While I was home from school for'
the Thanksgiving holiday, I was
looking forward to a w kend of old
friends and familiar places. What I
got was a gun pointed at me when
I couldn't move my car in a heavy
traffic situation outside of a party.
I was frightened, and then an­
gered at this young Black man and
his young Black friends endanger­
ing the lives of four young Black
women --<>r anybody -because
omeone doesn't move their car.
Telling my parents, they wer,e
concerned and then angry and the
first thing my mother said, "It's
that rap music."
Well, I had to think, was it the
rap music? A week ago, 22-year-old
Tupac Shakur was indicted f�r so­
domizing and sexually attacking a
By CATHERINE KELLY
Michl n Citizen
"They are not rebelling against
anything . . . they are a bu,,:ch of
opportunists who are appealing to
an appetite that America has for
vulgarity, violence and anarchy in­
side Afro America. "
, Stanley Crouch
Music critic, author of Notes of a Hang­
ing Judge: Essays and Reviews 1979-1989"
By l\JREKA TURK
Michl 'lin CltJzen
The word on the street is
that Tupac has indeed lost his,
mind. He got mad props on
his portrayal of a deranged
thug, a victim of society in the
Ernest Dickerson film
"Juice". Only now people are
wondering whether or not
Tupac is a result of art imitat­
ing life.
After being arrested a sec­
ond time recently for date
raping a Manhattan woman
in a New York hotel, even the
young kids, who usually hold
au fo topr -
vail, are doubting Tupac's
sanity.
Marcela Vasquez, 15, told
New York Newsday colum­
nist Sheryl McCarthy that
she loved Tupac.
He's gorgeous," she said.
''But he's got a split personal­
ity. I don't know which one he
really is, a good guy or a bad
guy."
VASQUEZ'S question is
one that is on the minds of a
lot of youngsters who find
themselves attracted to Tu­
pac's music. Despite the fact
that Tupac's music usually
comes with phat beats and
on four women?
Rap is an art form 'of expr ion
20-year-old woman in New York.
Two weeks before that, he was
arrested for the shooting of two off­
duty police officers in Atlanta.
S OOP OGGY DOG, Calvin
FLAVOR FLAV-
SNOOP DOGGY DOG
Broadus, ,20-year -old was indicted
for murder.
Flavor Flav was arrested and
. charged with attempted murder af­
ter police said he shot at a neighbor
during an argument.
The questionable lyrics found in
rap regarding women and violence.
Was it rap music that pulled a gun
mad tracks, his lyrics usually
show a confused cry for help,
unity, and understanding in
the Blac community. His
most recent release, "Keep Ya
Head Up" is a supposed trib­
ute to Black women and the
struggles they encounter eve-
ryday. But if some DJ were to
mi the "tribute" with his "I
Get Around" it may go some­
thing like this.
"Keep ya head up
'Cause I only got one night
In town
Break out or be down
I t Ground
Oh child thin.fl a nna
get easier"
Yolli Santos, 17, told News­
day that she was disap­
pointed in "Keep YaHead Up"
because Tupac wasn't prac­
ticing what he preached.
'1 t makes me wonder ifhe's
trying to be an idol or just
writing songs to get money,"
she said.
An idol Tupac is not. And
the rough exterior that at­
tracts young girls is not
enough to keep them - and
- their parents from excus-
ing Tupac's actions. ,
Perhaps Tupac is just too
your culture, it is how you dress,
who you are and how others per­
ceive you.
THOSE LIVING this rap cul­
ture are sadly acting it out. How-
TUPAC SHAKUR
ever, it is important to realize rap
is not unto itself in this society.
People are quick to isolate rap
andplacetheproblematicsofrap­
sexism, racism and violence � as
problems within rap and the rap
community.
Sexism, racism and violence are
pervasive in American society and
young to handle the responsi­
bility that goes along with be­
ing in the public eye.
After all, dancing out of a
courtroom after being re­
leased on bail is not the
strong Black male image that
the Black community has
fought long and hard for.
And what of the reply he
made after a reporter as ed
for a comment?
"Thug life," he responded
with a minstrel grin. Does
Tupac believe that he is living
a video or what?
There have been various
h com outto
y that are ot role
model , that the job of role
model belongs to the parents.
HA VE THEY forgotten
th at there is a small price to
pay when there are kids buy­
ing their albums? That price
is being in the limelight.
While the limelight role is a
bit different from role model,
it still means that kids watch
your every move. And if you
are Tupac, you should most
definitely be living up to
songs like "If My Honey Calls"
.or "Brenda's Got a Baby" or
even the duet with MC Breed
Se TUPAC,B2
are not unto rap itself.
Rap is an outgrowth of America
and American society and its prob­
lems. To isolate rap is to put a
Band-Aid on an AIDS lesion. Rap is
an extension of present American
society and is a product of the vul­
garity, violence and and lawl
ness IMPOSED on Black America.
I STEAD 0 attacking rap we
need to look at the problems of rap
in the context of America. What
made this gun-toting Bl c man
think his go more important th
the. lives of four young Blac
women?
Maybe it is the lack of an ego in
the first place. For Black people in
America who have been victims of
institutional and social raci m; who
are disproportionately in dire eco­
nomic positions, what ego do you
have?
What ego can you have nAmer­
ica where this society pl s a value
on you becau of how much mon y
you have and the expense of the
things that you own. If peole feel
like they can be n as 'valuable'
only by the things they own, Black
folks are in trouble as we in rap.
for many young Black people that
has reached huge commercial and
media proportions.
However, r p started as an art
form in the str ts of the inner city
and has been an effective voice for
a previously unheard segment of
society,youngBlac people. Sol am
quick to defend rap.
Rap has taken a bad beating
from paren , media and most pe0-
ple that don't listen and are not
living it. Rap is how you live, it is