By Stephfon Irvin

White Mans World

The song I choose is a very controversial song. The song is White Mans World by Tupac Amaru Shakur, Tupac grew up in the ghettos of New York and his mother was a black panther and also had a drug addiction. So with just those stumbling blocks, he felt as if he was a black man born in a white mans world. On the other had he did step those stumbling blocks of growing up poor and black. He went to the school of arts and became a multi platinum selling artist, and a poet. From those aspects you would expect someone like himself to dwell on those stumbling blocks, but not Tupac, he was a rose that grew from the concrete.

In White Mans World Tupac uses all types perspectives from a little black boy to a known black male, Malcolm X. Tupac also uses the perspective of being a black woman in America today. Tupac states that it is hard being a woman, a black woman at that. People especially black men often times overlook the hardship of a black women, with hip-hop constantly portraying them as Bitches and Hos. With that in mind, he apologizes for when he has said Bitch in his lyrics, because he knows that the real women are far from being a Bitch.

Sheddin tears when her son, finally ask that questions where my daddy at? Mama why we live so poor? verse 2. Tupac is saying that is hard for black kids to grow in America without a father because people say that when a black kid has done something bad it is because the father was not there and the reason that black families are poor is because that father is not there, but that is not how it really is people are like that because of those sayings, they let what people say get to them and thats how it turns out be.

In the last verse of the song Tupac states that It aint THEM thats killin us its US thats killin us, It aint THEM thats knockin us off, its US thats knockin us off. What Tupac meant by that is statement is that it is not always white peoples fault why black people are getting killed every day, it is black people killing there own race. Black people are naive and ignorant to the facts. Tupac was smart and knew what was going on. He also states, Proud to be black but why we act like we dont love ourselves. Dont look around busta check yourselves. Kind of like the Michael Jackson song: Man In The Mirror.

Even though, Tupac did feel as if the White Man held him back considerably. He also felt as if reparations were due and no matter how much the whites hated blacks, we would never fall off and become extinct. We just need to stay strong, because knowledge is power. He felt a lot of blacks were just thrown in jail just to be silenced, because he experience this first hand. When in jail he felt like this only fueled his anger, but luckily Tupac had a pen and a pad to release his anger positively. Speaking of which Tupac, also from experience, states how being black and poor, makes young kids want and yourn for the grass on the other side, and some, not all, will fight, kill, steal, and whatever else is necessary for them to get what they cant have.

I feel as if today, things have defiantly changed for the better, but Tupac had the mentality of someone who has been held down all his life, and a black panther for a mother. On the other hand I grew up with a silver spoon in my mouth compared to Tupac, but I have too experienced discrimination being a black male. When at a basketball game, my school won, but we were playing at all white school. So a few of them decide to call me and a few of my friends some niggers. We started to just fight them but we didnt because we knew by us being black it would be our word against theirs.

At the end of this song Tupac put one of a well known black leaders Malcolm X speeches, "The seal, and the constitution, reflect the thinking of the founding fathers, that this was, to be a nation by white people, and for white people. Native Americans, blacks, and all other non-white people, were to be the burden bearers, for the real citizens of this nation". I think that Tupac put this in his song to let people know that he was not the only person that felt the way he did and that we the black people have over come the seal, the constitution, and the reflective thinking of the founding fathers.

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