Tupac Shakur, arguably the most famous rapper in history, along with Biggie Smalls, said, ?I?m 23 years old. I might just be my mother?s child, but in all reality, I?m everybody?s child. Nobody raised me; I was raised in this society.? It was Tupac?s birthday on June 16; he would have been 40, if he was still alive. Gunned down in 1996, Tupac really was the embodiment of the society he lived in, with sex, drugs and violence normal events in a gritty existence. He was also the inspiration for a whole generation of rappers, rap fans and black people all over the world. ?Every rapper who grew up in the nineties owes something to Tupac. He didn?t sound like anyone who came before him,? wrote 50 Cent. And it?s true. In a world where rap was an outcast, underground movement associated with violence and radicalism, Tupac embraced all that and rose above it. He took rap to the world, not by selling out, but by forging deep and lasting connections with the listeners. He was their refuge when things got rough. He yelled what they yearned to even whisper. We?re black and we?re proud, and we give as good as we get. That?s what he taught the world, what he told the black community to embrace.
Now fast forward to today, where rap and hip hop are as mainstream as they can get, with new artists emerging every week, and nondescript fare being the main course. Eminem is one of the few recent rappers who has the kind of skill-influence mix that Tupac had. Eminem quit his role in his own turf wars. If only Tupac had, too. But then he wouldn?t have been the Tupac we love.
