Changes by Tupac Shakur (2Pac) (1998)

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"Changes" is a hip hop song recorded and written by Tupac Shakur (2Pac). The song refers to the war on drugs, the treatment of black people by the police, racism (explicitly the reconciliation between black and white people in America), the perpetuation of poverty and its accompanying vicious cycle value system in urban African American culture, and the difficulties of life in the ghetto. [1]

The song uses war as a metaphor when it talks about issues that directly affect people of colour, including drugs, poverty, racism, and police brutality. Over 20 years since its first release, the song has resurfaced as an anthem, as anti-police brutality protests are taking place around the world after George Floyd's death. [2]

Background

Changes by Tupac Shakur (2Pac) (1998)

"Changes" is based on the ongoing social problems and struggles of the black person in society. The overall theme is that there is still racism against black people and that there is still a low level of social hierarchy. Shakur wants the black community to unite and stop hatred and change for the better. He believes that their actions are also to blame for hatred, so it's time for them to make a huge change. This is inspirational, as he wants a completely different view of black rap. [3]

Black Empowerment

Through this piece, Shakur is trying to let the world see what is actually going on in the blocks where the poor Afro-Americans dwell.

“Cops give a damn about a negro? Pull the trigger, kill a nigga, he’s a hero. Give the crack to the kids who the hell cares? One less hungry mouth on the welfare.”

While it sounds tragically inhumane, this is the reality of some Black people’s lives during Shakur’s times. Not only then, this lyrics still holds its relevance two decades later, as police brutality of Black people is still, unfortunately, present.

“Is life worth living? Should I blast myself?”

This is not an exaggeration to make the song more dramatic, but rather a reflection of the feelings of the almost very poor young Afro-American experiences from time to time. [4]

“I got love for my brother but we can never go nowhere / Unless we share with each other / We gotta start makin’ changes /Learn to see me as a brother instead of two distant strangers.”

Through this song, Shakur also exclaims how true change that he imagined is achievable through the unity of all people. Tupac is clearly stating the importance of African-American to come together to overcome the challenging social issues facing them; violence, racial profiling and drugs. Shakur dropped the idea of unity in this song, because of the fact that nobody is following it. This song is also a platform to encourage people to stick together, as this racism issue happening to Black people will not solve itself if it was just ignored. [5]

Reference