“Some say the blacker the berry, the sweeter the juice. I say the darker the flesh then the deeper the roots”. This is the opening lyrics of one of the best songs ever written in the rap industry “Keep Ya Head Up”. It was written by who many people consider the best rapper in history, Tupac Amaru Shakur. Tupac is still considered one of the greatest and is still being played today by true Hip-Hop fans. People that do not know much of Tupac view him as a criminal. A criminal that got tatted “Thug
Academic Search Complete. Web. 2 Nov. 2013. Dyson, Michael Eric. “Tupac: Life Goes On.” Black Issues Book Review 8.5 (2006) : 14-18. Literary Reference Center. Web. 22 Oct. 2013. Shakur, Tupac. “Hit ‘Em Up.” 2Pac Greatest Hits. Death Row Records/Interscope Records, 1998. CD. Shakur, Tupac. “Keep Ya Head Up.”2Pac Greatest Hits. Death Row Records /Interscope Records, 1998. CD. Stanford, K.L. “Keepin’ It Real In Hip Hop Politics: A Political Perspective of Tupac Shakur.” Journal of Black Studies 42.1 (2011):
discussed deep and meaningful issues that his community was dealing with during his life time. The songs that I have selected to break down, in the ways they relate to and portray women during this time, are “Brenda’s got a baby,” “Dear Mama,” and “keep ya head up.” The lyrics, and stories that are discussed in these songs are extremely relatable and are example of why Tupac was able to rise to prominence, I think during this song, Tupac paints his mother as a Wonder Woman archetype during this song. There
even though he died at a young age he did a lot with his life. Growing up Tupac mother and some of his family were part of a group called Black Panther Party later their ideas became part of his songs and poems. Growing up and moving around New York as much as he did make him have a hard childhood. Tupac mother taught him about radical politics, other than that Tupac saw his mother struggle with substance abuse problem. Growing up was never easy for him he was shot 5 time during a mugging and the next
When thinking of legends in the Hip-Hop industry, one of the first names that come to mind is Tupac Shakur. Tupac Shakur was born in June 16, 1971, and was shot in September 13, 1996. He grew up in the ghettos of New York and slowly worked his way up to fame and success. Tupac’s music and life has a huge impact on today’s society even after 17 years. Throughout Michael Eric Dyson’s, Holler If You Hear Me: Searching for Tupac Shakur, the biography on Tupac Shakur shows how Tupac was a rapper that
Born August 29,1958 of parents Katherine and Joe Jackson with nine siblings, Michael Jackson grew up in Gary, Indiana. Father Joe Jackson being a musician earlier on in life, heard his sons sing and decided to place them in a music group at very young ages. As Michael wrote in his book “Moonwalk”, Joe would force them to perform on sick days and also
you must understand the relationship between the men and women” (Angela Davis). Artist such as Tupac and J Cole use hip-hop as a form of expression to bring attention to the social issues within the African American community. Songs such as Keep Ya Head Up, Brenda’s Got A Baby, Crooked Smile, and Lost Ones communicates the social issues affecting the black community, during the 90’s as well as the current matters in today’s society. All of the songs touch on topics such as abortion, rape, drugs
Unfortunately, every rapper falls in to that category however some rap can be more meaningful than any song could every be. Today, I’m going to show you one rapper who falls into this stereotype. 1.Background Information The song I selected was “Keep Ya Head Up” by Tupac Shakur or simply Tupac. Born in East Harlem, New York City was raised by his mother and did not see his father until he was much older. Tupac’s childhood was tougher than most with his mother struggling through a substance abuse and
Statistics today would say that most black men up and leave their family when they reach a certain amount of wealth. However, when it comes to the song “Dear mama by Tupac Shakur”, that is not the case. Some men actually look forward to being able to take care of their family. This song was written in tribute to his mother Afeni Shakur. In the song Tupac expresses all of the hardships that he and his siblings had growing up. He also says “Even though I sell rocks it feels good putting money in your
songs gave hope to African Americans, and to help them see that black was/is beautiful. Even though Tupac has many hit songs and albums, Keep Ya Head Up has been one of the best songs that Tupac has ever recorded! “The blacker the berry the sweeter the juice the darker the flesh the deeper the roots”. “Keep ya head up things are going to get easier, keep yah head up things will get brighter”. Tupac had such a great talent, which made majority of his songs classics. Most of the rap
