How the Media Affected Tupac

Many years have passed since the death of one of hip hop's most influential artists, Tupac Amaru Shakur. Born in prison in a New York City jail cell, life was difficult growing up but yet he was able to prevail through tough circumstances. The struggles he experienced helped convey his message and ideas into poetic, lyrical music. Selling over 67 million copies worldwide, Tupac remains the highest selling rap/ hip-hop artist according to 2004's Guiness Book of Records. He fought for his beliefs and reached out to his fans through poetry, music, and interviews. As a highly controversial artist, Tupac was targeted by the media in both positive and negative ways. Tupac Shakur's early life in a poverty-stricken environment has created an image in him that the media inquired as he flourished in the music industry. Living only until the age of twenty-five, Tupac was a very significant figure who impacted the media through his talent expressing vivid writing and poetic music, and his portrayal as a 'thug' growing in the music industry led to significant events that made him the influential MC he is remembered as today.

The songs Tupac Shakur wrote were a huge impact in the media because it still plays in the media today although he's been deceased for over 10 years. According to Forbes' "Top Earning Dead Celebrities" list, in the years 2002-2004, his records earned $7 million, $12 million, and then $5 million every year. He still has the most selling albums to this day, years after his death and is remembered by his poetic lyrics that accompanied his music. Tupac created a new genre in gangster rap that illustrates deeper meaning than what other rappers rapped about in his generation. He mixed the talent he had in art with the incidents in life to create music. He was said to have "struggled with issues of violence, political power and personal commitment in his music" which made him a more complex individual (Black Biography, 1). His rhymes were more than just words with the same ending; they had hidden messages and deeper meanings, almost like a lyrical diary, that the media most likely didn't understand. Shakur's lyrics were honest and he used metaphorical comparisons and contrasts his life to give a better understanding of his message about the struggles of life. His music were for encouragement like in his song "Keep Your Head Up" which talks about his experience with what he's learned about women and the relationships that make it hard for people to live life. The song saluted the black women who depended on black men. Most his songs are encouraging and give a positive message that everyone can somehow relate to. It also created ambiguous thoughts within the media when his music reflected and sort of predicted his own death in his songs such as "Life Goes On" and "I Ain't Mad at Cha". His legacy remains within the four documentaries, more than fifteen books, and even a play that looks into his brief existence. He also has numerous websites that still remain which go into great depth and details about his life, before and after his death.

Tupac's portrayal in the media was viewed more negatively because of the violence and vulgar, upfront rhymes he uses in his songs. Whenever he was caught in the media, the situation would always be involved with gang violence or being what Tupac calls himself, an outlaw. He clashed with the law many times and was charged for things such as assaulting people, involved in shooting incidents, and charged for sodomy, creating an overall bad image. This would cause people in the media or anywhere else to believe that his music is just full of unnecessary curse words and violence which the public do not agree with, or feel it is just nonsense that's meaningless. For example, former vice president, Dan Quayle, argued that Tupac's music "has no place in our society" and labeling him as a man who hates women, calling them 'whores', and an individual pursuing violence (FILM; Tupac Shakur: Dead Man Talking, 1). But what isn't understood is that Tupac doesn't mean to call all women the 'b' or 'h' words and he's specifically talking to the women who he's encountered that he believes are what they are or how they represent themselves. Shakur created meaningful music that encouraged young black america, showing rebellion in his music against the corrupt system he or anyone would encounter. This created tension in the media because of how he afflicted violence and prejudice through his music. The media grew concern over the gang activities and shootings that would occur in his rap