Tupac
was known as an artist that could at times be very contradictory. One of the
aspects where Tupac’s complexity is reflected the most is in his treatment of
women in his music. Tupac complex and at times conflicting views on women are
also related to the larger issue of the disruption in the relationship between
black men and black women. I pointed out in a previous blog that women held substantial
power in African societies. In my ebook The Historical Struggles of AfricanWomen I go into more details about the important roles that women held in
African society and how slavery/colonialism altered that role and stripped
women of their power, and often reduced women to sex objects for their slave masters. Incidents in the
Life of a Slave Girl by
Harriet Ann Jacobs is one of the best accounts of the psychical and
psychological aspects of the sexual abuse that African women faced on the slave
plantations. The depiction of women in hip-hop often reflects this
lack of power. Women in rap music are often reduced to sexual objects that serve as status symbols
for male rappers. Nelly’s song “Tip Drill” is one of the songs that really
bring to light the level to which women are reduced to sex objects in rap
videos.
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A scene from the music video for “Tip Drill”
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To
some extent we see this objectification of women in Tupac’s music, but where
Tupac is unique from most rappers of his generation is that he also expressed a
sincere concern for women in his music. “Brenda’s Got a Baby” tells the story
of an uneducated 12 year old girl named Brenda who becomes pregnant. At one
point Brenda considers abandoning the baby, but she decides to keep the child. Throughout
the song Tupac also points out the lack of support that Brenda gets from her
family. Brenda’s mother was never in her life and her father is a heroin addict.
By the end of the song Brenda is forced to
become a prostitute to provide for herself and her baby. By the end of the song
Brenda is murdered. The most troubling aspect of this song is that it was based
on an actual story that Tupac read in the newspapers, in which a 12 year old
girl gave birth to a baby which she abandoned in a trash can. “Mama’s Just a
Little Girl” is another song by Tupac that also deals with the topic of teenage
pregnancy.
In
“Baby Don’t Cry” Tupac offers advice and reassurance to women that have been victims
of rape. Tupac was also very troubled the fate of 15 year-old Latasha Harlins,
who was killed by a Korean store owner who thought that Harlins was trying to
rob him, when in fact she was just trying to pay for a drink that she was about
to buy. The music video for “Keep Ya Head Up” includes a tribute to Latasha.
Tupac also mentions her in songs such as “Thugz Mansion,” “I Wonder if Heaven
Got a Ghetto,” “White Man’s World,” and “Hellrazor.”
When
it comes to Tupac’s treatment of women in his music “Dear Mama” and “Keep Ya
Head Up” are easily Tupac’s two most famous songs. In “Dear Mama” Tupac
expresses his love and gratitude towards his mother, who raised Tupac and his
sister as a single mother. Tupac recognizes the hardships that his mother
endured in raising him and honors his mother’s struggles in lines such as “even
as a crack fiend, mama/you always was a black queen, mama” and “I finally
understand for a woman it ain’t easy to raise a man.”
“Keep
Ya Head Up” is Tupac’s tribute to struggling black women. Tupac raps: “I give a
holler to my sisters on welfare Tupac cares, if don’t nobody else care.” Tupac
also calls on men to treat their women better:
You know it
makes me unhappy
When brothers
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
“I
Get Around” appeared on the same album as “Keep Ya Head Up.” Whereas“Keep
Ya Head Up” is meant to inspire and uplift black women, in “I Get Around” Tupac
depicts women as a sort of nuisance to him because now that he is a famous
rapper with lots money he has women throwing themselves at him. “Keep Ya Head
Up” pays tribute to the struggling single black mother. In “I Get Around” Tupac
pays “respect to those who break their neck to keep their hoes in check.” So on
the same album we get the depiction of women struggling to hold together their
family under poverty and we also get the depiction of women as being out of
control “hoes” that need to be held in check by men.
