Tupac

"Cops give a damn about a negro. Pull a trigger kill a nigger he's a hero..." (Tupac, "Changes"). That was the first lyric I heard from Tupac Shakur that made me think, "Wow. That is a very weighty lyric." I started the song over and listened to everything he said intently. His song was calling out to African Americans all over. Saying to them, I understand that things are tough. I understand that we are still under intense discrimination, but you can't keep living the way you are. Tupac begs his people to start making changes.

I have always been interested in how African Americans feel about the Civil Rights Movement, Black Nationalism, and the African American culture. I am a middle class white female, so hearing perspectives from black males and females interests me. American is the "land of the free", but do African Americans truly feel that way? That's where my thought process began for my project.

Hip hop was and still is a way to give a voice to middle or underclass blacks. It was an arena to talk freely about their frustrations, emotions, and giving a window into a life that blacks could relate to and whites had no idea about. The topic at hand is that the general stereotype of hip hop and rap is that it is vulgar, sexually charged, and violent music. I absolutely agree that it can be just that. However, I want to push up against that stereotype in my project. I want to call into question how hip hop is rhetorically savvy. Tupac knew his audience, his time period, and his purpose and that made him a rhetorical genius.

I want people to start questioning the "lens" that they see hip hop and rap through and ask themselves if they need to be looking at it through a different lens. I want to address the idea of hip hop being vulgar, but allowing my readers to see that it HAS to be to relate to the intended audience. If I don't develope my argument well, my entire project will crumble. If I can't guide my readers to understand the African American culture during Tupac's time as well as how he was a rhetorical genius, my project is in vain. I have to develop an understand of hip hop culture during Tupac's time. I think the general population who is not a fan of rap and hip hop constantly asks "Why?". Why does it have to be so violent, why does it have to be so sexual and vulgar? I want to answer those questions and ask a few questions to my audience of my own. What would be a stake if it wasn't?

I think this project is very culturally relevant. Tupac may be dead, but his music is known as the most influential and progressive for hip hop and rap. I also think that there is still racial tension in America today. Rap and hip hop have become an American staple for our culture. Jay-Z, Snoop Dogg, Dr.Dre, Kanye West, and countless others say they have been influenced by Tupac. If they have been influenced by Tupac and are some of the most popular musicians today, it is extremely relevant. I want to allow critiques of hip hop and rap to question their reasons for disliking it ,and I hope that in the end they walk away with a new found appreciation for hip hop, rap, Tupac, other rappers, and African American culture as a whole.

"All I'm trying to do is survive and make good out of the dirty, nasty, unbelievable lifestyle that they gave me." Tupac Shakur