Tupac Shakur is one of the most controversial music icons of all time, mostly because of his lyrical, poetic songs that were considered to be beyond his time. They touched on a range of sensitive…
Tupac Shakur is one of the most controversial music icons of all time, mostly because of his lyrical, poetic songs that were considered to be beyond his time. They touched on a range of sensitive subjects, which included racism, police brutality against black people, and gang violence.
To many, he was a very polarizing figure, at times speaking out against violence against women, for example, but being prosecuted for the same. In his song “Keep Ya Head Up,” for example, he called for a change in the way the black community treated women. The song featured lines stating, “I think it’s time to kill for our women / time to heal our women, be real to our women… If we don’t we’ll have a race of babies / that will hate the ladies that make the babies.”
However, he was in real life accused of sexually assaulting a woman, Ayanna Jackson, who recently spoke about the incident. She was allegedly raped by Tupac and his friends in 1993 at a hotel. Her revelation depicted the deceased rapper as a person with a huge problem in regards to objectifying women. He apparently told her that he was “sharing her” with his friends.
On to the subject of lyrics, Tupac held nothing back when speaking about the police. He talked about them through his songs in the most explicit lyrics possible. He even had a song titled “F*** The Police.” Looking at the root cause of this hatred, it is important to first consider that Tupac Shakur was raised in a family and society that viewed the police as “enemies.” His parents were prominent members of the Black Panther movement, which regularly held crusades against police brutality in particular.
According to a recent interview with Esquire, Donald Glover highlighted that it is especially dangerous for people to try and mimic individuals such as Tupac Shakur, as he had a more radical background, for example, as compared to him. He pointed to the rapper’s upbringing as an aspect that played a complex role in molding him into the controversial figure that he was.
Treach Says Tupac Rape Accuser is Thirsty for Fame, 23 Years Later https://t.co/keVgU6MznZ
— TMZ (@TMZ) February 2,2018
