The song also made me nervous about my nephew and how he is going to handle life as a young black man growing up in Harlem. I also felt sorry for Tupac and anyone else who had to grow up in that type of environment.
When I listened to the song I thought about what it would be like to be a single parent raising a son while struggling with an addiction, and I wasn’t sure how I would handle being in a situation like that.
One of the things about this song that I didn’t particularly like was that it was hard for me to relate to it, since I grew up having a fairly good relationship with my parents and don’t know anyone who was addicted to crack cocaine. I also appreciate that while talking about her faults, he also acknowledged that he had his own too. I also like that Dear Mama didn’t glorify selling drugs or living poverty, but was a fairly descriptive storytelling of Tupac’s upbringing. I also liked that Tupac didn’t idealize his mom and acknowledged that it was hard for them both to deal with her addiction. Nowadays it’s not common to hear songs meant to uplift women, so I always like listening to songs like that. I enjoyed it mostly because of the message it sent to women and mothers who are doing the best they can with the tools they have available.
There’s no way I can pay you back But the plan is to show you that I understand ” This song is meant to empower his mother as well as any other sons and mothers who may have gone through similar situations. You always was committed A poor single mother on welfare, tell me how ya did it. This is best highlighted when he raps in the first verse “I finally understand for a woman it ain’t easy tryin to raise a man. The message behind Dear Mama is that even though he was a troublesome kid, Tupac appreciates his mother and knows she did the best she could as a single mother.
Even though he saw the damaging effects crack had on his own mother, he continued to sell drugs because the money was an easy way to get himself and his mother out of poverty. I ain’t guilty cause, even though I sell rocks It feels good puttin money in your mailbox” This show that, Tupac got sucked into the same trap that many other black men did during the crack epidemic. For example, Tupac raps “I needed money of my own so I started slangin. In addition to the affect the crack epidemic took on his mother, Tupac mentions selling crack to make ends meet. The accompanying music video also includes scenes of an Afeni smoking crack. Tupac was raised during the height of the crack epidemic, so seeing his mother struggle with an addiction most likely had a profound effect on his disposition. For example, Tupac says “And even as a crack fiend, mama. With this line, Tupac is acknowledging the prison industrial complex and the strain it put on the relationship he had with his mother.ĭear Mama also briefly mentions drugs and the toll the crack epidemic took on his mother. And running from the police, that’s right Mama catch me, put a whoopin to my backside”. Hugging on my mama from a jail cell, and who’d think in elementary? Heeey! I see the penitentiary, one day. In addition, Tupac mentions his run-ins with the law when he raps, “I reminisce on the stress I caused, it was hell. It also should be noted that a stand in had to be used to film portions of the Lionel C Martin directed video because Tupac was in jail during filming. Mass incarceration becomes one of the focal points of the video, as we see scenes of both Afeni and Tupac in jail. For example, in the music video for Dear Mama, the audience is first introduced to the song with a brief quote by Afeni Shakur, in which she talks about being pregnant with Tupac while in jail. Many of the topics covered in the course are touched upon in the lyrics and music video of the song. The influence of Tupac’s upbringing in California could also be seen when he became the face of the infamous East Coast/West Coast war, which culminated in the deaths of both Tupac and Biggie Smalls. The influence of his moving to California can be seen in his music with songs like California Love, and To Live and Die in LA as well as his affiliation with Death Row Records. Tupac was born in New York City, but moved to Oakland, California as teenager. Dear Mama also includes samples of the songs Sadie by The Spinners and In My Wildest Dreams by Joe Sample. The slow, pensive song was produced by Tony Pizarro, and released under Interscope Records in 1995. Dear Mama is a song performed by Tupac Shakur, that takes a look at the relationship between Tupac and his mother, Afeni Shakur. But I was acquitted a month and three days before Tupac was born. “When I was pregnant and in jail, I thought I was gonna have a baby and the baby would never be with me.