"I make mistakes, but learn from everyone / And when it’s said and done / I bet this brother be a better one / If I upset you, don’t stress / Never forget, that God isn’t finished with me yet."
That is a lyric from the song "Ghetto Gospel", done by the late musician and actor Tupac Shakur (better known as 2Pac). Shakur has had a strong career both while he was alive and after his death, having sold over 75 million copies of his music across the globe. He also had a large influence on modern rap and African-American society, and today, I will peering into Shakur's legacy using cultural studies theory.
Let's start off with a crash course on the life of 2Pac. He was born Lesane Parish Crooks on June 6, 1971 in the New York City neighborhood of Harlem to Billy Garland and Afeni Shakur. His parents and many other people in his life were involved with a political party known as the Black Panthers. In fact, Shakur was born about a month after Afeni was freed from charges of conspiring against the American government by planning to blow up police stations and an education office in New York. Shakur's family moved to Baltimore in 1986. While he was enrolled at the Baltimore School for the Arts, he was identified as the greatest rapper at the school. Two years later, his family moved to the West Coast and settled in California. 2Pacalypse Now, the debut album of Shakur, was released in Nov. 1991 to a good deal of praise, though his breakout album is widely considered to be Strictly 4 My N.I.G.G.A.Z...The peak of his career came with Me Against The World and was followed up by All Eyez On Me. His most famous song, "California Love" (which featured Dr. Dre) came off of this record.
Shakur also began an acting career around this time, appearing in films such as Juice, Poetic Justice, and Gang Related. His life came to an end on Sep. 7, 1996 when he was shot dead in Las Vegas by an unknown assailant. Many believe the perpetrator to be Orlando Anderson, a member of the Crips gang, though some 2Pac fans have questioned this. Now that we seemingly have a good understanding of 2Pac's life, career and death, we can apply the communication theory of cultural studies. If you do not know what this theory is, here's a simple definition: "a theoretical perspective that focuses on how culture is influenced by powerful, dominant groups". This is according to the textbook that I have cited throughout this blog, "Introducing Communication Theory", which was authored by Richard West and Lynn H. Turner. This textbook mentions that the theory was originally brought to us by Stuart Hall, a British sociologist and theorist. Hall figured that those who wallow in power use the media to bring their perspectives to those who have less power and social status. The communication theory textbook tells us that the theory of cultural studies is based on two certain assumptions: "culture pervades and invades all facets of human behavior" and that "people are part of a hierarchical structure of power".
Hegemony is one important concept in the theory of cultural studies. This is defined as the influence that a certain social group has over another social group in their shared society. We also have the "theatre of struggle", which happens in a society when differing systems of beliefs, values, and ideals compete. The message of 2Pac's music was very anti-hegemonic, similar to that of Bob Marley. Shakur also differed from the artists we've discussed since his image is incredibly hyper masculine, contrasting the Beatles' stance on hegemonic masculinity. In the paper "Hegemonic Resistance in Hip-Hop Music: A Gramscian Rhetorical Criticism of Tupac Shakur", Scott Mitchell, a professor at Illinois State University, discussed the factors of 2Pac's discography that argue against oppressive influence and encourage the audience to resist. He mentions that 2Pac's music not only helped audiences of all ethnicities understand the hardships of poor and persecuted African-Americans in the 1980s and 1990s, it was able to give them a voice, which they needed. Analyzing the records released when Shakur was alive, Mitchell noticed a recurring theme in his lyrics. Shakur held belief that release from ghetto life was not a valid option for many impoverished African-Americans. The lyrics cited by Mitchell are from the song "I Don't Give A Fuck", which came off of his debut album. “The way they see it, we was meant to be kept down / Just can't understand why we gettin’ respect now / Mama told me there’d be days like this / But I’m pissed 'cause it stays like this.” This lyric implies the oppression and marginalization of black Americans and that the culprit is a dominant "they", which falls into the concept of hegemony. Shakur's frustration with this concept is shown in the phrase "I'm pissed 'cause it stays like this". He's upset that hegemony exists in society and proposes that the hegemonic cloud is keeping African-Americans in a poverty-stricken state. His use of the word "they" to describe the influencing elite creeps up once again later in the song. "They act like they never seen a motherfucker wearing black / Following a nigga and shit / Ain't this a bitch / All I wanted was some chips / I wanna take my business elsewhere, but where? / 'Cause who in the hell cares / About a black man with a black need / They wanna jack me like some kind of crack fiend." Using examples of racial stereotyping and the racial demographic element, Shakur simplifies the implied identity of "they" and explains that they are of the elite Caucasian demographic by claiming that they do not care about "a black man with a black need". 2Pac comes off in an overtly aggressive tone and displays his hyper-masculine tendencies, as he has openly intimidated his rivals and others in his lyrics. This is very evident in his 1996 song "Hit 'Em Up", widely considered to be one of the greatest diss tracks ever created.
