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Kiah Beachler

Ms. Fillman

CAP 10 Interdisciplinary Essay

10 January, 2020

How Tupac and Others Have Tried to Grow Roses From Concrete

During the 1990’s a new mainstream popularity wave rose around hip hop and the culture

of many African Americans in America. Tupac, regarded as one of the greatest and most

influential rappers to come from the decade, became an icon of hip hop culture. Tupac was one

of the pioneers of modern rap and through his music he raised awareness of racial discrimination

and brutality towards Blacks. His blatant and direct assessments of racism in America captivated

audiences and inspired a call to action that rippled throughout the 1990s. In the 2017 novel ​The

Hate You Give,​ similar issues are identified in a similar style of activism by author Angie

Thomas. The novel’s protagonist, Starr, is avenging her friend Khalil, a young, unarmed Black

boy living in a lower class neighborhood who was killed by a police officer. Shortly before he is

killed, he talks about the impact that Tupac had on America and how there are still lessons to be

learned from his music. True to Khalil’s prediction, many of America’s racist practices can still

be seen today. Tupac’s activism on issues such as police brutality, the war on drugs affect on

African-Americans, and gang violence exemplify how the permanence of racism continues

throughout generations, however, so does the fight to combat it.

Though the era of de jure segregation had passed, Whites expressed the permanence of

their dominant culture through police brutality which, during Tupac’s life, became one of his key

activism focuses. Tupac’s connection with police brutality began early in his life, starting with
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his mother’s connection with the Black Panthers, an organization which fought against police

brutality. Later in life Tupac was brutally attacked by police in Oakland, and at the Marin Music

Festival. Tupac wrote in the song “Trapped” about this all too familiar pattern for many Blacks

throughout America, singing “[I’m] tired of being in this vicious cycle- if one more cop harassed

me I might just go psycho” (Shakur). Reports of police brutality during the decade were very

common and bled into the new century. In ​The Hate You Give​, Angie Thomas writes about how

police brutality was just as much of a pressing issue in the 2010’s. As Starr grows up, her family

emphasizes the importance of Black pride, but also of the discrimination that she is bound to

face. She describes having a talk in which Starr’s father instructs her on what to do if approached

by a police officer. By telling a small child that she should “keep [her] hands visible” and “not to

make any sudden moves” Starr’s father emphasizes how relevant ongoing police brutality is

(Thomas 20-21). Starr learns just how important an awareness of police brutality is when her

friend Khalil is murdered by a police officer. This sets her on a path to fighting against the

ongoing discrimination she faces in her community. The presence of police brutality like that of

Khalil’s has continues into the modern day as displayed by an increase of community shootings

and harmful stereotypes of black men. This continuing of police brutality exhibits how this is not

yet solved and continues to be a permanent form of racism.

Throughout the decades, both the activism displayed by Tupac and described in ​The Hate

You Give​ prove testament to the fight for justice that follows discrimination. Not only did Tupac

fight police brutality with his words and lyrics, he often advocated for groups like the Black

Panthers where Black and native African cultures could be celebrated (Ogbar). Even at the

beginning of his music career “at 18 years old, Tupac was elected ​national chairman of the New
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Afrikan Panthers​” (Ball). Additionally, In ​The Hate You Give​ activism is portrayed as the best

solution for improving awareness about the significance of racism in America. After Khalil’s

murderer is not indicted, Starr uses her voice to focus on how “his life mattered. Khalil lived!...

Do you hear me?” (Thomas 412). She also describes that speaking up is the only way to enforce

change when she asks, “that’s why people are speaking out, huh? Because it won’t change if we

don’t say something” (Thomas 171). Even though the permanence of racism permeates

American culture, more people have been willing to speak out for police accountability and

against the murders of innocent Blacks.

As explained by THUG LIFE, an acronym made popular by Shakur, the depth of drug

culture in many Black neighborhoods is shown to be a result of generational and permanent

racism that often forces minorities into the drug world. Through a culmination of policy with

sometimes racist intention, drug markets found their way into Black communities. Tupac was

most affected by the increased crackdown on Black communities during the War on Drugs.

Tupac often reflected on how “over the course of the decade, unemployment in black

communities across the country soared... and as police brutality and corruption continued to

plague black neighborhoods, a new drug was introduced to the streets: crack cocaine” (Ogbar).

