Friday, January 17, 2020
Blog Post #2
This classic track by Tupac at first listen may appear to be mainly about his personal struggles, but is actually relating his own experience to many political issues that are still very much relevant today: police brutality, systematic black oppression, racist media, etc. One lyric I find particularly powerful is in the last verse--- "The question I wonder is after death after my last breath, when will I finally get to rest through this oppression? They punish the people that's askin' questions, and those that possess steal from the ones without possessions." Shakur here is describing systematic racism, and wondering if after death he'll finally be free of its suffocation.
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I think protest is a deeply personal choice/path, which is why personal stories like this work so well in elevating that protest and making it relatable. Giving humanity and individualism to a cause helps make it more impactful. Tupac is an incredible storyteller and well-versed in making his life seem relatable to others, inherently uniting others under his words.
ReplyDeleteWith a title like "Me Against the World" you'd expect it to be a kind of upstanding, fight-to-the-end kind of song, but it really is exhausting having to rage against a machine like systemic oppression.
ReplyDeleteTupac's protest serves himself as much as it serves us, helping him express and outlet his anger but also spread a message and call for change. His story is easy to connect to and makes it easy to want to continue listening. It's funny that so many people put rap and hip-hop under this umbrella of drugs, sex, and violence, when in my personal experience, most of the art I've heard has been unapologetic and thoughtful acts of civil disobedience.
ReplyDeleteThis track has a very powerful message. I appreciate protest music that goes beyond the whole "I'm pissed off" angle, and actually discusses the mechanisms of society that cause the inequality and oppression of a segment of society. Spelling these things out plainly helps any and every listener not only to have a solid idea of the problem, but potentially also think about possible solutions.
ReplyDeleteGood call, Brad. The Rhodes loop is sampled from Minnie Riperton (I had to look it up). Tupac was amazing at playing with the metric boundaries of the beat. He moved the emphasis around so it could fall on any beat, and his verses often straddle bars and 4- or 8-beat loops. I think this is what gives a sense songs like this such a sense of urgency—he isn't playing within the confines of the song structure, it always feels to me like he's trying to break out of those constraints. In this song it really reinforces the frustration of the 'system' he's forced to operate in, the sense of 'me against the world'.
ReplyDeleteGreat track. I feel like few artists really talk about how exhausting activism is, and that's what makes this track so deep and heavy.
ReplyDeleteThis is such a powerful song. I think that Tupac's choice of using frustration as the vehicle for his message is incredibly important. As people of color we are constantly put in the position of being the ones to challenge the system or check other people for their problematic behavior, which is incredibly exhausting. I feel like Tupac here is expressing that exhaustion of trying to fight back by accepting that it will always be just him against the world.
ReplyDeleteThis is an effective protest piece once again because it directly addresses the issues of police brutality and its effect on the world. I definitely resonate with the resting after last breath, will I be finally resting when I'm not working to make sure that I can afford to cover my health care costs as a T1D?
ReplyDeleteI like the line you pulled out, especially "when will I finally get to rest through this oppression," because it brings up the idea that oppressive systems don't just go away after death. There's a feeling that the never-ending cycle persists from one generation to the next and never quite dissipate even if your physical body is no longer living.
ReplyDeleteI agree that it's important highlight exhaustive activism , but I also appreciate that the end he resolves in it ( in some type of way ) by saying to "keep your chest up." I think that is an important to note that he still has hope that there "will be a bright day" after a lot of a hard ones and through those words , he can stay hopeful about the future.
ReplyDeleteI think the personal perspective of this song serves it well as protest music because anyone who sings it can use the words for themselves. I can imagine how someone who identifies with the struggles in the song can relate directly and may feel it is their song, rather than feeling a more deliberate separation of artist and listener.
ReplyDeleteTupac is such a legacy and powerful figure. He is another (like Kendrick, Tupac's disciple) who doesn't waist his talent on fast money and instant gratification for his audience. Tupac gets right to the point using the tools and power he has. Such an inspiration that has positive and actionable ripples for the music industry as a protest platform.
ReplyDelete