# Four Reasons Tupac Would’nt Wanna See The Year 2011

- Link: https://exclusiveaccess.net/four-reasons-tupac-wouldnt-wanna-see-the-year-2011/
- Published: 2011-01-03T03:27:31-05:00
- Author: EAN

The recent spoof claiming that the late Tupac Shakur was killed by Suge Knight got
my mind racing back to 1996, the year that Tupac was murdered. Some might say that
Tupac was the greatest rapper in history. I don’t agree, but then again, my pick
for “the greatest” changes with my mood. I can say that I listened to Tupac 
every morning and found his energy to be contagious. He represented a type of fearlessness,
creativity and (most of the time) intelligence that led him to sell 75 million albums
worldwide (he makes more money as a dead man than most of us will ever make in life).
I am not here to pretend that Tupac was perfect, for he was flawed in quite a few
significant ways. But he was certainly a legend and well-ahead of his time.

As we approach 2011, the year that most of us thought would never arrive, I thought
I would list some quick reasons that Tupac wouldn’t necessarily enjoy being here
with us. Sure he would probably rather be alive, but he might be a bit disappointed
with what he saw. Let’s start from the beginning, shall we?

**1) **The ridiculously screwed up state of hip hop: I dream of the day that hip
hop is used as the powerful socio-political tool that it can be. Instead, the standardization
of media outlets around the nation has led to hundreds of stations playing music
with the same formula: money, sex, drugs, violence and wasting your life running
back and forth to the club. Commercialized hip hop has become a recipe for black
youth to ruin themselves and it shows in growing HIV rates, homicides, teen pregnancy,
mass incarceration, drug and alcohol abuse, etc. The absolute worst thing that the
powers that be in corporate America could do is provide a large and powerful platform
to an artist as self-destructive as Lil Wayne (who doesn’t seem to care if he 
lives or dies). Intelligent and productive behavior has been abandoned in favor 
of a business model which teaches black males to marginalize themselves.

**2)** The state of the black man in America is getting worse: In one of Tupacâ€
™s greatest songs, “Only God Can Judge Me,” the rapper dropped this interesting
rhyme:

_**“No more hesitation each and every black male’s trapped and they wonder why
we suicidal runnin round strapped.**_

_**Mista, Po-lice, please try to see that it’s a million motherf\*ckers stressin
just like me.**_

_**Only God can judge me.”**_

Yes, I went to graduate school and got a PhD, but I understood those lyrics better
than you can ever imagine. There were days in my teenage years when I was suicidal
and frustrated by a world that is designed to exterminate me. I failed my classes
in public school and saw my best friend shot in the head the same year that Tupac
was murdered. When my friend was killed, the media ignored his death, writing it
off as a drug deal gone bad (he wasn’t a drug dealer). At the same time, a white
woman from the suburbs was killed and had her murder splashed all over the six oâ
€™clock news for two weeks. It was made clear to me right then that my life as an
African American male was meaningless to nearly everyone.

The black male lies at the bottom of the barrel in every quality of life category
imaginable. Brothers loved Tupac because he spoke up for us and reminded us to be
strong. I sincerely hope that other artists will pick up Tupac’s mantle and speak
for the black and brown men being subjected to egregious human rights abuses within
the prison industrial complex (demanding that our politicians do something about
this issue). Lupe Fiasco is the only high-selling artist who speaks on the importance
of being positive and educated, and it’s sad that other artists like him canâ€
™t get record deals. Instead, they are told to rap about going to the club with 
a gun on your hip and having sex with every girl in the world while you’re high.
While you can certainly hold these men accountable for their behavior, we must also
remember that mainstream media serves as the world’s largest classroom, and black
males are the only group presented with so many one-dimensional, counter-productive
images of one another. In other words, black male professors, doctors and lawyers
can’t get on CNN nearly as quickly as the brother who shot a police officer.

**3)** Materialism of his former colleagues: I have tremendous respect for Jay-Zâ
€™s music, but I can’t get into his intense, empty obsession with rubbing elbows
with the powerful and important in America. For many artists, their claim to fame
is how many fancy cars they own or how big their house is. Unfortunately, the bulk
of our hip hop artists today have not climbed the ladder of evolution and self-confidence
sufficiently enough to realize that your greatness as a man goes far beyond the 
size of your bank account. No man wants to be broke, but a selfish obsession with
“stackin yo chips” makes you a non-entity in the history of human kind. Perhaps
if Jay-Z knew that he was already an important human being before he got all the
fancy jewels and expensive cars, he wouldn’t need these things to validate him.
Yes Diddy, I’m also talking to you.

**4)** The way he’s been overblown and immortalized: Let’s be clear – Tupac
was an amazing artist. But there are other artists since him who are just as talented.
I hate what Lil Wayne stands for, but he’s incredibly good. Also, the rappers 
T.I., Nicki Minaj and even the old school rapper Spice 1 (among others) could give
Tupac a run for his money. This idea that Tupac is The Pope and that it’s a sin
to compare yourself to him is silly. He should be given his respect and that’s
it. He wasn’t the last nor the first great artist in the deep and rich history
of hip hop and I expect that he would be irritated by people trying to kiss his 
butt all the time. Whether we’re discussing Tupac Shakur or significant civil 
rights leaders like Dr. Martin Luther King, the best way to remember them is to 
carry on their legacy, not to sit back and worship them. We’re not waiting for
the next Tupac Shakur; we’re actually waiting for something better.

I am roughly the same age that Tupac would be if he were alive today. The entire
East Coast/West Coast feud was an overblown fabrication which led to unfortunate
incidents and untimely deaths. I expect that the day will come when black men stop
allowing media to control our reality and embrace the idea of thinking for ourselves
and redefining what it means to be strong and capable. Actually, there are millions
of black men who are already on that path, and I encourage them to use their voices
with courage.

By Boyce Watkins, PhD