In it, he explicitly threatens East Coast hip-hop artists including the Notorious B.I.G, P. Diddy, and Biggie's record label, Bad Boy Records, by hurling expletives towards them and mentioning that they were going to be killed. Three months after the song's release, the feud between the East and West Coast rappers led to his demise. Shakur's estate has now released six posthumous albums in his name, the most recent being Pac's Life in 2006. The release year was meant to pay tribute to the tenth anniversary of his murder.
2Pac was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2017. What is your opinion of Tupac Shakur's music? Do you have a favorite song from him? Do you have any strong feelings about the rivalry between East Coast and West Coast hip-hop artists? Feel free to comment down below!
"Yesterday", "Penny Lane", "Come Together", "While My Guitar Gently Weeps" and "Here Comes The Sun". All five of these songs vary greatly in style, but they all come from the same group: the Beatles. The British band, consisting of John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison, and Ringo Starr, have the highest sales of any musical act, selling over 800 million records with twelve studio albums and one LP (a long-playing record).
As the best-selling band in history, the Beatles have had an enormous impact on society, including the ignition of the British Invasion here in America. Today, I will discuss the legacy of the Beatles through the lens of cultural studies theory. Lennon, McCartney, and Harrison began playing as a trio in 1958 and performed at clubs in the Liverpool and Hamburg areas. The three went through a series of drummers (including Pete Best) before settling on Starr. The first hit song from the Fab Four was "Love Me Do", which was recorded in June 1962 and released in Britain in October of that year. "Love Me Do" was later brought to America in April 1964.
Beatlemania quickly spread. Around this time, the Beatles earned their "Fab Four" nickname, and they began commanding the British Invasion of the mid-1960s. As the years went on, the band brought innovative and unconventional techniques and instruments to their albums. These included backmasking (including hidden messages on tracks that would be revealed when played in reverse), Artificial Double Tracking (ADT), and tuned feedback. Sadly, the band broke up in 1970 after the release of their final album, "Let It Be". Each member seemed to have a successful solo career after the group disbanded; however, Lennon was shot and killed in December 1980. McCartney and Starr are still playing music today; Harrison passed away from cancer in 2001.
The Beatles were indeed a legendary group. Since we now see the basics of what makes them so great, we can further use the theory of cultural studies to dissect their influence across society. The previously cited "Introducing Communication Theory" textbook mentions that the theory of cultural studies is defined as "a theoretical perspective that focuses on how culture is influenced by powerful, dominant groups". This theory originated in the Beatles' homeland of Britain and was initiated by sociologist Stuart Hall. Hall found that the elite use media as a tool to bring their viewpoints to the masses. "Introducing Communication Theory" explains that the theory is based on two certain assumptions. These assumptions are that "culture pervades and invades all facets of human behavior" and that "people are part of a hierarchical structure of power".
One of the central concepts in the theory of cultural studies is hegemony. This is defined as the influence that one group in society has over a different group in that society. When the British Invasion came to America with the Beatles as forefathers, the United Kingdom influenced popular music here in American. The Brits brought new ideas, new concepts, and new techniques to the Americans. The Beatles themselves also have influenced various artists that have emerged. Artists influenced by the Beatles include Dave Grohl, Joni Mitchell, Bruce Springsteen, and Billie Eilish. Each musician has mentioned that they had grown up with the Beatles and cited them as inspirations for their musical careers.
