Tupac Shakur's "Changes" Analysis
Tupac has always stood out in the rap game because of his ability to be poetic while being a gangster rapper at the same time. "Changes" is one of Tupac Shakur's most famous songs. The rapper compromises his more dominant bad-boy gangster side to tackle African American social issues in this magnificently brilliant song.
In the first couple lines of the song Tupac raps "I'm tired of bein' poor and even worse I'm black, my stomach hurts, so I'm lookin' for a purse to snatch," these lines illustrate how many black people in America live in poverty and are not given as many opportunities to do right so instead they divert to being criminals just to get by. This concept is repeated when he raps "Give the crack to the kids who the hell cares? One less hungry mouth on the welfare."
When he raps "Cops give a damn about a negro? Pull the trigger, kill a n*gga, he's a hero," he's touching the controversial topic of how African Americans, more commonly African American males are targeted by the police and if a cop kills a African American male it's not a big deal. Tupac wants to inspire his people to join him and take a stand against these issues that are holding his people back. Tupac raps on how there's a war in the Middle East but instead of tackling poverty, the government is tackling drugs and because African Americans have a certain involvement with the use and trafficking of drugs, they can target them, the lines are "There's war on the streets & the war in the Middle East, instead of war on poverty, they got a war on drugs so the police can bother me, and I ain't never did a crime I ain't have to do." What Tupac means by the last line is that he's never done a crime unless he was forced to because he needed to get by as stated before African Americans don't have the same opportunities as other races. Tupac also points fingers at his own race for a lot of the hate and anger they are surrounded by, he raps "I got love for my brother, but we can never go nowhere unless we share with each other. We gotta start makin' changes, learn to see me as a brother 'stead of two distant strangers." He knows that his own people are at blame because they have jealousy towards each other and they're more about individuality then unity. He's trying to inspire them to take a stand.
Tupac repeats throughout the song that he sees no changes and truly want to see his people rise and make changes to benefit them. Mid way through the song he gives an inspirational speech over the beat, "It's time for us as a people to start makin' some changes. Let's change the way we eat, let's change the way we live and let's change the way we treat each other. You see the old way wasn't working so it's on us to do what we gotta do, to survive." When African Americans had no one trying to inspire them to rise and take a stand, Tupac tried to rise to the occasion and be an unelected leader for his people. Just like Martin Luther King Jr , Tupac tried to inspire his people and just like Martin Luther King Jr, Tupac was tragically gunned down.
In the first couple lines of the song Tupac raps "I'm tired of bein' poor and even worse I'm black, my stomach hurts, so I'm lookin' for a purse to snatch," these lines illustrate how many black people in America live in poverty and are not given as many opportunities to do right so instead they divert to being criminals just to get by. This concept is repeated when he raps "Give the crack to the kids who the hell cares? One less hungry mouth on the welfare."
When he raps "Cops give a damn about a negro? Pull the trigger, kill a n*gga, he's a hero," he's touching the controversial topic of how African Americans, more commonly African American males are targeted by the police and if a cop kills a African American male it's not a big deal. Tupac wants to inspire his people to join him and take a stand against these issues that are holding his people back. Tupac raps on how there's a war in the Middle East but instead of tackling poverty, the government is tackling drugs and because African Americans have a certain involvement with the use and trafficking of drugs, they can target them, the lines are "There's war on the streets & the war in the Middle East, instead of war on poverty, they got a war on drugs so the police can bother me, and I ain't never did a crime I ain't have to do." What Tupac means by the last line is that he's never done a crime unless he was forced to because he needed to get by as stated before African Americans don't have the same opportunities as other races. Tupac also points fingers at his own race for a lot of the hate and anger they are surrounded by, he raps "I got love for my brother, but we can never go nowhere unless we share with each other. We gotta start makin' changes, learn to see me as a brother 'stead of two distant strangers." He knows that his own people are at blame because they have jealousy towards each other and they're more about individuality then unity. He's trying to inspire them to take a stand.
Tupac repeats throughout the song that he sees no changes and truly want to see his people rise and make changes to benefit them. Mid way through the song he gives an inspirational speech over the beat, "It's time for us as a people to start makin' some changes. Let's change the way we eat, let's change the way we live and let's change the way we treat each other. You see the old way wasn't working so it's on us to do what we gotta do, to survive." When African Americans had no one trying to inspire them to rise and take a stand, Tupac tried to rise to the occasion and be an unelected leader for his people. Just like Martin Luther King Jr , Tupac tried to inspire his people and just like Martin Luther King Jr, Tupac was tragically gunned down.