June 16th, 2009 by Manila Ryce
I’ve never seen this interview before so props to Phalary for posting it on her own blog.
Tupac was named after Túpac Amaru II, an Incan revolutionary who led a Peruvian uprising against the Spanish. While early pioneers like NWA may have laid the foundation to put Cali on the map, Pac had a revolutionary spirit strong enough to shape the entire personality of the West Coast to this day.
Fallen Rock & Roll legends are often referred to by their last names by fans as a sign of respect. In contrast, the hip-hop community honors its heroes with affectionate abbreviations like “Pac” or “Biggie,” as if they were close family and not unapproachable gods. So great is this undying affection for Pac that the man and the art are intertwined as two parts of one whole. To love hip-hop and not love Tupac is an unforgivable contradiction.
While the media described Tupac’s philosophy of “Thug Life” as a call for criminal conduct, it was actually a philosophy of liberation which encompassed many classically liberal principles such as the right to food, health care, education, and self-defense. Tupac was not satisfied with legitimizing a thieving American power structure by asking it for handouts like a slave. Rather, he advocated standing up to your oppressor as an equal and taking what you are entitled to.
“The tragedy of Tupac is that his untimely passing is representative of too many young black men in this country. If we had lost Malcolm X at 25, we would have lost a hustler nicknamed Detroit Red. If Martin Luther King died at 25, he would’ve been a local Baptist minister who had not yet arrived on the national scene. And if I had left the world at 25, we would have lost a big-band trumpet player and aspiring composer — just a sliver of my eventual life potential.” - Quincy Jones