This became an easy source of income for many underprivileged communities, and although

drug usage among Blacks and Whites remained generally the same, Black communities were

targeted by law enforcement. This only sent neighborhoods spiraling more into poverty, which

renewed the permanent cycle of discrimination (Ball). This created the THUG LIFE system in

which the discrimination given to all Black individuals causes them to have less opportunities

and often forces them into drugs. Tupac describes the acronym declaring, “I have not brought
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violence to you. I have not brought ‘thug life’ to America. I didn’t create ‘thug life;’ I diagnosed

it” (Carissimo). Many of his songs also attacked the use of crack, police bias and discrimination,

and the need for equality. Tupac commented on how deep rooted drugs can be, writing in

“Changes” to “give the crack to the kids who the hell cares… give 'em guns step back watch 'em

kill each other” (Ruiz). Shakur’s identification and idea of THUG LIFE became such a universal

truth regarding racism, that Angie Thomas titled her book after the acronym. In The Hate You

Give, Angie Thomas describes THUG through Khalil’s experience with drug dealing, writing,

“they either spend most of their life in prison, another billion-dollar industry, or they have a hard

time getting a real job and probably start selling drugs again… That’s Thug Life” (Thomas 170).

Starr’s community also struggles with drug culture, as their community is led by a gang of

successful drug lords. The ring of discrimination that has led to the presence of drugs in Black

communities has continued into modern permanence through an increase in incarceration rates

and drug rates in black neighborhoods which look disappointingly similar to both the 1990’s and

2010’s.

Both Tupac and Angie Thomas attribute drug culture to the effects of the permanence of

racism; however, they also provide a voice of activism against them. During the 1990’s Tupac

encouraged the decrease of drugs in Black communities by encouraging gangs to come together

and use their brotherhood as a political force. Tupac initiated “a plan to mitigate the violence in

black communities with a code of ethics for drug dealers and truces between gangs,” which he

hoped would combat a system already made against them (Ogbar). This is reflected in ​The Hate

You Give​ when Mavrick joins together the local gangs against demanding that “all these territory

wars gotta be put aside somehow. This is bigger than some street sh*t” (Thomas 346). However,
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racism is permanent, and the family decides to move because of how violence is still very

common in their community. However, Starr and her father vow to never stop helping and

educating their neighborhood (Thomas). In today’s decade, many of the same activism paths are

pursued. Not only is there an increase of awareness of drugs in communities, but there are

increased opportunities for quality education to prevent children from falling into drug circes in

the first place. Even though the permanence of racism continues to the ease of spreading drugs

throughout minority communities, generations are fighting for a more equitable starting point.

The continuous activism by generations of America on issues of police brutality, drug

systems, and gang violence prove that the permanence of racism is an ongoing fight that

Americans need to address. Tupac and Angie Thomas’s writing have helped shape the way new

generations think about addressing racism, identify intersectional issues, and discover their

causes. Tupac wrote that if minorities were like “roses who grew from concrete” one would not

criticize them, but rather “celebrate its tenacity”, and that is what we should do in order to

support those that have been discriminated against (Shakur). Because of America’s history, as

the name implies, racism is permanent. But the best way to combat it is to uproot the stereotypes

that cause bias towards the dominant culture and to always keep fighting for an equitable

America.
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Works Cited

Ball, Jared. "Tupac Shakur: Unraveling the Politics of His Life and Assassination." ​Mixtape

Journalism​, 2017,

imixwhatilike.org/2017/06/16/happy-birthday-tupac-shakur-unraveling-the-politics-of-his

-life-and-assassination/. Accessed 10 Jan. 2020.

Carissimo, Justin. "Tupac Shakur's 15 Most Memorable Quotes on Poverty, Shakespeare,

Hip-hop and Race." ​The Independent​ , 16 June 2015,

www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/tupac-shakurs-15-most-memorable-quotes

-on-poverty-shakespeare-hip-hop-and-race-10324592.html. Accessed 10 Jan. 2020.

Ogbar, Jeffrey O.G. "In Tupac's Life, the Struggles and Triumphs of a Generation." ​The

Conversation,​ 15 June 2017,

theconversation.com/in-tupacs-life-the-struggles-and-triumphs-of-a-generation-79266.

Accessed 10 Jan. 2020.

Peters, Ken, director. ​Tupac: Uncensored and Uncut: The Lost Prison Tapes​ . Performance by

Tupac Shakur, 1995.

Ruiz, Matthew Ismael. "Tupac Shakur's Most Socially Conscious Lyrics: 10 Times He Was at

His Most Woke." ​Billboard​, 12 Nov. 2016,

www.billboard.com/articles/columns/hip-hop/7573536/tupac-shakur-2pac-most-woke-so

ngs-lyrics-changes-dear-mama. Accessed 10 Jan. 2020.

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Shakur, Tupac. ​Changes​ . Recorded 1992. Amaru Entertainment, Death Row Records, and

Interscope Records , 1998. ​Youtube​ , www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wikrv81Fh3I.

Accessed 16 Jan. 2020.

Shakur, Tupac. ​Trapped.​ Interscope Records , 1991. ​Youtube,​

www.youtube.com/watch?v=j-VUV9VcRAQ. Accessed 16 Jan. 2020.

Thomas, Angie. ​The Hate You Give​ . New York, HarperCollins, 2017.