My, oh, my.
Highly controversial rap legend Tupac Shakur's song "Changes" was listed recently on the official Myspace page of The Vatican. Although the song has many different messages, one must ponder the thought process of The Catholic Church in promoting an artist who so clearly represented much of what the church disdains.
Father Giulio Neroni, artistic director of church publisher St Paul's Multimedia, compiled the list and noted that it is an amalgamation of sorts. "The genres are very different from each other, but all these artists share the aim to reach the heart of good minded people".
The song has been played 4.7 million times on their official Myspace page, making it the most played of all 12 on the list.
Some of the lyrics from the song read like a "State of Black America" article including our favorites:
"I'm tired of bein' poor and even worse I'm black.
My stomach hurts, so I'm lookin' for a purse to snatch.
Cops give a damn about a negro? Pull the trigger, kill a nigga, he's a hero.
Give the crack to the kids who the hell cares? One less hungry mouth on the welfare.
First ship 'em dope & let 'em deal the brothers.
Give 'em guns, step back, and watch 'em kill each other"
The relationship between race, poverty and justice is clearly defined within the 6 bars above. Tupac is justifiably angry in a late-1990s cry for help.
His genius lyrics went on to address the need for healing within the Black community and the longing for upward mobility in a pre-Obama national landscape:
"Take the evil out the people, they'll be acting right.
'Cause mo' black than white is smokin' crack tonight.
And only time we chill is when we kill each other.
It takes skill to be real, time to heal each other.
And although it seems heaven sent,
we ain't ready to see a black President, uhh."
Tupac's visionary masterwork could easily be his defining piece of artwork offered to a struggling America, but it still makes us question The Vatican's choice amongst all of the other pieces of protest music it could have chosen including: "Imagine" by John Lennon, "What's Goin On" by Marvin Gaye or "Where Is The Love" by The Black Eyed Peas.
The entry of Tupac on this list says many things to post-1990s generation.
Maybe Tupac was more necessary than we thought. "Some things will never change."
Check out the video and full lyrics to "Changes" by legendary artist Tupac Shakur:
Come on come on
I see no changes. Wake up in the morning and I ask myself,
"Is life worth living? Should I blast myself?"
I'm tired of bein' poor and even worse I'm black.
My stomach hurts, so I'm lookin' for a purse to snatch.
Cops give a damn about a negro? Pull the trigger, kill a nigga, he's a hero.
Give the crack to the kids who the hell cares? One less hungry mouth on the welfare.
First ship 'em dope & let 'em deal the brothers.
Give 'em guns, step back, and watch 'em kill each other.
"It's time to fight back", that's what Huey said.
2 shots in the dark now Huey's dead.
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 'stead of 2 distant strangers.
And that's how it's supposed to be.
How can the Devil take a brother if he's close to me?
I'd love to go back to when we played as kids,
but things change, and that's the way it is.
[Bridge w/ changing ad libs]
(Come on, come on) That's just the way it is. Things'll never be the same.
That's just the way it is. aww yeah...
[Repeat]
I see no changes. All I see is racist faces.
Misplaced hate makes disgrace for races we under.
I wonder what it takes to make this one better place...
let's erase the wasted.
Take the evil out the people, they'll be acting right.
'Cause mo' black than white is smokin' crack tonight.
And only time we chill is when we kill each other.
It takes skill to be real, time to heal each other.
And although it seems heaven sent,
we ain't ready to see a black President, uhh.
It ain't a secret don't conceal the fact...
the penitentiary's packed, and it's filled with blacks.
But some things will never change.
Try to show another way, but they stayin' in the dope game.
Now tell me what's a mother to do?
Bein' real don't appeal to the brother in you.
You gotta operate the easy way.
"I made a G today" But you made it in a sleazy way.
Sellin' crack to the kids. "I gotta get paid,"
Well hey, well that's the way it is.
[Bridge]
[Talking:]
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.
And still I see no changes. Can't a brother get a little peace?
There's war on the streets & the war in the Middle East.
Instead of war on poverty,
they got a war on drugs so the police can bother me.
And I ain't never did a crime I ain't have to do.
But now I'm back with the facts givin' 'em back to you.
Don't let 'em jack you up, back you up, crack you up and pimp smack you up.
You gotta learn to hold ya own.
They get jealous when they see ya with ya mobile phone.
But tell the cops they can't touch this.
I don't trust this, when they try to rush I bust this.
That's the sound of my tune. You say it ain't cool, but mama didn't raise no fool.
And as long as I stay black, I gotta stay strapped & I never get to lay back.
'Cause I always got to worry 'bout the pay backs.
Some buck that I roughed up way back... comin' back after all these years.
Rat-a-tat-tat-tat-tat. That's the way it is. uhh
