Tupac Shakur

On my long trip, which now seems oh so long ago, there were 5 things I saw that made a huge impression on me. The first was the temple of Abu Simbel, lit up at night, as my ferry pushed up the Nile from Sudan to Egypt. When I saw it the next day, it was just as impressive. The second were the temples at Karnak in Luxor. The third was St. Peter’s Basilica in Rome. The fourth, ironically, was some tagging on the temples at Karnak. The tagging was in Arabic and was etched into a temple wall. It was dated in the 1600’s. I thought that was interesting. The last, was in the town of Port Said, where the Suez Canal allows the Red Sea to flow into the Mediterranean, and vice versa. Walking along an unlit part of the boardwalk at night, I came upon a large apartment complex. On the wall was a giant bit of tagging, probably measuring about 8 feet tall that read : “2PAC.” That stuck with me.

I remember listening to Pac for the first time.

“You know it’s funny when it rains it pours/they got money for wars but can’t feed the poor/…and if you fall stand tall come back for more/….please, you’ve got to keep your head up.”—Keep Ya Head Up

“Never surrender, it's all about the faith you've got/Don't ever stop, just push it until you hit the top/And if you drop, at least you know you gave your all/Be true to you, and that way you can never fall…”—Strictly for My Niggas

I was 12.

When I was 14, at Canyon High School, me and Black Rob became homies because of Pac. He went and told Sleepy (who wasn’t even called Sleepy back then), who was supposedly the biggest Pac fan ever, that he had found someone who loved Pac more than him. “This kid knows every single word to every single song.” Sleepy is basically my brother today, and Rob is still a really good friend.

When I was 15, at Saugus High School, I reconnected with a kid named Mahmoud, who I had been friends with a few years before. I was in Mrs. Straub’s English class rapping lyrics to a song called Bomb First by 2pac. Then all of the sudden, Mahmoud, this nerdy ethnic kid, starts rapping along, and actually corrects me on my lyrics. We became best friends instantly. We had this ridiculous game where we’d try to stump each other on lyrics. One person would rap a line, and the other would have to finish it. He always won. Mahmoud is still one of my closest friends to this day.

Pac. Here are some things you didn’t know. 2Pac was actually born into a family of Black Panthers. He was actually named Tupac Amaru Shakur, after the Incan revolutionary who fought the Spaniards in the late 1700’s. His first 2 albums, especially, were incredibly militant and political. He took theatre arts in high school. His mother got hooked up on crack when he was young, and growing up was always hard. His father was absent. Poppa’s Song, though not exact, kinda talks about how he felt about absentee fathers. He moved around a bunch. In fact, he lived in New York and Baltimore first, moving to California later on in high school. I mention that because people remember him for the East Coast West Coast rivalry, but he never really cared about that.

People love to argue, Biggie Vs. Pac. There’s no comparison, and here’s why. I’m going to do something sacrilegious first: I think, Biggie was a much smoother rapper than 2pac. His sound was better. His voice was incredible, and he worked it marvelously. Biggie was also a better story teller in my opinion. I mean, he painted pictures perfectly, his imagery was beyond impressive. But what he failed to do, in my opinion, what he could never do, was talk straight to the heart. And THIS is why 2pac’s name was on so many lips in Africa, in Europe, in the Middle East. This is why barber shops in Africa had murals of 2pac on them. This is why his name was on the side of that apartment complex in Port Said.

At 12 years old 2pac connected with me, at 28, he still does. Regardless of age, race, religion, 2pac connects, and this is because, more than any other rapper to ever touch the microphone, he bore all of himself. Yes he was angry at times, yes he was bitter, yes he was vulgar, but he was also innocent, he was also intelligent, he was also comforting, inspiring, understanding. He was flawed, but his flaws made him human, and that is what we look for. We look for stories that we can relate to, stories that resonate with us.

Today 2pac would have turned 39. Who knows what he would’ve done. I never dwell on that anyways. He lived the life he lived, and I’m grateful for the music he made. Rest In Peace Tupac Shakur.