In class Tuesday, Sept. 25, we read the lyrics to Tupac's song: "Holler If Ya Hear Me" aloud. We even chose parts with the entire class acting as the chorus, coming in where Public Enemy would on the album. It was fun!
We had a great discussion about the style of this song, and the difference in tone compared to some of his other songs we'd examined. We then read four poems from Rose and listed themes on the board.
To set up a contrast, we listened to "Brenda's Got a Baby" and "Keep Ya Head Up." The freewrite question was to discuss how Keep Ya Head Up is a letter of hope to "Brenda." Since we have access to the Internet I certainly recommend students visit wwww.YouTube.com to listen to the song and see the video. Oh, one of your classmates told me that the YouTube version of Byron Hurt's film is an excerpt not the entire film. If you missed the film and can't get it from the library, the website is helpful as well as resources in our library. There is a book on Nelly, 50 Cents, Tupac (I checked it out, and others.)
The assignment is to respond in 250 words minimally to the following: Look at one of the 4 poems written in A Rose Grew From Concrete pp. 11, 13, 15, or 17 and compare and contrast the themes discussed in the song, "Holler If You Hear Me."
The assignment is due today. Paste it here.
As students prepared for the essay, I suggested they list themes for the poems and themes found in the lyrics, then see where the two overlap before developing the thesis.
I have pasted the lyrics below along. Go to YouTube to listen to the song and watch the video.
Aww yeah, uhh, uhh
Holla if ya hear me, yeah!
[Verse One]
Here we go, turn it up, let's start
From block to block we snatchin hearts and jackin marks
And the punk police can't fade me, and maybe
We can have peace someday G
But right now I got my mind set up
Lookin down the barrel of my nine, get up
Cause it's time to make the payback fat
To my brothers on the block better stay strapped, black
And accept no substitutes
I bring truth to the youth tear the roof off the whole school
Oh no, I won't turn the other cheek
In case ya can't see us while we burn the other week
Now we got him in a smash, blast
How long will it last 'til the po' gettin mo' cash
Until then, raise up!
Tell my young black males, blaze up!
Life's a mess don't stress, test
I'm givin but be thankful that you're livin, blessed
Much love to my brothers in the pen
See ya when I free ya if not when they shove me in
Once again it's an all out scrap
Keep your hands on ya gat, and now ya boys watch ya back
Cause in the alleys out in Cali I'ma tell ya
Mess with the best and the vest couldn't help ya
Scream, if ya feel me; see it clearly?
You're too near me -
[Chorus]
[2Pac] Holla if ya hear me!
"Hard!" .. "Tellin you to hear it, the rebel" - P.E.
"Tellin you to hear it.."
[2Pac] Holla if ya hear me!
"Hard!" .. "Tellin you to hear it, the rebel" - P.E.
"Tellin you to hear it.."
[2Pac] Holla if ya hear me!
"Hard!" .. "Tellin you to hear it, the rebel" - P.E.
"Tellin you to hear it.."
[Verse Two]
Pump ya fists like this
Holla if ya hear me - PUMP PUMP if you're pissed
To the sell-outs, livin it up
One way or another you'll be givin it up, huh
I guess cause I'm black born
I'm supposed to say peace, sing songs, and get capped on
But it's time for a new plan, BAM!
I'll be swingin like a one man, clan
Here we go, turn it up, don't stop
To my homies on the block gettin dropped by cops
I'm still around for ya
Keepin my sound underground for ya
And I'ma throw a change up
Quayle, like you never brought my name up
Now my homies in the backstreets, the blackstreets
They fell me when they rollin in they fat jeeps
This ain't just a rap song, a black song
Tellin all my brothers, get they strap on
And look for me in the struggle
Hustlin 'til other brothers bubble -
[Chorus]
[2Pac] Holla if ya hear me!
"Tellin you to hear it, the rebel" - P.E.
"Tellin you to hear it.."
[2Pac] Holla if ya hear me!
"Hard!" .. "Tellin you to hear it, the rebel" - P.E.
"Tellin you to hear it.."
[2Pac] Holla if ya hear me!
"Hard!" .. "Tellin you to hear it, the rebel" - P.E.
