Tupac Shakur would’ve been 49 [now 51] years old today. Though he passed away in 1996, years later, ‘Pac still has a significant impact on hip hop and the black community.
YouTube videos and IG memes keep his legacy alive. It also helps that he used his rap career as a platform to talk about the inequalities that poor and black communities face everyday.
In retrospect, he was an unofficial political voice for the unheard. He represented the young black men of America with fire in their hearts and hunger in their minds. He wasn’t no ordinary n***a.
A poet at heart, he studied the likes of Niccolò Machiavelli, Maya Angelou, Sun Tzu, Malcolm X and Assata Shakur. He was a student of art, often dabbling in theatre and dance. He had the charisma of a leader and compassion of a hood kid. This was the makings of him.
While he had so many attributes of an admirable person, his most resounding message comes from his experience growing up in poverty and dealing with a mother on drugs.
For what’s it worth, even his death was a symbol of martyrdom for black people who know that statistically his life was destined to end that way, a horrific and disgusting reality that continuously repeats itself even after all these years.
‘Pac fell into the influences of gangs and violence, like so many black and brown youth. He, like many men, have been tempted by women and money. But, this is what makes him relatable. He’s like us. He’s not perfect.
That’s why he should have his own day. A day to recognize the modern day adversity of a black man in the U.S. and to highlight how no matter where you come from, you can be the spark that ignites the mind.
