Exploring Tupac Shakur

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Exploring Tupac Shakurs Dear Mama

• By Sean Hanel

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• Song written to his mother, Afeni Shakur, as a
  way of forgiving her for the pain she caused
  through her addiction.
• Writes it to show that he understands all that
  his mother has done for him. Tupac knows that it
  was not easy for Afeni to raise two kids with no
  support (You are Appreciated)

Why is this important to our HEL Class???
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The importance of Hip-Hop on English

• Toni Morrison Explains,
• First of all, theyre changing the language,
  although nobody admits it, but thats where the
  energy comes fromIt is the necessity for young
  people to talk to one another in language that is
  not the fake language of the press.
• Michael Eric Dyson, a professor at University of
  Pennsylvania and author of over 10 books,
  including Holla if you Hear Me searching for
  Tupac Shakur, has this to say about Hip-Hop/Rap
• Given its universal popularity and its troubling
  effects, hip-hop is a vital cultural language
  that we had all better learn. To ignore its
  genius, to romanticize its deficits, or to bash
  it with undiscerning generalities is to risk the
  opportunity to engage our children about perhaps
  the most important cultural force in their lives.

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The Word Mama

• Comes from Zulu umama and Xhosa umama mother
• The OED gives such definitions as,
• A respectful title for a woman, preceding a name
• Ex. The first lady of jazz, Mama Ella
• A respectful or familiar form of address to
• Any adult woman (Nice and easy, mama)
• Ones Own Mother (as used by Tupac in Dear
  Mama)
• A mother a middle-aged black woman.
• Outside there are several aged mamas selling the
  same wares from the old-style stalls.

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Other Connotations of Mama

• According to the OED,
• The status of the word mama was always the same
  as that of Papa. In the 18th century, mamma was
  used by the higher classes, and among them to
  have been freely used not only by children but by
  adults of both sexes. Today, it has become
  archaic in Britain, although it is used by
  children. It has now found widespread use in
  America.
• Other common uses are
• Slang. A wife, a girlfriend a sexually
  attractive woman a promiscuous woman.
• Ex. Black Eyed Peas song, Hey Mama
• Slang. A feminine partner in a homosexual
  relationship.
• Mama, a lesbian of the feminine type, especially
  one living or consorting with a papa or daddy.

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BeefIts whats for dinner

• The flesh of an ox, bull, or cow, used as food.
  Often preceded by words indicating the exact part
  of the animal, e.g. sirloin, ribs of beef, etc.

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Oh, we got Beef? Master P

• The OED does not address the slang use of the
  word beef, however it is commonly used to
  indicate a problem between two people or groups.
• The most infamous beef in rap was between the
  East and West coast rap scenes. This stemmed
  from an incident in which Tupac was shot 5 times
  in a New York recording studio (Bad Boy Records).
  This incident started a beef between Tupac and
  such rappers as Notorious BIG, Sean Puffy Combs
  (founder of Bad Boy Records), and Jay-Z

Here is a picture of a DVD entitled BEEF.
Apparently it Narrates the East Coast/West Coast
rap feud that took place in the late 1990s
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CRACK
VS
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The Definition of Crack

• OED says,
• An imitation of the sharp sound caused by the
  sudden breaking of anything hard
• A sudden sharp and loud noise as of something
  breaking or bursting e.g. the crack of a rifle,
  a whip, of breaking ice, bones, etc.
• Ex. Work 'til we break our back and you hear the
  crack of the bone Rapper Talib Kweli in his
  song Get By
• A break in which the parts still remain in
  contact a partial fracture.
• An opening between floor-boards or in a floor

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The other kind of Crack

• Here we find the 20th definition of crack, the
  last one hidden at the bottom of the OED page,
• A potent, crystalline form of cocaine made by
  heating a mixture of it with baking powder and
  water until it is hard, and breaking it into
  small pieces which are inhaled or smoked for
  their stimulating effect. (slang origin).
• The cocaine freebase, the purest and most
  dangerous form of coke, goes by a number of
  street names crack, rock, pasta, basa and is
  smoked in a pipe rather than snorted. San
  Francisco Chronicle, December 6, 1985.

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Brother

• Results from the OED,
• The word applied to a male being to express his
  relationship to others (male or female) as the
  child of the same parent or parents.
• The son of the same parents. But often extended
  to include one who has either parent in common
  with another
• Said affectionately of one regarded or treated as
  a brother one who fills the place of a brother.
• Man to man, the world o'er, Shall brothers be
  for a' that Burns, 1795

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Tha Otha Brotha

• slang (orig. U.S.). Chiefly in African-American
  use a (fellow) black man. Also in extended use
  a fellow non-white man (used esp. as an
  expression of solidarity).
• Bein' real don't appeal to the brother in you.
  2pac in his song Changes
• Rufus, Brint, and Meekus were like brothers to
  me. And when I say brother, I don't mean, like,
  an actual brother, but I mean it like the way
  black people use it. Which is more meaningful I
  think. Derek Zoolander in the film,
  Zoolander

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Thug - The Literal Meaning

• The word Thuggee is a North Indian word. A
  British General named Sleeman made it his mission
  to eradicate thugs in India. The word most
  likely traveled to the US through his popular
  nonfiction account of India.
• Originally referred to band of disciples of the
  goddess Kali who would attach themselves to
  merchant caravans, claiming some talent like
  cooking. They would then drug the merchants, and
  then strangle them with a handkerchief called a
  rumal and steal all of their goods.

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THUG - How it is used Today

• Today, Thug has a specific resonance in Black
  Culture.
• It sounds perfect in musical terms, it is better
  than gangster, which puts you too much in the
  lineage of the Mafia. This is an alternative
  kind of thug its our kind of thug. Its a
  unique word it is known and not known a the same
  time. It has flavor to it. Vijay Prashad, a
  cultural critic
• Tupac gave the words THUG LIFE his own meaning by
  assigning it the acronym, The Hate U Gave Little
  Infants Fcks Everyone. Tupac believes that the
  negative way children are raised and treated,
  will eventually come back to society in that
  negative way.
• Finally, Tupac explains Thug Life in an Interview
  for MTV,
• Its not thugging like Im robbing people,
  cause thats not what Im doing, I mean like Im
  not scared to say how I feel. Part of being a
  thug is to stand up for your responsibilities
  and say this is what I do even though I know
  people are going to hate meI want to be real
  with myself

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Now Sit and Listen