Tupac Shakur – Changes

When you are talking about inspiration and surviving the struggle, you have to mention Tupac Shakur. Born in the heart of Harlem, he was raised in poverty and violence. Spending most of the nights in the streets, Tupac and his mom learned to survive the cold streets in the hard way.

The song “Changes” by Tupac Shakur was released in 1995-96 in the album, Greatest Hits. It talks about how disturbed the streets were with all the racism, police brutality, drugs and gang violence. These things were common in the streets of Harlem where Tupac was grown up. He had a natural poetic talent and he enjoyed being in the studio recording tracks. However, life was not always easy and simple for him. He was surrounded and distracted with much hostility and gang violence but it didn’t stop him from keeping his mind on the goal.

Mr.Birkett talks about how he had similar experiences but he realized the consequences and kept his eyes on the gold. “only time I’ll move is when Sean Paul says fe “Take a run.” This quote, from The Race, line 21, mentions “fe” which is slang for police in the streets. So he is saying that the only time he runs is when he hears the police. This shows that he was dealt with some kind of crime and he could have gone into gangs but he stayed to his goals and achieved it. Mr. Birkett states in the 25^th line “Keep ya eyes on the prize/ never sellout or compromise/ be humble and wise.” This means that you always have aim high at your goals and try to reach that level regardless of the surrounding. Tupac Shakur was very determined and he never left poetry and rap, even when he was in prison. He wrote diaries of poem in the prison, called The RoseConcrete. Once he was released from jail, he realized that the streets was not the life he wanted to live so he focus more on the studio and really flourished his career.