Forgotten Dairies
Reflections On 2Pac Shakur -By Kehinde Oluwatosin Babatunde
Tupac Amaru Shakur (2Pac) the legendary American rapper, poet and actor died at 25 years, you may likely have confused 2Pac’s legendary popularity to the longevity of life, No! he never lived long. 2Pac was not named 2Pac by birth, he was christened Lesane Parish, he renamed himself after Tupac Amaru ll the Peruvian revolutionary who died after leading an indigenous uprising against Spanish rule.
2Pac also died after being shot four times by an unknown assailant in a
Another puzzling part of 2Pac’s death was his history of being part of a notorious circle. 2Pac’s godfather Elmar Pratt was convicted of murdering a school teacher In a robbery, Mutulu Shakur, 2Pac’s step father spent at least four years in FBI’s list of ten most wanted fugitives, 2Pac’s grandmother also escaped from a penitentiary, and below is a list of 2Pac’s friends digital underground, outlawz, notorious BIG, thug life, all these names resonates elements of gangsterism. When we tell you that in Yoruba theosophy “àgùntàn tóbá ba ajá rìn, àje ìgbé” you won’t listen, you will tell us that we are ‘local’ Well done international ‘chidren’.
2Pac was not only a rapper, but a poet and author who envisioned a society where black repression is nipped in the bud, that was the whole essence of the black panther movement, 2Pac was quoted in one of his interviews where he made it clear that he loved Shakespeare because of the rawness of their stories. Check out Romeo and Juliet and Macbeth and you see this poetic artistry in display. When we tell you that to seek knowledge is the first step to your music career, you won’t listen, you first of all quit school and that lack of cognition becomes obvious in your music, then you start asking us “am I a yahoo boy? ” you are not a yahoo boy, you are a reverend father.
In 2Pac’s book titled “The rose that grew from the concrete” 2Pac wrote as part of this book of poetry a chapter which he titled liberty needs glasses and in it he wrote “in the event of my demise” I haven’t seen any artiste who sang about death who did not die. This only underscores the importance of positive confession and the import of not retaining confessing right only to christian gatherings. Singing or talking of one’s demise when one remains alive might just serve as a preparatory canticle that prepares one’s route to the path of his ancestors.
Kehinde Oluwatosin Babatunde is a prolific writer and public speaker based in Lagos Nigeria.
