Initially my topic was going to be relatively broad, focusing on a large group of artists that reflect social struggle and/or issues through their rap. Then I had an epiphany.. since I accidentally did the book post first, while I was gathering evidence from articles I realized that Tupac Shakur reflected social issues extremely well not only through his lyrics but through his personal poems as well. At this point I knew I had to do my paper on Tupac. Once I made this decision, the research paper became a lot more fun.
Recently, I've been spending a lot of time looking at and listening to 2pac's music to be able to start to get an idea as to which songs I would like to reference in my paper. While doing this, I realized that with the exception of the songs that 2Pac wrote from his Makaveli persona, most of his songs were full of profound lyrics that reflected both the harsh reality of African American/ urban life like in "Trapped" and "Brenda's Got A Baby" and provided messages of hope to his large audience like in "Keep Ya Head Up" and "Dear Mama". During this time, I Also began looking through news interviews done with Tupac during his life to see if I could find any comments on his reasoning for rapping about some of the things he chose to rap about. For Tupac, rapping appears to have been a way to further his work as a social activist. I've included one of these interviews below:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XL3B5tHpj1Y
It's so awesome that you decided to narrow your research project to just being about Tupac. I've never really listened to his music, but I know how influential his songs have been in our society. It's really interesting to know that his art was also a way to expose that harsh reality of African American life. Do you think that his music has the same about of influence that it had in the past? This research paper will really give you insight about rap music, I would really like to read your paper when it's done!
ReplyDeleteThis sounds like a really great topic and you seem genuinely interested in it. Having a true interest in your topic is so important. Has rap always been a part of your musical interest? How did you choose Tupac over someone else? I think you are absolutely right when you talk about how artist tell a story through their art. Art is truely not just on a canvas, music and so many other thing are considered art. What makes something art? I am interested to continue to follow your research. As someone who knows like nothing about rap, this is very interesting to follow and learn from.
ReplyDeleteI really can not wait to see where your research of your paper takes you. Your topic seems so interesting and i am glad that when you narrowed it down you found your topic more fun for you. Focusing on one raper rather than a whole group seems like you are able to get more in depth about Tupac. Did Tupac have a certain impact on your life before hand? What drove you to write about him before picking someone else?
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