fuck it

i'm going to aim to make that money money.

"Thug Life"- Tupac Shakur

by the way, let me tell you about Tupac and why I find him to be so interesting, just by his name alone.

He is named after Tupac Amaru II, an indigenous man of the Americas who unsuccessfully led an uprising against the Spaniards in the 1700's. He wanted to bring back the glory of the Inca people who were, for the most part, exterminated or enslaved.

Tupac's mother, a black panther, clearly had high hopes for her child in giving him that name. i have to wonder though, if a phrase like "Thug Life" should have been his catch phrase once he became popular. after all, the revolutionary speaker before him would not have wanted such a demeaning term to be the slogan for his people.

The last revolutionary, Malcolm X, wanted separation; he wasn't trying to conform and rise up in the ranks of a system his oppressors created.

Tupac wanted to make that money and fuck them bitches and find some equality.

It's slightly ironic, how a descendant of a Black Panther would preach equality when he was named after an indigenous man who did not want equality with the conquerors, but a removal of the conquerors and a restoration of that which once was, which is what Malcolm X wanted as well.

Maybe, Shakur was being reasonable? I can't help but feel he was racist to a certain extent though. So why not continue to preach Malcolm X's message? Why not preach the original Tupac's message?

it's a weird thing to ponder, simply because of the morality of the whole situation. after all, how nice is it of somebody to forgive the destruction of a culture and try to assimilate? it might be easier after 300 years (600 years, for the indigenous americans), but its always something that you should think about.

fuck this "thug life."

(i did not expect to go on a rant when i started writing this)