Tupac Shakur was one of raps greatest gifts. He constantly rhymed and rapped about his everyday struggles and related it to everyone around him. One of my favorite rappers, he was killed during the 1990s and was one of the rap communities greatest losses. He wishes for greater equality between the blacks and whites, but his vision is still trying to be achieved to this day. “Changes” by Tupac Shakur is one of his most famous songs from the 90s and expresses his want for more equality, but doesn’t only blame the whites for all of the hate. He is a realist and finds that black people are also for the blame and must rise up and create change themselves.
“Changes” is based on the black person’s ongoing social problems and struggle in society. Shakur opens up the song by saying,”I’m tired of bein’ poor and even worse I’m black, my stomach hurts, so I’m lookin’ for a purse to snatch.” In saying this he expresses the problems of the black people in that they aren’t given many opportunities and have to divert to crimes to survive. Shakur also notes, “I see no changes. All I see is racist faces. Misplaced hate makes disgrace to races we under.” The overall theme is that there is still racism against the black people and that they are still low on the social hierarchy. No one cares about the black person and that is why it is challenging for them to live. Shakur wants all of the black community to unite and stop the hatred and change for the better. He states,”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 is inspirational as he wants a completely different outlook by black people. He believes that their actions are also to blame for the hatred and equality, so it is time for them to make a huge change.