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Changes

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Submitted By MichaelHova
Words 1293
Pages 6
English 105
October 9, 2013
That’s just the way it is In the song “Changes” by Tupac Shakur one of his more popular songs, he gives a inside look on his life being an African-American. “Changes” portrays America from a critical non violent point of view, the view of a young black male living in the ghetto committing crime as a survival necessity, while being abused by the system. The chorus says “That’s just the way it is, things will never be the same” Furthermore explaining that inequality will always be rooted in American society.
In his first line “I see no changes wake up in the morning and I ask myself is life worth living should I blast myself?” He could be referring to the changes that were supposed to be brought after the civil rights movement of the fifties and sixties. The civil rights movement was meant to put an end to social issues in America such as racism and poverty affecting African-Americans. In his first line he is clearly stating that he sees no changes and that maybe suicide is option out of this life. The same problems that were here before the civil rights movement are still here to this very day.
His second line of the song is “I'm tired of bein' poor & even worse I'm black” He could be making a point of how hard life can be especially being a black man in America. In his next verse “My stomach hurts so I'm lookin' for a purse to snatch” He directly is linking how poverty leads to crime. Stating how he would much rather go rob someone as oppose to go hungry. In his next lines he is explaining about the connection between police brutality and race “Cops give a damn about a negro Pull the trigger kill a nigga he's a hero” With these issues still going on today Tupac brings them to the attention of all races who can relate to his message, that the police favor a certain race and doesn’t care about the African-American community. The white police officer who kills a black man is glorified by his peers. Also this song was written in 1992 right after the Rodney King beating and the LA riots were taking place. “Give the crack to the kids who the hell cares, one less hungry mouth on welfare. First ship 'em dope & let 'em deal the brothers, Give 'em guns step back watch 'em kill each other”. He illustrates an image of a conspiracy of shipping drugs and guns into the black neighborhoods and then watching black America fall apart with drug dealers killing each other, kids on crack, an genocidal way of eliminating the welfare system. “It's time to fight back that's what Huey said 2 shots in the dark now Huey's dead” In the next line he is referring to Huey Newton the founder of the Black Panthers party. He acknowledges fighting back against the system is wrong because you’ll surely end up a victim of the violence. Tupac is suggesting that the people need to unify. He continues to elaborate on unity with his next line “I got love for my brother but we can never go nowhere unless we share with each other, We gotta start making Changes learn to see me as a brother instead of two distant strangers”. It could be notice that Tupac uses the pronoun “we” to represent unity among African-Americans. Simply making a point that even though he was talking to the black youth it could be understood he was talking to all kinds of races no matter if you’re White, Black, Asian, or Spanish that we need to start treating each other as equals and end the fighting amongst everyone.
In Tupacs second verse he is really focusing on bringing to the attention of America the problem that we face with drug abuse, racism and the prison system as a whole. His first line of the second verse he says “I see no changes. All I see is racist faces. Misplaced hate makes disgrace to races we under I wonder what it takes to make this one better place” A simple message that racism has no place in the world. If you’re full of hate he is pretty much calling you a disgrace. At the end of his line he ponders what it’s going to take to make the world a better place, suggesting maybe eliminating all the hatred would be the solution. “Take the evil out the people, they'll be acting right cause both black and white are smokin' crack tonight” Here you can see how he is making the case that drugs just don’t affect one race but everyone who has come in contact with them calling for a change. “And although it seems heaven sent,we ain't ready to see a black President, uhh.It ain't a secret don't conceal the fact...the penitentiary's packed, and it's filled with blacks.” While this was written about 16 years before President Obama came into office it could be noted that a lot of Americans still aren’t recognizing him as a black president today. He is also referring to the prison system in America which houses a rather lob sided portion of black males compared to other races.
In the pause before he starts the third verse he talks on the track stating “We gotta make a change...It's time for us as a people to start makin' some changes. Let's change the way we eat, let's change the way we live and let's change the way we treat each other. You see the old way wasn't working so it's on us to do what we gotta do, to survive.” This statement is especially moving, He is calling out everyone who is listening to the track to make a transformation to stop living the way they’ve been and if a change isn’t made the world as we know it will not get any better for the next generations.
He continues on with some more very powerful lines. “And still I see no changes. Can't a brother get a little peace? There's war on the streets and the war in the Middle East.” He is making an observation that while the United States spends millions of dollars on fighting wars in other countries, that money could be used here in America to feed the hungry or give shelter to the homeless. In his final line of the song he paints a pretty graphic image “Cause I always got to worry 'bout the payback. Some punk that I roughed up way back... comin' back after all these years. Rat-a-tat-tat-tat-tat. That's the way it is.” He is talking about one his foes that he allegedly got into an altercation with in his past takes revenge after years. He illustrates that this man he did wrong to in the past comes back and murders him. Perhaps giving out a warning to watch your actions or what you do in your past will always comes back to haunt you.
Over the last couple decades America has seen a lot of changes some very positive and negative. In Tupacs “Changes” he tells a story about the issues facing many of us each and every day. If Tupac were still alive in 2013 he would be very proud of the changes that have been made since 1996. Tupac was a genius and this song shows his talents. He is crying out trying to get America to listen to his message that the world is a cruel place but we can always make an improvement. But some things will never change.

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