His history with the judicial system and the way he lived his life could not be covered up by the positivity themes his songs conveyed. Many of Shakur’s real life occurrences completely contradict the lyrics of his songs. Although he may have had a “do as I say, not as I do” mentality, and his songs were mostly uplifting and encouraging, he did not live up to those messages. In his song “Keep Ya Head Up”, Tupac says, “I’m still tryin to hold on to survivin friends,”(Shakur et al.) although in
Aquande-da: The leather bracer of the Omaha. Arbalest, Arbalete, Alblast, Arblast: The European crossbow of the Middle Ages. Arbalete a Cric: A crossbow drawn by a rack and pinion. Arbalete a Jalet, Pellet crossbow, Prodd: A crossbow set up to shoot stones instead of bolts. Arbalest a Tour: A crossbow drawn by a windlass. Arbalestina: A cruciform aperture in a wall of a fortification from which a crossbow was shot. Arbrier: The stock of a crossbow. Archer's guard: See bracer
pop at ya And I light 8 sticks like it’s Hanukah Just to get you capped like a yarmulke That’ll erase this mark like a swastika I load and flash steel, that’s photographers And the can it’ll cap it all like Ottawa Yo I’m boxing ya if we brawl up in this place You’ll get knuckles all up in ya face And ya head be knocked off like the Jordans that y’all make So y’all go and gave me this Chino in TO Who eats soup named miso and he’s called a hero? Nigga I will take every dollar you got if ya gwap got
life learned to live his dreams and reach his goals he learned to believe in his own success , and his music become his life. pac , quotes : For every dark night, there's a brighter day. F*ck the World only God can judge me. Tupac Shakur grew up around nothing but self-delusion. His mother, Alice Faye Williams, thought she was a "revolutionary." She called herself "Afeni Shakur" and associated with members of the ill-fated Black Panther Party, a movement that wanted to feed school kids breakfast
on their own farm, much like the dreams of other migrant workers. “Sure, we’d have a little house an’ a room to ourself, little fat iron stove an’ in the winter we’d keep a fire goin’ in it. It ain’t enough land so we’d have to work too hard. Maybe six, seven hours a day. An’ when we put in a crop, why, we’d be there to take the crop up. We’d know what come of our planting.” (Pg. 58) George had taken care of Lennie, every step of the way, just like his Aunt Clara told him to. “He ain’t much of a talker
Medium.com states that even "Since many rappers back in the day were into gangs, there was a whole lot of violence in the rap game. However, many other songs show the beauty of rap and black and brown culture. For example, in "Keep Ya Head Up" by Tupac, he states, "Keep ya head up, ooh, child, things are gonna get easier." Although there is much violent rap music, there are also many uplifting songs that emphasize the pain and defacement the black and brown communities feel frequently. Another example
There’s been monsters coming at you left and right, and he’s always seemed so nervous about how you ‘FIGHT’ or rather ‘ACT’. It’s kinda weird. Like he was expecting you to do something else. He’s been really weird about everything, actually. He even keeps calling you ‘Frisk’ by accident. You would correct him, but now you’ve learned to respond to the name. All in all, he tries to hide everything with a pun or two, but there’s something off about him, and you dare say that you were going to get to the
muttered softly, “I didn’t mean it George.” “I know you di’nt, but we gotta get out of here or you're gonna get shot.” Lennie’s eyes dilated in fear. “But George, I don’ wanna get shot! George, you gotta help me! George!” Lennie started to freeze up, but George gave him a hard smack to the face. “Lennie!” he hissed as loudly as he could. “You damn sonofabitch you gotta calm! If we want ta’ get out of here with
mothered teens where arguing with their boyfriends about whether they were the fathers’ of the babies whose pictures appeared draped in the background. When I eventually did catch his attention, he took one look at me and I watched as a smirk curled up from around the corners of his mouth. That was right before he had stashed it away behind his bottle of beer, taking a long swig.
in their head. They’re all the time talkin’ about it, but it’s jus’ in their head” (Steinbeck 74). Readers understand from this that Crooks didn’t know how to have dreams for himself because other people had continuously told him that he wouldn’t amount to anything and pretty soon, he began to believe in what they were saying. c “A guy needs somebody- to be near him. A guy goes nuts if he ain’t got nobody. Don’t make no difference who the guy is, long’s he’s with you. I tell ya, I tell ya a guy gets