There
is nothing empowering or uplifting for women in “I Get Around.” The song is not
even empowering to Tupac’s male audience, as the song is essentially Tupac
boasting about the women that he gets. In this song women are a sort of status
symbol that represent Tupac’s newfound fame as a rapper. The boasting in this
song is perhaps rooted in Tupac’s own past problems with women. Tupac
noted that before he was a famous rapper he would walk around a club lonely and
without a date, but after becoming a rapper Tupac explained women would go
crazy about him. In “Same Song,” which was recorded when Tupac was a member of
the group Digital Underground, Tupac raps:
Say I’m down,
when I come around
Gas me and when
they pass me they use to diss me
Harrass me, but
now they ask me if they can kiss me
“How
Do U Want It” is another example of Tupac reducing women to sexual objects in
his music. The uncensored music video for “How Do U Want It” depicts an orgy of
naked women in a strip club. Below are some clips from that music video:
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| The music video actually gets more graphic than
what these clips represent. |
Nothing
about this song and the music video is meant to be empowering or
positive for black women. The music video also seems to play out one of Tupac’s fantasies. Tupac explained “it was always a fantasy for me to have sex with
a lot of people in the room.” That is precisely what this music video was
depicting. Not only was the content of the music video extremely sexual, but
apparently so was the process of filming the music video. Tupac’s bodyguard
Frank Alexander said that during the filming of this video Tupac had sex with
so many women that he passed out.
Tupac’s
justification for his dual depiction of women in his music was that when he spoke about
“bitches” in his music he was not referring to all women, but a specific type
of woman. In “Wonda Why They Call U Bitch,” Tupac explains why he calls certain
women bitches. This song also served as a response to C. Delores Tucker, who
had publically criticized Tupac for referring to women as bitches in his music.
In this song Tupac attempts to explain that not all women are bitches, but that
the type of women that are bitches are the ones that use their body to get
ahead in life. The woman Tupac describes in this song dies of HIV by the end of
the song due to her being promiscuous.
Although
Tupac attempted to clarify what he meant when he called women bitch, the song
is also problematic for a number of reasons. Tupac offers a cautionary tale for
women that engage in reckless sexual behavior, but Tupac never rapped about the
same situation for men. Tupac explained in an interview that the only
promiscuous women that he considered to be bitches were the ones that slept
with a lot of guys for money because they were putting a price on themselves.
He also explained that: “Guys, when they sleep around, they do it for free.”
The intentions behind sleeping with different partners may not be the
same—although there certainly are men that do pick women based on their money
or social status—but the consequences can be the same. In fact, rapper Eazy-E
died of AIDs in 1995. Tupac singled out promiscuous women in “Wonda Why They
Call U Bitch,” but the overall message of the song is one that applies to both
men and women.
The
other issue is that although Tupac attempted to make the distinction between
women and bitches, this still did not prevent him from reducing women to
nameless bitches in some of his songs. For example, in his song “Late Night”
Tupac describes looking for “a bitch that’s half-black and Filipino” to have
sex with. That's all Tupac has to say about the woman and in the next few lines he describes having sex with this half-black and Filipino "bitch" in his limo.
When it came to dealing with Biggie’s wife Faith Evans, Tupac only
spoke of her in disrespectful and dismissive terms. He referred to her as
“Biggie bitch” in “Why U Turn On Me.” During
a performance at the House of Blues, Tupac claimed that he didn’t want to have
sex with “that fat bitch” (referring to Faith), but he only did it to get back
at Biggie. In this case Tupac wasn’t calling Faith a bitch because she was
behaving like the woman described in “Wonda Why They Call U Bitch.” He was
calling Faith Evans a bitch simply to get back at her husband.
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Tupac
with Faith Evans
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The
other thing to keep in mind about Tupac’s views on women is the fact that during
his short life he had sex with a lot of groupies, but never seemed to have
formed a long-lasting romantic relationship with a woman. Tupac was married to Keisha
Morris for a short period of time, before she divorced him. Morris explained: “Our
problem was communication. He was stubborn and wanted to be in control.”
At
the time of his death, Tupac was with Quincy Jones’ daughter Kidada, which was interesting
since Tupac had previously criticized Quincy for only having children with
white women. According to Keisha Morris, Tupac was only with Kidada to get to
Quincy. Tupac’s bodyguard Frank Alexander also suggested that Tupac’s
relationship with Kidada wasn’t a meaningful one. Alexander explained that
Tupac would regularly cheat on Kidada with other women and even threatened to kick
Kidada’s ass, although Alexander added “For the record, he never hit Kidada.” Tupac’s
inability to form lasting or meaningful relationships with women is a theme
that is found throughout his music. In “I Get Around” Tupac raps “Don’t be
picky, just be happy with this quickie” and in “How Do U Want It” Tupac
describes his sexual encounter with various women as being “in and out like a
robbery.” The sexual encounters Tupac often describes in his music are quick
and rarely led to a long-lasting relationship. Tupac himself explained that in
these numerous one-night stands he was not looking for any type of deeper
connection. He explained: “I still enjoyed sex without the emotional
connection.”
