of his life he became seemingly ignorant, engaging in a feud with his once best friend Notorious B.I.G. And he showed the thug inside of him more and more often. And maybe because his life was cut so short at the age of 25, we will never know what he was truly capable of and how great he could have been. Tupac Shakur stands as a black icon in our time. He was not a role model. He was someone with a message to be heard. We must make our own inferences based on what he gave us, and use it wisely to improve our society.
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Sources:
www.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tupac_Shakur www.2pacworld.co.uk/tupac-life/tupac-biography www.wikipedia.org/wiki/East_Coast-West_Coast_hip_hop_rivalry www.2pacworld.co.uk/tupac-life/east-vs-west-coast-hip-hop www.2pacworld.co.uk/tupac-life/tupacs-groups www.wikipedia.org/wiki/Outlawz www.2pacworld.co.uk/tupac-death/police-report-on-tupacs-murder-1996 www.azlyrics.com/lyrics/2pac/changes.html www.youtube.com/watch?v=oPvEtoM6V_0 www.lyricinterpretations.com/Tupac-Shakur/Changes www.azlyrics.com/lyrics/2pac/keepyaheadup.html www.wmst2010.blogspot.co.at/2008/04/keep-ya-head-up.html
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