Tupac Amaru Shakur & My Feminism

Many who think of feminism would not look to the late rapper Tupac Amaru Shakur as inspirational, I however do. Tupac was a rapper in the early 1990s up until his tragic death in 1996. Although many of his lyrics came across as violent or misogynistic he had a softer side to him, one which valued women. Rap culture has a negative image placed upon it, that it is as far from feminism as possible, but Tupac found ways to break from those negative images. 

One song in particular which comes across with a feminist anthem is his 1993 hit Keep Ya Head Up. This song talks about the struggles of both young men and women, but the message is clear: have respect for women. For an artist just breaking into the rap scene, trying to make a name for himself, a song such as this one shows his desire to uplift all. You can listen to the song here, but this is a few verses from the song: 

“And since we all came from a woman
Got our name from a woman and our game from a woman
I wonder why we take from our women
Why we rape our women, do we hate our women?
I think it's time to kill for our women
Time to heal our women, be real to our women
And if we don't we'll have a race of babies
That will hate the ladies, that make the babies
And since a man can't make one
He has no right to tell a woman when and where to create one
So will the real men get up
I know you're fed up ladies, but keep your head up”

As you can see, lyrics such as these are usually unheard of in rap songs; it is more common to hear the exact opposite. I am not going to say that Tupac was the perfect rapper who always respected women, because that wasn’t always the case. However, Tupac found a way to speak to young men, to encourage them to treat females better.  This song has always been an inspirational song for me because it discusses a need to end violence against women in a way that I have yet to hear another rap star express it. 

He also found a way to connect to women and their struggles. An example of Tupac’s connection to women’s struggles is evident in his song Brenda’s Got a Baby (Click here to listen). This song comes off of his debut 1991 album and discusses a young female who is faced with a wide range of issues such as: family violence, rape, teen pregnancy, drugs, prostitution and more. What he is doing with this song is educating his community that no matter what hardships you are faced with, this should not limit you. Although Tupac himself may have never identified as a feminist, it is clear through his music that he does have feminist motivations. 

Apart from uplifting women, Tupac found ways to speak to his followers, to let them know that they can prosper in life. Another piece of Tupac’s work which I hold close is his poem The Rose That Grew From Concrete. This poem is a powerful piece of encouragement for all. It has a feminist anthem to it in the sense that it is advocating triumph over hardships.

"Did you hear about the rose that grew from a crack in the concrete? Proving nature's law is wrong it learned to walk with out having feet. Funny it seems, but by keeping its dreams,
it learned to breathe fresh air. Long live the rose that grew from concrete when no one else ever cared."

I link Tupac to my feminism because his words are encouraging, they help me go on when I feel like giving up on causes I believe in. I also applaud him for aiming to change the world through a wide variety of his songs, unlike other artists of his time. I also link Tupac to my feminism because of his relationship with his mother. Tupac credits his mother as his source for his compassion to women, and to struggles in general. Afeni Shakur (his mother) was a Black Panther, so as he was growing up he watched and learned from her. I look up to my mother, and I learn everything from her as well. Although in the end the world tragically lost Tupac, we still have many generations listening to his words, and if that creates a change on some level, then that is amazing. 

"I like to think I am socially aware. I think there should be drug class, a sex education class. A real sex education class. A class about police brutality. There should be a class on apartheid. There should be a class on why people are hungry, but there are not. There are classes on...gym. Physical education. Let's learn volleyball." --Tupac Shakur

This quote gets to me every time. All throughout high school I always thought to myself how pointless certain classes were, I learned many things not from school, but from personal experience and my connections to certain types of media. 


"So I thought, that's what I'm going to do as an artist, as a rapper. I'm gonna show the most graphic details of what I see in my community and hopefully they'll stop it quick." --Tupac Shakur



Resources:
Tupac Resurrection, 2003 film. 

©2011, Zain Alglaieny