Turatsinze 1

Eric Turatsinze

Profesor Dunham

ENG 1201

Feb 20, 2022

Changes

In the past years, many African American lives have been brutally taken by

police officers because of the color of their skin. Recently a police officer took the life of

the 46-year-old African American George Floyd When he knelt on his neck for 9

minutes till he suffocated to death. The fight against racial inequality has been going on

for a very long time. Almost every generation has that person who speaks out fighting

the issue of police brutality and racial injustice. 2pac was the one who stood up against

racial inequality before he died in 1996. According to inequality.org, since 2pac died,

there has been a rise in inequality. Since 2pac passed, a lot of rappers have tried to

bring back the legacy of 2pac. In 2020 an American rapper Polo G remixed “Changes”

by 2pac which was released in 1998 to “Wishing For a Hero”. While “Wishing for a hero”

appeals more to the younger generations and “Changes'' appeals more to the older

generations, it is incredible the way both of the songs are able to share the same

message to different audiences.

Right at the beginning of “Wishing For a Hero”, Polo G starts off by stating “ you

ain’t my color, then you don't know the struggle of living black”. People do not

understand what it’s like to be black. The unreasonable guilt, the feeling as if you are
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stepped on by society, the fear of the police, the unreasonable precariousness, the

intimidation you are causing people because of your color, and so on. It is very hard to

relate to something that you see or you hear about until it happens to you. People need

to have an open mind. When you continuously feel like this all the time, it can start to

feel as if there is no point in living. For example, In “Changes” right at the beginning

2pac starts off by saying “I see no changes, wake up in the morning and I ask myself, is

life worth living should I blast myself?” 2pac says this to show people how these

everyday feelings make you feel frustrated. 2pac and Polo G use that as the reason

why people have to listen and pay attention to the message. 2pac and Polo G use

Pathos throughout both versions of the songs because emotions and footage of people

suffering are used which gets the audience to feel sorry for them.

Both versions of the songs show police officers running after young African

American males. This is portraying how police officers are always out on a hunt to find

the next black male to arrest instead of keeping the peace like they are supposed to.

although not all police officers are the same, In a lot of cases, young African Americans

see the police and run for no reason because they know that they might be that police

officer's next target. Police officers go out just looking for somebody to arrest. In

“changes” there comes a clip where 2pac is giving an interview and says “I don't know

how to be responsible for what every black man did”. There are many African

Americans locked up because of the actions of others. Nobody should ever be

accounted for and judged for other people's actions just because of the similarities in

the color of their skin.

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Rap music has changed over time. As generations change, the music changes to

what the new generation prefers. When you talk to an older person about today's rap

they always tell you how the 90s rap music was better than today's music, well I can tell

otherwise. I can also go on trying to convince you why today's rap music is better than

90s rap music. This debate between the old and today's rap music being better than the

other will never stop as the music keeps on changing. Polo G embraced the fact that

different generations listen to different music and went on to tell the story that was once

told by 2pac to today's generation. Polo G knew the importance of the message in

“changes” and Since this new generation is not interested in listening to the older

generation rap music, he decided to use the same message but to what today's

generation prefers to listen to. Both versions of the songs use the appeal of ethos

because they both have a huge amount of followings so people are paying attention to

what they have to say and do.

Overall, African Americans feel as if their pain and struggles are not understood which

can cause them to make bad decisions about their lives. Police officers have to stop

seeing African Americans as if they are all suspects. “Changes” was able to send the

message of racial inequality to the older generation and “Wish For a Hero” can do the

same to the younger generation. We have to start by changing the way black people are

viewed by society for any of these issues to change.

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Works Cited

Shakur, Tupac. “Changes” Tupac Shakur, Death Row Interscope, 1998,

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eXvBjCO19QY

G, polo. “Wishing for a hero” Polo G, 2020

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=14AYq_rBJUg

Hoxie, Josh. “Tupac on Inequality.” Inequality.org, 28 Feb. 2018,

inequality.org/great-divide/tupac-inequality/.