It
was Tupac’s reckless attitude towards sex and women that eventually landed him
in prison. The irony in this is that
Tupac had pointed out this very thing in “I Get Around” when he rapped:
It’s a lot of
real G’s doing time
Cause a groupie
bent the truth and told a lie
In
1995, Tupac was accused of sexually assaulting a woman. Tupac first met this
woman at a club where she performed oral sex on him on the dance floor. They
went back to Tupac’s hotel and had consensual sex. A few days later she called
Tupac and they met up at a hotel. In the hotel room Tupac noticed that “Nigel
and Trevor are looking at her like a chicken, like she’s, like, food.” The woman massaged Tupac for a bit, but
before anything could happen between the two of the Tupac said that some
“niggas came in” and he froze up. Tupac did not say anything because, according
to him, “That would be like I’m making her my girl.” The men came in and began
touching her, and that is when Tupac left.
When
Tupac woke up the woman was upset and crying, and blaming Tupac for allowing
the men to rape her. Tupac denied playing any role in the sexual assault,
although he did admit: “I feel ashamed—because I wanted to be accepted and
because I didn’t want no harm done to me—I didn’t say nothing.” Based on
Tupac’s account he essentially left her alone to be taken advantage of for his
own safety and because he did not want to make it appear as if she was his
girl. Bakari Kitwana pointed out that in
this situation “it was more important for him [Tupac] to keep the group from
thinking this than to use his power within the group to protect her.” Kitwana
goes onto explain that this is because of importance of “male bonding” in hip-hop culture. Tupac
himself explained this when he rapped in “All About U” that he could “never put
a bitch before my friends.”
The
woman who accused Tupac of sexual assault claimed that she did not willing
perform oral sex on Tupac and that he had forced himself on her when they first
met in the club. Despite the fact that he forced himself on her, she still had
consensual sex with him anyway. They met again, and according to her account
she was messaging Tupac when some other people came in. She said: “Tupac
grabbed my head and told me, ‘Don't move.’ I looked down at him and he said, ‘Don't
worry, baby, these are my brothers and they ain’t going to hurt you. We do
everything together.’” According to her, Tupac slammed her down on the bed and
then he and the other men sexually assaulted her.
There
was no evidence that Tupac had committed rape and he was ultimately sentenced
to prison time for forcibly touching the buttocks of the woman that accused him
of rape. He ended up serving 11 months before being released. The rape trial
really bothered Tupac, which is reflected in some of the songs that he recorded
after he was released from prison. In “Letter to My Unborn Child” Tupac denies
that he could ever be a rapist. “All About U” and “Ambitionz Az a Ridah” also
represent Tupac’s bitterness over the rape allegations and the untrusting
nature of some women.
One
artist that I think Tupac can be contrasted against is the Trinidadian
calypsonian Black Stalin. In “Wait Dorothy Wait,” Stalin explained that despite
the demands from his fans for him to sing a smut (a song with sexual content),
there are too many serious issues going on in the world for him to sing smut.
Stalin points to the poverty in Trinidad, the lack of Caribbean unity, and the
apartheid regime in South Africa as more pressing issues that he has to address
in his music. According to Stalin four verses and a chorus are too much lyrics
to dedicate to a song about smut.
Whereas
Tupac often spoke of black women as sex objects, Black Stalin depicted black
women as wives and mothers that held the responsibility for raising and holding
together the black family. In “No Woman No,” Stalin plays the role of a husband
who is convincing his wife not to leave him after years of marriage. He reminds
her of all the struggles that they endured together over the years to raise
their family.
“Together
Forever” also depicts the struggles of a black man and a black woman to raise a
family together. In the song Stalin praises his woman for the hard work she put
in to help raise their children:
While you up dey
in the kitchen and you working
I outside in the
field and I planting
And when we come
home we go pray to Orisha
To always bless
we and keep we together
And under all
dem adverse condition
We were still
able to grow up we children
In
“We Go Jam” and “Stay Giving Praises” Black Stalin depicts the black man and
black woman united together and ready to face whatever challenges await them.
In “We Go Jam,” Twiggy who sings alongside Stalin in this song, sings:
But from this
black family
They can always
expect problems
“Black
Man Feeling To Party,” which was one of Stalin’s biggest hits, tells the simple
story of a man taking his woman out for the night to go dancing. Although it
is a dance song, Stalin has said numerous times that the song was also a social
commentary on the importance of rekindling a relationship.
