Tupac Shakur - His Impact on American Culture Essay -- Tupac Amaur Sha

Tupac Shakur - His Impact on American Culture Tupac Shakur was a very influential person in the 20th century. He was born on June 16, 1971 in Brooklyn New York, and died on September 13, 1996 in Las Vegas Nevada (unknown author, no title, no page, letter code C). But his family moved around a lot while he was a kid (Bastin, J.D.). He eventually ended up in the Bay Area California alone and spent his first two years there homeless (unknown author, no title, n.p., letter code D). He grew up with only his mom and loved her very much. He even wrote a song called Dear Mama to his mom and thanked her for how she tried her best at raising him. His public career started when he joined the seminal Bay Area rap ensemble (u.a., "original area," n.p.). He started as a tour dancer but then started rapping live (u.a., "original area," n.p.). From there he released a couple albums and then was offered to be in some movies. He became friends with a couple of popular rap artists like Snoop Doggy Dogg and Dr. Dre (Placid n.p.). He made some songs and music videos with them that made it big on the Billboard charts. This really helped his popularity. He released a double CD with the songs on it and a lot of his own songs and sold millions of copies (u.a., n.t., n.p. letter code D) More people were influenced to buy his CD. People listened to the music and did what he said he did. So Tupac was influencing all of these people. Tupac was rich and famous now. He was showing off his own style now and didn't need his popular friends. This is the time that many people saw the real Tupac and loved him. He was now very influential to fans. They wanted to be just like him. He starred in more movies and could be who he really was. He did a lot of interviews that showed his beliefs. He said self esteem and self respect was very important and said "I feel as though I am a shining prince just like Malcolm and feel that all of us are shining princes, and if we live like shining princes, then whatever we want can be ours. Anything." (Patrick, Tony, n.p.) And when he says all of us, he means all men. He also said he doesn't care if someone is white or black. And no one can be judged by their skin. "So just because it's Black don't mean it's cool, and just because it's White don't mean it's evil."(Patrick, Tony n.p.) If he judged a man, he judged them by what they do ... ...nds for a new beat really separated his music from others. He didn't use traditional beats that people get tired of. He added a twist to rap and hip-hop music all together. And brought a lot of people to like that. "Tupac was one of raps most controversial and influential performers" ("tupac" n.p.). "Tupac Amaur Shakur left a distinct impact on American culture that is still being shown today" (u.a., n.t., n.p. letter code D) He was one of the most influential persons in the 20th century America. And I believe he will be remembered and loved by a lot for years to come. He has served and will serve as a role model for younger kids growing up today. Bibliography Bastin, J.D. "Tupac Interviews & Articles" http://www.u.arizona.edu/~bastin/interview.html 22/10/97 Patrick, Tony Shakur, Tupac. "Interview" http://.stallion.jsums.edu/~awil0997/tupac/interview.html 22/10/97 Placid, Sylvester. Personal Interview 10/11/97 Unknown Author. "Original Area of Tupac" http://www.geocities.com/Heartland/7438/tupac.html 22/10/97 Unknown Author. "Tupac" http://stallion.jsums.edu/~awil0997/tupac/theday.html 2/11/97 Unknown Author. http://www.duke.edu/~de1/2pac2.html 2/11/97