Adrian Villegas

ENG 101
6/2/2023
Tupac and my Non-Thug Life Assignment Module 3
“Tupac and my Non-Thug Life”, by Jenée Desmond-Harris, tells the story of her and her friend
following the death of Tupac. From the beginning of the essay, you can learn that Jenée was a
15-year-old biracial girl that was anxious about being on an all-white dance team rather than the
mostly black dance team, stating that she was better at cheerleading than dancing. When she
arrived home one night, her mom urgently told her that her “friend” was dead. After hearing
about Tupac’s death, she instantly goes to call her best friend to discuss the matter. That same
weekend, Jenée would sleep over at her best friends, where they would pay their respects to
Tupac by blasting his music, pouring shots, and giving themselves makeshift tattoos. She then
goes on to describe a photo they took at school the same week, where they showed off their
tribute tattoos. Following the days passing his shooting, the author describes how they continued
to obsess with Tupac and his music, even dressing up as him for Halloween. Jenée acknowledges
the fact that they might look silly in front of their suburban peers but also admits that she doesn’t
regret that time. After reading this essay, my first thought was “Wow, they really liked Tupac”. I
think this author is trustworthy because I don’t see a reason why anybody would make this up.
Furthermore, I can say that my friends and I also had an artist we listened to in middle school
that met the same fate as Tupac. I liked that the author went very in-depth with her story-telling,
and shared good stories about that whole phase she went through. One thing I didn’t like, or at
least hoped she’d done is offer more insight as to why she adored Tupac so much, other than the
fact that he was an icon for the African-American community and many others during that time
period. For example, she could’ve shared some lyrics from one of her favorite songs and how she
interpreted them. I don’t blame her though, all you can do is curse whomever you think killed
your favorite artist, just as my friends and I did. One thing I learned is how influential a random
famous person can be to some people. I think one important aspect that’s left to the reader to
relate to is the idea that you can look back on your life in relation to the music you listened to at
that time. Every time a SoundCloud rapper comes up on my playlist, I instantly reminisce about
my middle school days, where some of my best, most exciting memories reside.