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Tupac's Influence On African American Culture

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Tupac Shakur is a name that will always be associated with defining the genre of gangra rap. Known as a lyrical genius and often referred to as a prophet rapper he became “a spokesperson not just for his own generation but for subsequent ones who continue to face the same struggle for equality”(“Tupac Shakur”.) As an advocate for the change of African-American strife through his music, he often voiced that he was his own worst enemy at times. In the 1993 single “Keep Ya Head Up” off the sophomore album Strictly 4 my N.I.G.G.A.Z. Shakur establishes verisimilitude with his listeners by narrating experiences of hardships in life, especially within the black community. In addition, the early 90’s was filled with racial tension: LA Riots, Rodney …show more content…

African-American people are are said to be very in tune to where their culture and traditions stem from. First, by stating the fact of an individual who has darker skin may be more in touch with cultural roots (source of origin) which correlates with a long running argument between anthropologists about where mankind is derived from. According to National Geographic, South Africa is the birthplace of the human race in the discovery of fossils found at the dig site dubbed Cradle of Mankind. Secondly, the lyrics refer to the ancestral ties to slavery and all that Africans have had to endure for thousands of years because of their skin color. Shakur has been in touch with his own roots from a very young age; his mother and father who were members of the Black Panther party paved the path leading Tupac to also join. Biograpghy.com states, “after joining the Black Panther party, his mother changed his first name to Tupac Amaru, after an 18th-century Peruvian

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