Annotated Bibliography #3

Research Focus

In analyzing the Rhetoric of Race, I am examining how and why Tupac Shakur references himself and the Black Community.

“Changes”

I see no changes, Wake up in the morning and I ask myself,

Is life worth living? Should I blast myself?

I’m tired of bein’ poor and even worse I’m black.

My stomach hurts, so I’m lookin’ for a purse to snatch.

Cops give a damn about a negro? Pull the trigger, kill a nigga, he’s a hero.

Search

I conducted a brief search using the ERIC database via EBSCOhost. Using the advanced search option, to locate scholarly sources, I was certain to select “peer reviewed” articles. I don’t know if it is a concern, but I came across many different articles—not all pertaining to my related subject. In one search, I used “rhetoric of race,” “Tupac,” and “lyrics.” I came across 170,978 articles! When I narrowed my search to “Tupac Shakur,” it shortened the search to 171,111 articles. When I modified one of my search terms to Shakur’s lyrics that I will be analyzing to “Changes,” it actually increased the number of articles to 737,572. I tried to shorten my search to “Tupac Shakur,” “authenticity,” and “black community,” but there were still a number of articles I found. As I continue to search for more articles in reference to the rhetoric of race, “Changes,” and Shakur, I intend to lengthen my search. This is where my research first began.

Annotated Bibliography

Brown, Timothy. “Reaffirming African American Cultural Values: Tupac Shakur’s Greatest

Hits as a Musical Autobiography. The West Journal of Black Studies 29.1 (2005): 558-

573. Print.

Tupac Shakur’s lyrics emphasize the gangster rap that Brown describes. The harsh criticism it has endured because of the glorification of the gangster lifestyle does not allow critics to comprehend the actual experience. What is traditionally seen as embracing misogyny, material goods, and feminizing other men, Shakur’s lyrics are an example of a representation of Black protest music. Characterized as the expression of resistance and oppression Blacks have endured is conveyed in his lyrics. According to Brown, Shakur is considered the voice of the intelligent Black male artist.

Edwards, Walter. “From Poetry to Rap: The Lyrics of Tupac Shakur.” The Western Journal of

Black Studies 26.2 (2002): 61-70. Print.

Shakur’s lyrics were repeatedly “influenced by the political views, militant passions, and wider social exposure of his mother and her Black Panther colleagues” (Edward 61). His lyrics were a springboard for attacking the white community who reinforced racism and oppression in the Black community. He refers to his community as such in “Changes,” “I’m tired of bein’ poor and even worse I’m black” (Changes). The white community such as the police and governmental bodies has put these stereotypes in place. Edwards tells us that Shakur was fully aware of these harsh realities by the time he could walk.

Iwamoto, Derek. “Tupac Shakur: Understanding the Identity Formation of Hyper-Masculinity of

a Popular Hip-Hop Artist.” The Black Scholar 33.2 (2003): 44-49. Print.

Shakur is a misunderstood Black hip-hop artist to many hip-hop critics such as Bill O’Reilly and Bill Cosby. What these critics do not consider is what positive influence hip-hop music has on its listeners and the Black community. They don’t look at the context of the lyrics in which they are in place. They dissect these lyrics and pull out any negative influences and criticize its affect on the listeners and the Black community. Predominantly, Black males should be aggressive. They should assert authenticity by violence, drug dealing, and having sex with lots of women.

Keeling, Kara. ‘“A Homegrown Revolutionary’?: Tupac Shakur and the Legacy of the Black

Panther Party.” The Black Scholar 29.2 (1999): 59-64. Print.

The anger we see projected in Shakur’s lyrics stem from a rich family background associated with the Black Panthers. His mother, Afeni Shakur, was acquitted on charges of a plot to bomb public spaces in New York City, N.Y. Shakur lived at the very onset of oppression in his community. He was shot five times before the drive-by shooting that inevitably led to his death. His lyrics display black-on-black violence, misogyny toward Black women, money as a status symbol, and drug dealing. Keeling states that Shakur never quite lived up to his potential as opportunities were available to the Black community since the ‘60s and ‘70s. Shakur, the son of a Black Panther and the rapper, are two very different persons. Many critics don’t consider this in regard to his lyrics. His family wanted to live in an ideal world where possibility and opportunity were available to all persons, but Shakur prepared them to live in the world that he knew.

Pinn. Anthony B. “Followers of Black Jesus on Alert: Thoughts on the Story of Tupac Shakur’s

Life/Death/Life.” Black Theology: An International Journal 7.1 (2009): 31-44. Print.

Shakur’s controversial lyrics paint a cruel, but accurate picture of the life living in the inner city and the prejudices that followed his family and the Black community. Some critics or even those in the hip-hop industry might call into question Shakur’s authenticity. Pinn chronicles Shakur and his family’s repeated attempts to avoid poverty. He watched his mother succumb to her addiction to cocaine. It was these life experiences that fueled Shakur to showcase the thug lifestyle in his lyrics. Although his intentions were not to merely entertain listeners, but to educate them on the harsh realities affecting the Black community.

Shakur, Tupac. “Changes.” Greatest Hits. Interscope Records, 1998. MP3 file.

This will be the document that I will be analyzing in respect to the rhetoric of race. Shakur refers to the Black community in such a degrading light. The representations of his race speak to the inner city Black person.