50th Post-Humous Birthday: Honouring Tupac’s Political Legacy in Hip-Hop

Yinka Olatunbosun

One of the most influential voices in hip-hop history, Tupac Shakur would have been 50 years old on June 16 this year if his life had not been cut short by the bullet in Las Vegas on September 13, 1996. Tupac, who is famous for his music activism against inequality, rapped about violence, drugs and thug life, poverty, humanity and other issues that may have contributed to the battered image of a person of colour in his society and indeed the entire world. Hip-hop as a genre has roots in the militant spoken-word groups such as The Last Poets and The Watts Prophets. Long before Tupac, there was a slew of socially-conscious artists such as Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five, Kurtis Blow, and others.

Long after his death, his music is still a subject of intellectual discourse and reference material for reviewers, film makers and documentarians, especially rap artists who are keen on lyricism. Rappers like Nas, Lauryn Hill, Common, Kendrick Lamar, Childish Gambino honed their political lyricism on the template inadvertently created by the likes of Tupac.

Tupac was a visionary whose music captured the temperament of the black neighborhood. Take a look at the scenario he painted casually in his classic, ‘Dear Mama’ where demystifies the thug life in the lines: I hang around with the thugs/ And even though they sold drugs/ They showed the young brother love.’ Perhaps, for the duality of the meanings of his songs, he was blamed for glorifying drugs and the thug life. Every good student history knows that the blacks didn’t invent crack but the influx of crack into black neighborhoods in America changed hip-hop forever. Crack became the means to an end- the infamous antidote to poverty. Drugs birthed gangs; gangs dominated hoods. A rapper gets beaten or shot for something he rapped about that insulted the other gang. Hip-hop got messy afterwards.

Tupac’s post-humous release, “Changes’’ is an existential-themed rap song with every day subject matters of hunger, crime and the unholy indoctrination of under-aged children into drug peddling.

“My stomach hurts so I’m lookin’ for a purse to snatch/Cops give a damn about a negro/Pull the trigger kill a nigga he’s a hero/Give the crack to the kids who the hell cares/One less hungry mouth on the welfare.’’

With the death of Tupac and the controversial murder of his rival, Notorious B.I.G, it became clear that hip-hop could use some slow-mo. More than a decade later, the rap game became less vicious-veering into a different form called ‘trap.’ Then came the voice spitting brutal conversation on race. His name is Joyner Lucas. His song “I’m not racist,’’ heavily criticized for reinforcing stereotypes was in itself ‘a double-platinum’ honour for the legacy of conscious rap laid by Tupac and his contemporaries. As long as the issues that fuel this genre of music exist, the voice of Tupac and others will not be silenced by the bullet.