"We gotta make a change... It's time for us as a people to start makin' some changes. Let's change the way we eat, let's change the way we live and let's change the way we treat each other. You see the old way wasn't working so it's on us to do what we gotta do, to survive." -Tupac
The late Tupac Shakur, the most celebrated rapper in history of Hip-Hop, was speaking to society as a whole on his inspirational song, Changes. Released after his untimely death, "Changes" is about a young black man who goes through an emotional rollercoaster, expressing everything from bitterness to hope over both his life and of society in general. Tupac challenges us all to change our ways and to treat one another with love and respect.
Within his music, one can tell that Tupac longed for changes in his own life. He was a man of contradictions. He would rhyme about violence and rhyme about peace, sometimes, all in the same song. But as the chorus in the song Changes says, "that's just the way it is". No one is totally consistent in the way they live and how they think. And Tupac was no different.
"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 2 distant strangers and that's how it's supposed to be..."
How can we be inspired by Tupac's "Changes"?
With all of the turmoil in society, each one of us can embrace change for the better and make a difference in the lives of others. Ultimately, that's what Tupac wanted to do; make the world a better place by exposing the harsh realities of life while instilling in the youth hope for the future.
