Reasons Anyone Can Feel Like a Poet: Tupac Shakur

It's been brought to my attention that Tupac is being studied at major colleges across this country. This causes me to think, 'Oh! I knew he was a very good lyricist, he must be a good poet too!'
Here's the thing though... He writes poetry like I used to in fifth grade. This portion of my site is for aspiring writers of any kind to feel optimistic about the possibility of having their work studied in college someday. Either that, or to feel depressed that moronic verse like this is being admired by people with doctorates across this big, awkward country we call America.
A quick note to Tupac fans out there: I very much admire many of Tupac's lyrics (failing to exalt such classic lines like 'Fuck the Police'). However, he is much more talented than this crap, and his reputation as an intelligent man is gone after the publication of collections like 'The Rose That Grew From Concrete.'
Now, on to the poetry! ... and my comments...

Selected Poems
The Rose That Grew From Concrete
In the Depths of Solitude
In the Depths of Solitude (Revision)

The Rose That Grew From Concrete
Did u hear about the rose that grew from a crack
in the concrete
Proving nature's laws wrong it learned 2 walk
without having feet
Funny it seems, but by keeping its dreams
it learned to breathe fresh air
Long live the rose that grew from concrete
when no one else even cared!

Analysis:

First and most fascinating about this publication is it's failure to understand line breaks. Tupac wrote all of this in hand at 19 and where the publishers chose to break each line was more likely just where Tupac decided he was running out of room.

The metaphor vividly chosen in the second line is very forced by the third line's reiteration that a rose has no feet, not to mention the additional force implied by the ability to 'prove nature's laws wrong.'

The fourth and fifth lines are actually fairly well done. Air is an overwhelming symbol used again to portray the life of the rose with human characteristics. But again, the metaphor is really beginning to get rammed into the concrete (so to speak).

The phrase 'long live the rose' is very touching, albeit cliche, but the line doesn't truly fail until the end when an audience is suddenly introduced.

Tupac's image of a rose growing from concrete is truly an independent and creative thought. Just to reiterate, it only fails when he refuses to let the image's meaning come through on its own.

It should also be noted that Tupac dedicated each poem or at least put a subtitle on each to establish a clear meaning behind each. Unfortunately, as this truly is written at a fifth grade level, it is not difficult to grasp the meaning/metaphor 'hidden' in each of his poems.

If you were curious, the subtitle on this poem is 'Autobiographical.'
Doesn't that just make everything so much clearer??? He's the rose!! Woah!!

In the Depths of Solitude
I exist in the depths of solitude
pondering my true goal
Trying 2 find peace of mind
and still preserve my soul
CONSTANTLY yearning 2 be accepted
and from all receive respect
Never compromising but sometimes risky
and that is my only regret
A young heart with an old soul
how can there be peace
How can I be in the depths of solitude
when there R 2 inside of me
This Duo within me causes
the perfect opportunity
2 learn and live twice as fast
as those who accept simplicity

Analysis:

This one absolutely blows my mind. Not only does it have potential to be a great poem, both rhythmically and lyrically, but it even has a decent message! One we could all relate to!
However, the editors really messed with this one. Notice all the odd capitalizations? Line breaks? Etc?
Let's just note that Tupac mixed his lettering with both capital and lower-case and enjoyed using symbols instead of words.
In this poem, his original text has an eye drawn for the word 'I,' a peace symbol for 'peace' and a heart for 'heart.'
Let's type this up as it would look if we took his direct lettering and phrasing, shall we? Yes, lets.

[Eye Symbol] exisT iN THe DepThs of Solitude
poNdering my TRue GoaL
TRyiNg 2 fiNd Peace OF MiND
aNd sTill preserve my Soul
CONSTANtly yearNiNg 2 Be accepTeD
aNd from all receive respecT
Never Comprising but Sometimes Risky
aNd that is my oNly regreT
A youNg [Heart Symbol] wiTh aN old SouL
How CaN theRe Be [Peace Symbol]
How CaN [Eye Symbol] Be IN the depths of Solitude
WHeN TheRe R 2 iNside of me
This Duo withiN me causes
ThE perfect opportuNity
2 learN aNd live 2wice as fast
as those who accept simplicity
Interesting, yes? The capitalized 'N' is just part of his penmanship, so we can toss that out as a problem, however, we encounter many inconsistancies with the use of capitalization in other letters, especially 'T' as well as a spelling error and various editorial mistakes when they rewrote the poem for the book. Let's break those down.
The word 'constantly' in the third line is not totally capitalized, nor does it appear that Tupac may have intended it be.
The biggest mistake is in seventh line where Tupac wrote 'comprising' and the editors chose the word 'compromising' instead. Perhaps he meant 'comprising.' Guess we'll never know, huh? Somehow I doubt he even really understood what either word meant or how to correctly use them in a sentence.
Line seven even as 'compromising' fails because it uses both an adjective and a verb in the same statement.
Also, 'risking' may have been a better choice for 'risky.'
Have [Eye Symbol] made my point yet? This poem really did have a lot of potential but a few minor things like: improper grammar, spelling mistakes, and the editors basically just fucking it up ruined any chance of it becoming real poetry. People are studying this crap??? It makes me sick.
However, before I go, I thought I might rewrite the poem one more time, this time paying attention to what I believe Tupac may have intended and not being a moron just trying to make money off a dead guy.
RIP Tupac. Do I sound like a fan yet? Maybe I should tattoo that on my arm and walk around the north hill of Tacoma.
Here we go:

In the Depths of Solitude (Revision)
I exist in the Depths of Solitude
Pondering my True Goal,
Trying to find Peace of Mind
and still preserve My Soul,
CONSTANTly yearning to be accepted
and from all receive respect.
Never Compromising but Sometimes Risking
and that is my Only Regret.
A Young Heart with an old Soul,
How can there be peace?
How can I be in the Depths of Solitude
when there are 2 inside of me?
This duo within causes the perfect opportunity
to learn and live twice as fast
as those who accept simplicity-

Home