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Tupac Shakur's Been In The Storm So Long

1098 Words5 Pages

Rooted in our Past History is a subject some people love, but yet some also hate. Regardless of it all history is an integral part of our lives today, because we either learn from it or unfortunately, just end up repeating the same mistakes of the past. History is reflected all around us, it is even reflected in songs and music of today. Music as we all know tells a story and in the song “Changes” by Tupac Shakur, though written in recent time, expresses the oppression of African Americans and the discrimination against them. This essentially reflects similar conditions expressed in the spiritual Been in the Storm So Long, written during the slave era, which expresses the oppression of African American slaves. Though the circumstances vary, the oppressive conditions are the same nevertheless. …show more content…

The “storm” refers to the harsh conditions in which the slaves were forced to live in, as part of their everyday lives. The lack of freedom, the despair, and mistreatment they faced from their master, is all portrayed within that simple word “storm”, which yet holds so much significance. This spiritual also expresses how desperately they would hope and pray for some sort of escape, it stated “this is a needy time” and “my neighbors need you now” (Gates and Smith, 15). Those statements were cries out to God, to help them. The pain and suffering were evidently too much for them to handle and were weighing heavily on

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The times of slavery had only brought sadness and despair for all African-Americans in the United States during the times of the Civil War. People were treated as property, denied a proper education, and overall treated as expendable and inconsequential pieces of trash. The one thing that was done so that we could understand the pain that these slaves had gone through was the slaves explaining their experiences through writing to be studied throughout history. However, there are very distinct differences between the writings in how they are made and written.

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America, Changed for the better "You don't fight racism with racism, the best way to fight racism is with solidarity"(Bobby Seale). Over the years our American history has been shaped by good and bad events. Racism has been apart of us since the beginning. It has shaped our history a great deal. An important event that has shaped American history is the Scottsboro trials.

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Racism is a deep rooted part of American culture, whether we like to admit it or not. “Being black in the United States poses a risk of a very particular form of socially conditioned despair” (Styles). Starting with the slavery system, black Americans have faced discrimination and inequality for hundreds of years due to their skin color. Subsequently, the implementation of the Segregation Laws further divided the black community from the white by promoting racial segregation through every aspect of daily life, including public transportations, education system, and medical system. The numerous accounts of social and racial injustices inspired artists, like John Lennon and Paul McCartney, to write songs and broadcast their views on the issue.

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The Hip-Hop genre never fails to deliver personal messages to fans across the world. These topics can widely vary from one another: Violence, the scary insights of gang life, and tense race issues that are still going on to this vary day. One of such songs is Notorious B.I.G’s “Things Done Changed”. A song that not only captured the entire the aspects of the ongoing struggles of violence in 1993, but how the song became a national hit to the people. The song itself shocked the nation, including schools who taught this song to students.

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581 Words | 3 Pages

In 1992, Tupac Shakur wrote a song titled “Changes” in response to injustice in black communities in America, and concerning the need for some serious changes to be made in order for life in these communities to get better. He directed this song towards black youth in an effort to persuade them to be the ones to propagate this change. The desperation, frustration, anger, and fear in this piece create a very distinct and powerful tone that proves effective in helping create rhetoric. Tupac uses his song as a vessel for a powerful piece of rhetoric. The first thing one notices when listening to this piece is the tone and diction it employs.

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Our country faces many problems. The struggles that many face in the inner cities, and in the”ghetto” need to be fixed. Tupac Shakur lived this lifestyle, he lived through the struggle and by the standards of many, “he made it.” One of the most popular rappers and considered by many to be one of the greatest. In the song, The Ghetto Gospel, Tupac describes the violence, poverty, and struggle that he has seen.

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But its legacy lives on and continues to shape African-American culture and

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Throughout history, oppression has manifested in many different forms, one of the most prominent being slavery and segregation in America during the 1800s and 1900s. Civil Rights activist W.E.B. Dubois comments on the unjust treatment of African Americans during his time with his literary piece Souls of Black Folk. In the book, we are able to better understand the societal hardships that African Americans endured as a “higher class” or a society that was deemed of greater worth oppressed them. However, the fact of the matter is, it wasn’t quite as simple as one group oppressing another. Instead, the oppression was greatly rooted in the individual.

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Time and time again, nature has proven itself as a utility for individuals to harness, and deliberately or not, people occasionally use aspects of the natural world to address their personal regards. Frederick Douglass, in his Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, casts nature not only as a portrayal of the sceneries of his experiences as a slave, but also as a depiction of the oppression of slaves and the coping mechanisms that they look to in order to endure through the cruel and unjust treatment and control by slave owners. Douglass’s autobiography contains countless scenes where he wraps nature within the plot. Through his careful, yet, consistent use of striking imagery, he constructs metaphors and symbols which lay the foundation

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Though within recent times, some media has begun to counter these negative portrayals of African Americans such as the hit T.V show “Empire” that effectively captures the success of the people within the black community. The first piece to be examined is a song written and sung by the N.W.A. “Straight Outta Compton” in 1988 details the struggles of being an African American on the streets within downtown Los Angeles. (Sample song plays). The song is an exaggerated and loose representation of the reality of living in everyday Compton and seeing African Americans commit crimes and kill others.

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Rappers like Tupac Shakur, demonstrated the struggles of slavery and freedom for his community through his songs. To this

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Both Hine and “Changes” suggests that children must be protected in order to secure our future. To create this better future, there must be public spaces for open conversations. Tupac’s “Changes” serves as a public space for this conversation to occur. Music in general allows us to talk and understand topics that are difficult such as systemic racism. While all of society's issues will not be solved in one day, it is important that we are aware of our individual biases.

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In 1964 world famous Motown singer Sam Cooke released a “A change is going to come.” This song included rhythmic melodies and soulful sounding lyrics, but this song contained and obviously deeper undertone of race relations in America. It sounds as a description of Cooke’s life up until this time and how he believes with the tide of civil rights activist a change was evidently going to eventually come. In this song Cooke chooses his lyrics in an ambiguous way to leave it to interpretation. These questions of the lyrical choice center on the American identity and who Cooke was referring to.

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Over the course of human history, music has been an integral part of life. Music’s impact can be seen in every facet of the world today and it is a way to express feelings, tell a story, or prove a point. It can bring people together and can transcend communities, cultures, and ideologies. Although many do not realize it, music has had a profound impact on all human lives, and the lives of all others that have since died. Sam Cooke’s “A Change is Gonna Come’ is a song that defined a generation while bringing the oppression and injustice that African Americans experienced, on a daily basis, to the forefront of society.

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Music based on slave trade was used as a symbol of the oppression that slaves used to undergo, and as African –American music continued to grow in the music industry, it transitioned to how their ancestors and prior generations had fought to rise above slave trade into an independent community that identified with its own culture. The trend continued to grow as black Americans continued to identify with each other as a community. The allegiance that existed during the slavery era continued manifesting itself through the black American culture and music. Slavery narratives and songs represented the fight and endurance that slaves had portrayed while hip-hop today represents a culture of power and money, especially for the black community. The slavery era represented an era of communism which was manifested in the way that different communities identified with each other.

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