CMZ Rising

"Death Before Dishonor"

Tupac Amaru Shakur

By: Jon Adkins

Tupac Shakur was voted the greatest rapper of all time, according to an Ebony Magazine poll in 2002, six years after he was murdered in June 1996. He was 25 years old when he was shot down on the Vegas strip. Tupac has been misunderstood and viewed by a lot of people as a rapper who has produced songs with negative lyrics. I on the other hand, interpret his lyrics overall as positive. He loved his people (Black people) and his lyrics reflected his love. You have to exclude the profanity in his lyrics, and then you will see how his lyrics dealt with the truth on the condition of our people. He came from a strong Black Nationalist foundation. His mother, Afeni Shakur, was a committed member of the Black Panther Party. As a matter of fact, she was jailed as a Black Panther member while pregnet with Tupac.

The big question is whether you can consider Tupac or short for "Pac" to be a conscious artist based on the music he produced. I remember asking one conscious brother the question on whether he thought Tupac could be considered a conscious artist. He laughed and answered a resounding NO! I consider Tupac to be a conscious artist in an esoteric way. (An esoteric message means a hidden or indirect message more so a literal or direct message.) Let's look at some of the songs he wrote. Some of the positive songs that he wrote had a direct or literal meessage. I'm sure everyone is familiar with his popular positive songs like:

Keep Your Head Up (Greatest Hits)
Dear Mama (Greatest Hits)
Brenda's Gotta Baby (Greatest Hits)

     But a lot of people are not aware of some of his strong lyrical songs like:
Unconditional Love (Greatest Hits)
Trapped (Greatest Hits)
Who Do You Believe In (Better Days)
This Ain't Living (Until The End of Time)
I Ain't Mad at Cha (Greatest Hits)
Happy Home (Until The End of Time)
They Don't Give a F*** About Us (Better Days)
Everything They Owe (Until The End of Time)
Letter to My Unborn (Until The End of Time)
Never Call You a B*** Again (Better Days)
My Block (Better Days)
Mama's Just a Little Girl (Better Days)
I don't know if Tupac invented or created the word “THUGS” used in his songs but he made it popular. Pac use “THUGS” but not in the literal meaning. Pac defined "THUGS" as The Hell You Gave Us (THUGS). THUGS to Pac was a philosophy of life and that was the reason why he used it in most of his songs. When Pac used the acronym "THUGS" he was focusing on exposing the conditions that White Americans put Black people in and continue to work towards keeping us in. In addition to his use of the word THUGS, Pac used the word NIGGA extensively and re-defined it as Never Ignorant Getting Goals Accomplished (NIGGA).
Another reason why Pac has been misunderstood is because his relationship or beef with Biggie Smalls.  Pac blamed Biggie and "P" Diddy for having information about him being set up and not informing Pac of that plan before he got shot in the elevator in New York City. Pac was on his way to the studio to record with Biggie and "P" Diddy when the shooting occurred. Man, that would have been a powerful combination of talent in one room.  I would have loved to have heard those tracks. I think the white racist entity within the FBI had something to do with Pac being shot multiple times in the elevator and on the Las Vegas strip. After the shooting occurred, Tupac started his lyrical attack on Biggie Smalls, "P" Diddy and Bad Boy records. I think his attack on them dealt mainly with the weak lyrical message that Biggie, "P" Diddy and Bad Boys Records were putting out. Bad Boy Records represented and continues to represent music mainly about getting that dollar bill and not dealing with the real social issues within the Black community. Althrough Tupac wanted to get paid like everyone else in the industry, he also incorporated a strong social message or reality about our people's (Black people) true condition.
Tupac is represented on the Conscious Music Zone web site as a conscious artist and he deserves it. Don't get me wrong, I don't endose young Black men wearing their pants down to their knees like Pac did at times. I think we need to develop a new dress code or style to replace that one. One can say Pac promoted that dress style and used profanity in his lyrics because he wanted to make sure he identified with the Black youth for the sole purpose of planting a positive seed or message in our Black youth minds.
This web page is called Tupacology in dedication to Tupac's work, his powerful lyrics and created style on how he conveyed that message to us all. We can safely conclude, he definitely loved his people, and his music reflected it.

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Thug Angel (DVD)

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Pac with The Outlawz

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Greatest Hits

Clean Version

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Tupac Amaru Shakur (June 16, 1971 — September 13, 1996), also known by his stage names 2Pac and Makaveli, was an American rapper. In addition to his status as a top-selling recording artist, Shakur was a successful film actor and a prominent social activist. Most of Shakur's songs are about growing up amid violence and hardship in ghettos, racism, problems in society and conflicts with other rappers. Shakur's work is known for advocating political, economic, social and racial equality, as well as his raw descriptions of violence, drug and alcohol abuse and conflicts with the law.

Shakur was a backup for the alternative hip hop group Digital Underground. Shakur's debut album, 2Pacalypse Now, gained critical recognition and backlash for its controversial lyrics. Shakur became the target of lawsuits and experienced other legal problems. He was later shot five times and robbed in the lobby of a recording studio in New York City. Following the event, Shakur grew suspicious that other figures in the rap industry had prior knowledge of the incident and did not warn him; the controversy helped spark the East Coast-West Coast hip hop rivalry.

Shakur was later convicted of sexual abuse. After serving eleven months of his sentence he was released from prison on an appeal financed by Marion "Suge" Knight, the CEO of Death Row Records. In exchange for Suge's assistance, Shakur agreed to release three albums under the Death Row label.

On September 7, 1996, Shakur was shot four times in a drive-by shooting in Las Vegas, and died six days later of respiratory failure and cardiac arrest at the University Medical Center.