The Rebellious Acts of Tupac Shakur

Introduction

It’s human nature to want to be in control of one’s life and not follow certain rules. Now, Corporate America has used rebellion to their advantage in marketing. It’s seen throughout history that actors, musicians, and politicians rebel against certain norms. Tupac Shakur, a famous rapper in the 1990s, exemplifies rebelliousness as he utilized hip hop to speak about the social, political, and economic issues that African Americans struggled with and conveyed the mood of modern American culture.

The Rebellious Acts of Tupac Shakur

As Thomas Frank explains in the article, Commodify Your Dissent, America has turned rebellion into a marketing tool. Corporate America projects a world of leaders and risk-takers who go against the status quo to sell their products. It’s not about conforming to society, making it a homogenized world, but about standing out. According to Jerry Rubin, the only way to find ourselves is by breaking the rules. Therefore, a rebel is someone who questions the rules and rejects whatever society values. They challenge “The Establishment” that wants everyone to be the same.

Tupac Shakur tackled social issues and tried to make a change with his music. He invented the acronym T.H.U.G L.I.F.E., which stands for, “The Hate You Give Little Infants F**ks Everyone.” This means the hate, such as racism, that society imposes on children heightens and affects the whole community negatively. He tried to fix this issue by forming a rap group of children from the ghetto called “The Underground Railroad,” inspired by Harriet Tubman. He wanted kids to be involved in hip hop, instead of the violence going on in the streets. Tupac believed that schools should be addressing the social issues confronting young people such as sex education, drugs, scams, police brutality, and racism. He made a social commentary on some of those issues in the song “Brenda’s Got a Baby.” It captured the “life experiences of the inner city Black communities”. It has the effects of poverty and how one person can affect an entire community. The statement thug life can also reflect the mood of modern America because thugs are created as a result of racism, oppression, and African culture alienation that America has fabricated.

He utilized hip hop as a way to bring awareness to political issues. He also wrote a “Letter to the President”, confronting the government for cutting welfare because people thought that only lazy and dependent blacks were using it. Tupac expressed how America is so quick to blame African Americans and that freedom is fiction for Blacks. He became a spokesperson for a group called the New Afrikan People’s Organization. They focused on engaging in community control, working against police abuse, and advocating for the release of political prisoners (Stanford). Through his rap “Violent” he vented his outrage on police brutality “about the prejudices against young blacks perpetrated by America.” He named it “Violent” because it is the stereotypical label “attached to young Blacks who speak against injustice”. Tupac’s “Letter to the President” and “Violent” represent the mood of modern American culture as the country takes pride in being the land of the free, even though it still has racism.

Tupac recognized how discrimination led to economic inequality. In his song “Words of Wisdom” he proclaims, “This is for the masses the lower classes. The ones you left out, jobs were givin’, better livin’ But we were kept out Made to feel inferior, but we’re the superior...Pledge allegiance to a flag that neglects us.” Meaning that due to the discrimination of blacks, they were not given the same economic opportunities that everyone else was getting. As a result, people in poverty turn to drugs and violence. Ironically, he mentioned Donald Trump in a 1992 interview, where he mentions, “you want to be successful – you want to be like Trump? Gimme, gimme, gimme. Push, push, push. Step step, step. Crush, crush, crush. That’s how it all is. Nobody ever stops.” Tupac exposed the American Contradiction of American Altruism vs Social Darwinism. The only way to be successful in America is by leaving others in poverty.

Conclusion

In retrospect, Tupac Shakur was a rebel since he confronted social, political, and economic problems that impacted African Americans. Through his music and works, he brought awareness to these semiotic variants. The mood of modern America is reflected in his works as he fought to disclose the hypocrisy of America. That it prides itself on being the country of freedom when there is still racism today. That its capitalism is a contradiction of altruism and social Darwinism. How only the rich survive at the expense of leaving others in economic decline. Lastly, that the violence in America is created because of the hate that the country creates.

References

Frank, T. (1997). Commodify Your Dissent: Salvos from The Baffler. W.W. Norton & Company.

Rubin, J. (1970). Do It!: Scenarios of the Revolution. Simon & Schuster.

Stanford, K. (2011). Keepin' It Real: Black Youth, Hip-Hop Culture, and Black Identity. Routledge.

Shakur, T. (1991). 2Pacalypse Now. Interscope Records.