Tupac Shakur



Growing up in Hayward, local artists have always been part of the music that is most popular in the bay area. Almost everyone not only locally but nationally has heard of Tupac Shakur. Ever since childhood, I can remember hearing Tupac has been a staple growing up and certain memories can be linked to Tupac songs. He is a staple in bay area music and was not only limited to music. He débuted his acting talent in 1992’s Juice where he played a main character and plans a robbery that goes horribly wrong. He continued to make more films and taken at the very young age of 25 shook the rap community and it has never forgotten its fallen member. Tupac’s music has affected many and his movies as well as his poetry will always show how truly talented this man was.




Tupac Amaru Shakur, son of two black panther members was born June 16, 1971, brought to music what very few have spent their entire careers trying to achieve. He started rapping at 17 and through an eight year span he put out twelve albums and wrote memorable songs such as “Dear Mama”, “Hail Mary”, “Life Goes On”, and “Brenda Got a Baby”, which was his first big hit. He was a few movies such as “Gridlock’d” (1997) and “Gang-Related” (1997) that showcased that Tupac was not just a person with one talent. He was born in New York and later went to Baltimore and attended School of Arts where his interest in music stemmed from. He later moved to Oakland and became very involved with the rap scene which leads to him becoming a legend in the rap scene.
His impact on the rap world was immense and today is still evident. He was such a revolutionary because he not only spoke of women and exorbitance in his music but he spoke of his life and the struggles he went through. “Dear Mama” is one of the examples of his childhood and what he went through that lead him to have so much to say to the world and made his story so relatable to so many people in the bay area. In an 8 year span he put out so many albums that many artists are unable to do in a lifetime, for example R. Kelly who has been in the music business far longer has only put out thirteen albums since he started. His music is still being remixed today and he has some underground songs and has collaborated with recent musicians such as Keyshia Cole.
Besides recording an immense number of songs and albums and movies, Tupac has left his mark on the world with literature and most popular is his book “The rose that grew from concrete”. In this book that he wrote he has many quotes and poems of what he has seen, heard, and experienced. Some of his quotes are;
For every dark night, there's a brighter day”,
“we wouldn't ask why a rose that grew from the concrete for having damaged petals, in turn, we would all celebrate its tenacity, we would all love its will to reach the sun, well, we are the roses, this is the concrete and these are my damaged petals, dont ask me why, thank god, and ask me how”,
“since we all came from a women, got our name from a women, and our game from a women. I wonder why we take from women, why we rape our women, do we hate our women? I think its time we killed for our women, be real to our women, try to heal our women, cus if we dont we'll have a race of babies that will hate the ladies, who make the babies. And since a man can't make one he has no right to tell a women when and where to create one”, and
“A coward dies a thousand deaths... a soldier dies but once.”
Tupac was a man who despite his life’s struggles he became one of the best artists to ever grace the top of the charts. A man who came from the slums to the big silver screen. That’s a chance not every man or women gets and he made it happen. Even though it has been over a decade since his untimely demise, his music is still played not sometimes, but all the time. Tupac left this world leaving a lot to carry on his name for future generations; He left his music, his poetry and his life story.

if u wud like to see videos of "Brenda's got a baby" or "Dear mama" visit http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wl54ABY8VgY
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JNcloTmvTeA