And then outlaw is being black and minority. Tupac's mentor, rapper Big Syke, had an even more succinct and straightforward breakdown of what "thug" and "outlaw" meant, saying "I call thugs the nobodies, because we really don't have nobody to help us but us. They would never harm me, they would never rob me, they would never do me wrong." ( The Lost Prison Tapes)
I believed that I didn't have to fear my own community. Tupac also spoke out firmly against Black-on-Black violence, and despite the media's attacks on him, was very clear that he thought people in his community should be using their power to organize, to build something better, and to stop violence and rape.Īfter a shooting in 2003 that put him in the hospital, he said, "I really did believe that no Black person would ever shoot me. Part of being is to stand up for your responsibilities and say this is what I do even though I know people are going to hate me and say, 'It's so politically un-correct' and 'How could you make black people look like that?' I want to be real with myself." ( Source)Įven though the media spilled endless ink fretting about Tupac's encouragement of gang activity, he didn't like the label "gangsta rap" and had a complex analysis of what gangs were. I mean like I'm not scared to say how I feel. In an interview for MTV, Tupac responded to the criticism: "It's not thugging like I'm robbing people, 'cause that's not what I'm doing. It was also criticized from within the Black community for giving white America the impression that violence and materialism were all Black people stood for. People argued that Pac's words and behavior encouraged violence and criminal behavior, especially for Black youth. Tupac was widely criticized for embracing T.H.U.G. stood for "The Hate U Give Little Infants F-s Everyone," basically meaning that like it or not, thugs are the products of this society. "It's not an image it's just a way of life," he said in 2005.
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