However, on his first platinum album, the 1993 release “Strictly 4 my N.I.G.G.A.Z.,” Tupac uncharacteristically used his mainstream success to voice a feminist message. After a few lines in “Keep ya head up,” Tupac’s verse goes like this:
I give a holler to my sisters on welfare
Tupac cares, if don’t nobody else care
And I know they like to beat ya down a lot
When you come around the block brothas clown a lot
But please don’t cry, dry your eyes, never let up
Forgive but don’t forget, girl keep your head up
And when he tells you you ain’t nothin’, don’t believe him
And if he can’t learn to love you, you should leave him
Cause sista you don’t need him
And I ain’t tryin to gas ya up, I just call em how I see em
You know it makes me unhappy (what’s that)
When brothas make babies, and leave a young mother to be a pappy
And since we all came from a woman
Got our name from a woman and our game from a woman
I wonder why we take from our women
Why we rape our women, do we hate our women?
I think it’s time to kill for our women*
Time to heal our women, be real to our women
And if we don’t we’ll have a race of babies
That will hate the ladies, that make the babies
And since a man can’t make one
He has no right to tell a woman when and where to create one
So will the real men get up
I know you’re fed up ladies, but keep your head up.
Similarly, in his third album, Tupac paid tribute to the tireless efforts of his mother to raise him. Among the lyrics of “Dear Mama,” are these:
A poor single mother on welfare, tell me how ya did it
There’s no way I can pay you back
But the plan is to show you that I understand
You are appreciated.
What’s amazing to me about the verse in “Keep ya head up” is not only its unique presence in a gangsta rap song, but also how unrestrained his critique of sexism is. The lines above are from the first verse of a song that wasn’t obscurely buried in Tupac’s album, but was one of his hit singles. “Dear Mama” was also chosen to be a single. Tupac doesn’t mince words, apologize on behalf of men, or justify sexism. He simply says that if women are dealing with an unappreciative or sexist man, they should leave him. “Sista you don’t need him,” he says,rejecting the sexist belief that women are male-dependent. Tupac also declares that men have no right to decide “when and where” a woman should give birth.
It’s charming to idealistically picture Tupac, were he alive today, marching on the front lines of pro-choice rallies, shouting the same line to the men who fight in congress against women’s right to choose. Of course, I wouldn’t realistically expect to see him there; but, knowing the lyrics of “Keep ya head up,” it’s interesting to think about why not. The famous gansta rapper unambiguously voiced a message of women’s rights and empowerment in two of his hit songs. So why, while apparently believing in feminist values, did Tupac otherwise support the sexism that dominates gangsta rap?
It’s fair to say that Tupac’s identity and self conception was strongly influenced by the sexist values of his neighborhood— not to mention of the country. Being a “tough guy” or “real man” often means fighting to prove your “hardness” and dominance, a conception of manhood that leads to exactly the kind of tragic violence that ended Tupac’s life. On the other hand, men who speak out against sexism or conventional masculinity — against sexist slurs, hurtful jokes, or fighting, for example — can be perceived as “weak” or “sissy” — leaving out even more sexually charged expletives — or they’re just left out of the group altogether.
In his appearance and demeanor, Tupac always upheld a tough-guy image, and as feminists well know, implicit in that image is a presumed dominance over women. In other words, embedded in his very persona were the very values that he so strongly opposed in “Keep ya head up.” But given the lyrics of both “Keep ya head up” and “Dear Mama,” it’s clear that Tupac recognized and opposed the widespread oppression of women, at least ideologically.
Even surrounded by the world of gangsta rap, its values, and its fatal violence, Tupac saw the sexism that was around him — that he in many ways supported — and knew that it was simply wrong.
that BBC!
The Feminism of Tupac
Then ya'll Coli nikkas had to get eeem in the commentsBLACKPANTHER
August 4, 2014 at 1:42 am
The male/female dynamic in the black community is far different than the mostly educated white feminist movement. Black women are often impregnated at a young age and raising children by themselves in poverty. Meanwhile, in the white community, the wives usually take their husbands to the cleaners in a divorce, with alimony, custody, child support, as well as a huge portion of the family’s assets.
RIDICULOUS
October 17, 2015 at 6:11 pm
Exactly. Why don’t we let Tupac talk for himself instead of the educated, white women digging for a parallel to their situation?
