9/9/2023 0 Comments Tupac lyrics keep your head up![]() ![]() It was only 34 days before Tupac’s birth that Afeni, defending herself in court, was found not guilty for her charges. When Afeni was pregnant with Tupac, she spent most of the pregnancy in jail awaiting trial for a case that could have sent her to jail for the rest of her life. His mother was part of the Black Panthers and was actually the highest ranked woman leader for the New York chapter. Tupac was raised by a single mother, Afeni Skakur. ![]() The following information is from a biography written by Jamal Joseph titled Tupac Shakur Legacy. Now, before I get into why Tupac’s song delivers a positive message and the importance behind it, I would like to give a little history of his life. The reason why so many women, black women especially, are looked down on is that someone who is making millions of dollars makes it seem as if they are only successful because they treated women that way. Watts believes that most songs encourage female abuse (498).įrom only these two examples, it is clear to see that there is a problem with how women are treated in our society and that blame should be put on the rappers who write about it and show us said mistreatments in their videos. ![]() Watts explains “in song after song, black women are assumed to be ‘skeezers’ or ‘hoodratz.’ And so, a street-oriented young man may view a woman as a pawn to be played in the larger chess game for respect” (498). Reading this story proves that a lot of people who hear hip-hop music feel that this is how women want to be treated. “I know people who've been on exchange programs to another country, say South Africa or Brazil, and they've had experiences in which people have approached them, thinking that they were prostitutes or that they were sexually open just because of the images that they have of American Black women” (Byrd). Also in the article, they interviewed a senior from Spelman College who reflects about the negative impact she has heard. As I continued to read the article, I could really feel the anger and hurt these women have encountered in their own lives. And as the messages and images are broadcast globally, they have become the lens through which the world now sees us. An entire generation of Black girls are being raised on these narrow images. Imbalanced portrayal of Black women is impossible to measure. Feminist from the first and second wave movement would go crazy if they were around to see this behavior. This obviously is not how women want to be represented. “In videos we are bikini-clad sisters gyrating around fully clothed grinding brothers like Vegas strippers on meth” (Byrd). In an article written by Ayana Byrd and Akiba Solomon, they talk about how black women are represented negatively in the hip-hop culture. A website for the National Organization for Women describes this song as “some of the most black women-friendly lyrics I have ever heard in a rap song.“ This paper will focus on the negative influence our society gets from sexist lyrics and why the lyrics from Tupac’s song, “Keep Ya Head Up,” is a vital message needed for a change to be made in society. In a song called “Keep Ya Head Up,” Tupac Shakur raps about the mistreatment women face each day and calls for men to change their actions with women. This message is being implanted in more and more men of all ages each day. The message delivered is that it is not wrong to treat all women this way. ![]() The problem this causes in society is the message it delivers to listeners and viewers. In videos, women are typically shown dancing around half naked and sometimes even worse. Women are constantly referred to as bitches, hoes, tricks, and many other degrading names. This is because of a common theme found in most hip-hop lyrics and videos. Russel Simmons, considered to be one of the pioneers of hip-hop music (Run DMC), says, “There is no question that sexism in hip-hop videos is a reflection of how sexist men are in the world today” (Byrd). ![]()
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