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Essay on An Analysis of the Song Changes by Tupac

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Vincent Bocchino College Writing I Prof. Fisher Music Interpretation Essay 12/3/2011 Changes by Tupac Millions of people in the world listen to music for all different reasons. Most people all over the world listen to different genres of music in order to relax, but not too many people pay attention to the actual lyrics of a song. If you listen to the lyrics of a song you will realize that many songs have important messages or themes to them. An example of this is the lyrics of the song “Changes” by Tupac Shakur. If you listen to this song, you will realize that Tupac raps about not only the problems that African Americans face from society, but also the struggles that poor people in society have to endure and overcome. Many …show more content…

Throughout the song, Tupac gives an inside look on the social problems affecting African-Americans and suggests possible solutions. In the first stanza of the song, Tupac first talks about how certain social issues are linked together; he makes a correlation between his skin color and being poor. Tupac says “I'm tired of bein' poor and even worse I'm black.” Then he explains how poverty causes crime by saying “My stomach hurts, so I'm lookin' for a purse to snatch.” And finally, he demonstrates the relationship between police brutality and race by saying “Cops give a damn about a negro? Pull the trigger, kill a nigga, he's a hero.” Following the links between the social issues, Tupac makes an interesting observation on why African-American communities have trouble dealing with these social problems. He says in the song “First ship 'em dope & let 'em deal the brothers. Give 'em guns, step back, and watch 'em kill each other.” His observation could be interpreted as a conspiracy into eliminating or significantly diminishing the African-American population in the United States of America. However, Tupac does not mention who is behind the plot. Tupac suggests the solution of unity into solving the social issues that African-Americans are facing. According to Tupac, African-Americans should unite together to solve poverty, racism and violence. He shows

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