However, the Beatles themselves were quite against hegemony, especially when it came to masculinity. The concept of hegemonic masculinity is defined as the reason men have kept dominant roles over women in society. "It Was 50 Years Ago Today: Reading the Beatles
as a Challenge to Discourses of Hegemonic
Masculinity" is an academic paper by Martin King, principal lecturer at Manchester Metropolitan University in the United Kingdom. King mentions in the paper that the notions of hegemonic masculinity "claim that dominant conceptualizations of masculinity are reproduced
through key institutions, e.g., the education system, the
mass media" and that "other 'versions' of masculinity,
including young, homosexual, or effeminate men
became subordinate to the dominant model." He also mentions that the dominant force behind the concept of hegemonic masculinity is heterosexual men. Hegemonic Masculinity: How the Dominant Man Subjugates Other Men, Women, and Society The band challenged various sex and gender roles that have appeared in society in their music. One important example is their refusal to revise the overall lyrics in their cover of The Shirelle's song "Boys". Although they changed certain pronouns that were used, the band wasn't worried about gay undertones. "Any one of us could hold the audience," McCartney stated in an October 2005 with the music magazine Rolling Stone. "Ringo would do 'Boys', which was a fan favorite with the crowd. And it was great — though if you think about it, here's us doing a song and it was really a girls' song. 'I talk about boys now!' Or it was a gay song. But we never even listened. It's just a great song. I think that's one of the things about youth — you just don't give a shit. I love the innocence of those days."
"Ringo always used to do a song in the show," he later mentioned in another interview. "Back then he had 'Boys'. It was a little embarrassing because it went, 'I'm talking about boys - yeah, yeah - boys'. It was a Shirelles hit and they were girls singing it, but we never thought we should call it 'Girls', just because Ringo was a boy. We just sang it the way they'd sung it and never considered any implications." Their group dynamic has also been described by author Steven Stark as more feminine than masculine, due to Lennon and McCartney's songwriting partnership and the lack of a tough, macho leader. The band conflicted with or are mixed with figures that represented the concept of hegemonic masculinity in each film project they starred in during the 1960s. These films are "A Hard Day's Night" (1964), "Help!" (1965), "Magical Mystery Tour" (1967), and "Let It Be" (1970). One way these films contrast the Beatles with these authoritarian figures is through their physical appearance. "Help!", a musical-comedy film, sees the four come in contact with a police inspector who embodies hegemonic masculinity with a hardy, gentlemanly appearance in his attire and hairstyle. The band contrasts him by dressing in subdued fabrics (as shown below).
Meanwhile, "Let It Be" has the Beatles dressed in feminine coats, pumps, and atypical suits and styled with longer hair, as opposed to the strait-laced, professional suits that belong to the businessmen they encounter.
Another way this contrast occurs is through their resistance to traditional gender roles in the films. A traditional role of men is doing all of the work for a household while the female stays home to take care of the children. During "A Hard Day's Night" and "Let It Be", the band is very burdened by the concept of work and actively resists it. "Help!" shows them evolving into a stage of pre-metrosexuality, while "Magical Mystery Tour" shows them at the height of a metrosexual phase. This phase is categorized by a left-leaning political ideology, a fascination with fashion, and a smoothed-out sense of culture and taste. "Magical Mystery Tour" also shows this contrast through hallucinogenic visuals as the band is, according to British music critic Ian MacDonald, "lost in
a childlike psychedelic world" free from the burden of work. MacDonald mentioned in his book "Revolution In The Head: The Beatles' Records And The Sixties" that “agreement on them is all but universal: they were
far and away the best ever pop group and their music
enriched the lives of millions”. Frankly, I agree with him. What is your personal opinion of the Beatles? Do you think they deserve as much praise as they currently receive? What is your favorite Beatles song? Feel free to leave a comment down below!