Stalin
did not only heap praises upon black women in his music alone. In an interview
with his wife, she claimed that Stalin made her feel proud to be a black woman.
Tupac most often depicted the relationship between black men and women as mainly a sexual one, whereas Stalin shunned away from writing smut and chose to
depict black women as strong wives and mothers that struggle alongside their
men to hold together their families. This is not to say that all of Tupac’s
songs were devoid of depicting black men and black women working together to
raise a family. For example, in “Better Dayz” Tupac tells the story of a man
who lives in poverty with his girlfriend. Although they don’t have much, they appreciate
being with each other and he is amazed to hear the news that she’s pregnant.
But these types of songs are few and far in-between in Tupac’s large body of
work.
Some
of Tupac’s later work does seem to express regret over his treatment of women. In
“White Man’s World,” Tupac acknowledges that in the past he took advantage of
women and apologizes for doing so: “Apologies to my true sisters, far from
bitches…It’s true, caught up in this world I took advantage of you.” “Never
Call U Bitch Again” tells the story of a man vows never to call his woman a
bitch again.
In
one of his last interviews Tupac also pointed out that in the ghetto young
black men are taught that the only thing that they have going for them is their
sexuality:
But in the
ghetto, that’s the type of shit that we’re taught. Just like when you’re in the
army, you are taught to kill so you kill. You know what I mean? You’re taught
that, by older niggas, we taught that, that the only thing you’re good for is
your sexuality.
In
the same interview Tupac went on to explain that with a new sense of
self-confidence and self-esteem his opinion on sexuality changed. He explained
he no longer wanted to be in a room with another man having sex with a woman,
even though that used to be one of his fantasies, which he acted out on a
number of occasions. Pictures from a sex tape of Tupac that was released a few
years ago clearly shows Tupac in a room full of people while having sex.
Tupac
was beginning to recognize how insecurity and mental conditioning had made many
black men mistakenly equate their sexuality as being a source of power or a
representation of their manhood. This is also why Black Stalin is an important
artist to use as a contrast to Tupac because Stalin’s depiction of black
manhood was always one of a nurturer who struggled to ensure the safety of his
woman and children. Tupac’s views on manhood were largely the result of the
fact that he had no real father figure in his life while he was growing up.
Tupac acknowledged that:
I hate saying
this because whites love hearing blacks talk about this. I know for a fact
that, had I had a father, I’d have had some discipline, I’d have had more
confidence. Your mother cannot calm you down the way a man can. Your mother
can't reassure you the way a man can. My mother couldn't show me where my
manhood was. You need a man to teach you how to be a man.
Although
polygamy was a common practice throughout Africa, in African societies manhood
was not based on how many women a man could sleep with. A man’s status in the
society was judged by his ability to be a producer for that society, so much so
that one could not become a king if they did not have the resources to carry
out the hospitality that is expected of the king. Walter Rodney explained:
I came across a
very interesting incident of a small chief in a Sierra Leone system who they
were about to elect into a king and the guy says, “Well sorry, I'm not going to
take that job. I just don’t have the funds to carry out the type of hospitality
which is normally expected from a ruler.” That's his job—to keep an open house.
Women
in African societies also held power in their own right. What we often find in hip-hop is is that the male and female roles have been perverted. Men often
judge their manhood based not on their ability to provide for their family or
their community, but by the money that they have or the women that they sleep
with. Women in hip-hop music become symbols and sex objects because rappers
think that is how they are supposed to relate to women. Of course in the example of Black Stalin we
see a black man who, in his music, relates to women as wives, as mothers, and
as his partner in the struggle against racism.
Tupac’s
depiction of women in his music was complex. In a sense Tupac broke away from
the norm in hip-hop at the time by paying tribute to his mother and providing a positive
message to struggling black women. In a number of songs Tupac demonstrated genuine
concern for the issues that black women faced. On the other side of these
positive songs about women, Tupac depicted women as objects of pleasure that he
would frequently have one-night stands with. Tupac rarely sang about
establishing long-term relationships with women, and in his own life he never formed
a serious long-term relationship with a woman. Tupac was unable to completely
escape the sexual objectification of women that has become commonplace in
hip-hop, but Tupac also did manage to do a number of songs that depicted women
in more positive and empowering roles than what is traditionally depicted in
hip-hop.
