Tupac Shakur; Contemporary Mastermind or Modern Menace

"Wars come and go, but my soldiers stay eternal.”

Words spoken by the late Tupac Amaru Shakur.

A man who proclaimed change in society.

A hero for so many common people, rappers, and even 21st century youth.

A voice fatally altered by gun shot wounds. Taken on September 13,1996.

So many questions after his death lingered...

1. Why?

2. Who?

3. What?

4. Faked?

5 Finally Mastermind or Menace?

Why? Only God knows.

Who? If investigations did not get it done, I will not try.

What? His status remains as greatly written about.

Faked? TMZ's pictures, around the block rumors, and society's desire for controversy want him to be alive.

The only question that can be debated is #5.

Hailed as one of the greatest MC's ever, Tupac wrote from his heart which was entangled with anger towards his circumstances and love for the uprising of his local community. He was at times revolutionary and at times ruthlessly brutal.

Tupac Amaru Shakur once said "Only God Can Judge Me," here is an opportunity to look at what he left for us to not judge but to observe and analyze.

"It's like if you plant something in the concrete and if it grow and the rose petal got all kinda scratches and marks, you ain't gonna say "damn, look at all the scratches and marks on the rose that grew from the concrete.." you gonna be like "DAMN! a ROSE grew from the CONCRETE?"

Mastermind.

"The only thing that comes to a sleeping man is dreams."

Mastermind.

"For every dark night, there's a brighter day”

Mastermind.

"So no matter how hard it get, stick your chest out, keep ya head up.... and handle it.”

Mastermind.

"I set goals, take control, drink out my own bottle
I make mistakes but learn from every one
And when it's said and done
I bet this brother be a better one
If I upset you dont stress
Never forget, that God isn't finished with me yet”

Mastermind.

My mama always used to tell me: 'If you can't find somethin' to live for, you best find somethin' to die for.”

Mastermind.

Why am I fighting to live, if I'm just living to fight
Why am I trying to see, when there aint nothing in sight
Why am I trying to give, when no one gives me a try
Why am I dying to live, if I'm just living to die?

Mastermind.

"since we all came from a women, got our name from a women, and our game from a women. I wonder why we take from women, why we rape our women, do we hate our women? I think its time we killed for our women, be real to our women, try to heal our women, cus if we dont we'll have a race of babies that will hate the ladies, who make the babies. And since a man can't make one he has no right to tell a women when and where to create one”

Mastermind.

If we're all saying that rap is an artform then we gotta be more responsible for our lyrics. If you see everybody dying because of what you're saying, it don't matter that you didn't make them die, it just matters that you didn't save them.”

Mastermind.

To all the seeds that follow me
protect your essence
Born with less, but you still precious.”

Mastermind.

All of y'all mother fuckers,
fuck you, die slow motherfucker.
My four four (.44 magnum) make sure all your kids don't grow.
You motherfuckers can't be us or see us.
We mother fuckin' Thug Life riders.
West Side till' we die."

Menace.

Menacin' methods label me a lethal weapon
Making niggas die witnessin' breathless imperfections
Can you picture my specific plan
To be the man in this wicked land,underhanded hits are planned
Scams are plotted over grams and rocks"

Menace.

His words are not falsely derived. They are passionate and truthful. We have all thought of such great words. The difference is that Tupac had the talent, passion and drive to say what was on his mind. Tupac Amaru Shakur is the same as us.

We are all Masterminds and Menaces. We are all great and bad at times. We are all poetic and unromantic. We are all living contradictions of ourselves. We are all proud and miserable.

Tupac was a mastermind. He was eloquent and brutal through words and actions. He was the "skinny nigga fighting niggas three times [his] size." He had the uppercut with words and shined like no other star.

2pac was a menace. He was cruel and brutal to his advoceres. He hated the police and encountered many fights in his life. He rapped about murdering, and attacking.

Tupac Amaru Shakur was above all human. Yet human with an impact. Something we should all shoot for. Something that we should all retain because like he praised, we can all be roses that grow from the concrete.

Therefore, bring that tenacity.

Be human.

Be a Menacing Mastermind.