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It's a shame that a human died, but I wonder how many other young (and probably black) young men have died as a result of having terrible role models like Tupac to look up to ? Impressionable kids see someone like him and his messages of violence and rebellion as being the answer and they go down the same destructive path.
Until the black community starts getting more positive role models, like Martin Luther King and President Obama and his family, they are going to continue to find young black boys and girls dead in the streets because they think that is the way life should be. People like Tupac are a blight on the face of African American Culture everywhere, and I don't mourn his passing at all.
Don
Rappers, celebrities, athletes..ect... are NOT role models! It is entertainment, and nothing more! PARENTS are supposed to be the role models! Was TUPAC controversial? Sure. But as with most of those rappers, such as TUPAC, and Ice Cube their music was about what they saw around them. What parents should be teaching is "there is nothing glorious about the lifestyle he is rapping about!" At any rate, give me TUPAC and the other old school hip hop any day over the crap that is out today like Lil Wayne, or Soulja Boy!
This is why conversations cannot be had about hip-hop in "mixed company." Rapping about ghetto life, murder, drugs, sex etc. is not glorifying it. You're simply telling a story. Those that come from urban America can relate because these are the things that they see and experience each day.
Sheltered (white) teenagers and their parents misinterpret this dialogue as a celebration instead of a poetic eulogy. In today's world, most of the rap that makes it to the radio is crap. Rap is no longer edgy or provocative because it's tailored specifically to appeal to white middle/upper-middle class kids. Hip-hop that would actually offend white sensibilities through sharp truth-telling stays underground or requires uber talented MC's to spread a message with a smooth coat of paint.
There is definitely some truth to that. Some people miss the message, and try and live that way. I think that is where the controversy lies.
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Originally Posted by Coolhand68
I was by no means sheltered. Grew up in tougher surroundings than this jokester. His message is lost in the flashy jewelry, hot women, and shiny cars in his videos that glamorize gang life. Most of the kids who were fans of his didn't bother to listen to the words or message or at least not the way they were intended. Sorry, I don't glamorize this fraud the same way I don't glamorize Dillinger, Capone, Gotti, Gigante or any other thug.
Very true. However; as I've said, rappers as with other entertainers while their music may be controversial, in the end are entertainers, and should not be looked upon as role models. Now when I was younger, I listened to all of the west coast stuff. I also listened to Metallica. What I found out is that both styles while very different, were also very political in nature. At any rate, I always tried to and still do try to find the message in a song.
I do; after all, he might have been the greatest rapper who ever lived.
Isn't it a non-sequitur to put the word "great" and the word "rapper" together? How could ANY rapper be called "great"? Who could possibly care about rappers? How is it possible to call their output "music"?
So, to all of the tupac conspiracy theorists that have claimed the govt. shot him because he was going to be like MLK etc......
Sometimes it's just hazardous to stand too close to Suge Knight....as 2 more people found out last night at a pre-VMA party where Knight was targeted (yet again) and the other 2 got hit for being in the general line of fire.
And I wonder how much this lifestyle influenced young fatherless black males? Rap music is huge in the black community and Tupac was idolized for about a decade or more - some may have seen him as the perfect example of what a MAN should be. It makes one wonder if Tupac was overall a net negative.
That pic of him with his underwear half falling off, with the gun in his pants, and his middle finger pointing up to himself - that is the exact way Obama holds his hand when he shows disagreement with something like talking to a Republican or otherwise.
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