"Tellin you to hear it.."
[2Pac] Holla if ya hear me!
"Hard!" .. "Tellin you to hear it, the rebel" - P.E.
"Tellin you to hear it.."
[2Pac] Holla if ya hear me!
[Verse Three]
Will I quit, will I quit?
They claim that I'm violent, but still I keep
representin, never give up, on a good thing
Wouldn't stop it if we could it's a hood thing
And now I'm like a major threat
Cause I remind you of the things you were made to forget
Bring the noise, to all my boyz
Know the real from the bustas and the decoys
And if ya hustle like a real G
Pump ya fists if ya feel me, holla if ya hear me
Learn to survive in the nine-tre'
I make rhyme pay, others make crime pay
Whatever it takes to live and stand
Cause nobody else'll give a damn
So we live like caged beasts
Waitin for the day to let the rage free
Still me, till they kill me
I love it when they fear me -
[Chorus]
[2Pac] Holla if ya hear me!
"Tellin you to hear it, the rebel" - P.E.
"Tellin you to hear it.."
[2Pac] Holla if ya hear me!
"Hard!" .. "Tellin you to hear it, the rebel" - P.E.
"Tellin you to hear it.."
[2Pac] Holla if ya hear me!
"Hard!" .. "Tellin you to hear it, the rebel" - P.E.
"Tellin you to hear it.."
[2Pac] Holla if ya hear me!
"Hard!" .. "Tellin you to hear it, the rebel" - P.E.
"Tellin you to hear it.."
[2Pac] You're too near me, to see it clearly
[repeat 4x]
[2Pac] Holla if ya hear me!
"Hard!" .. "Tellin you to hear it, the rebel" - P.E.
"Tellin you to hear it.."
[repeat 2X]
"Hard!" .. "Tellin you to hear it, the rebel" - P.E.
"Tellin you to hear it.."
"Hard!" .. "The rebel"
"Hard!" .. "The rebel"
[repeat 12X to fade]
[2Pac] Holla if ya hear me!
"Hard!" .. "The rebel"
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2 comments:
Tupac’s poem Life Through my eyes” shares much of the common ground and themes heard in his 1993 song “Holla If Ya Hear Me”. In the first verse, Tupac discusses his desire: to somehow get black males to bear arms and fight injustice in their neighborhoods. This coincides to the poem, where he talks about the life he lives and leads. Living in poverty, Tupac and his homies were stuck in jail, dealt with murder and violence as a way of life. On the other hand, the lyrics of “Holla If Ya Hear Me” display Tupac’s will to fight for his beliefs, at whatever the cost. In contrast, his poem talks about he wouldn’t be able to cope with himself if he doesn’t put and end to all the discrimination targeted at blacks. Despite the similar themes of the works, the poem illustrates a less rebellious tone and voice. Instead, “Life Through My Eyes” demonstrates a more sensitive tone than the lyrics heard in “Holla Ya Hear Me”. Either way, all of Tupac’s work show his brave ambitions, just like his own mother had.
Personally, I feel Tupac’s “Holla If Ya Hear Me” speaks out to anyone that can relate to his lifestyle and troubles at the time. Through writing music, Tupac thoroughly addresses his will to fight, and get others that feel the same way involved. One of the most influential rappers of our time, Tupac Shakur’s music, “Holla If Ya Hear Me” included, summarizes the harsh realities of life that weren’t addressed much by any of artist.
Tristan Jazmin
Tupac Shakur’s poems and raps often tell about his daily struggles and the life he lived. It is not difficult to find re-occurring themes in his work. Tupac writes very honestly and it seems as though most of his writing comes right from his heart. Recently, I have been reading some of 2Pac’s lyrics and also a few of Tupac’s poems out of the book “The Rose That Grew From Concrete”. Collectively, his message is often the same. I’m going to take a deeper look into the rap “Holla If Ya Hear Me” by 2Pac and the poem “Life Through My Eyes” also written by Tupac Shakur and compare both pieces of work to find re-occurring themes and then come to a conclusion if I believe 2Pac really believed someone was listening to the rap “Holla If Ya Hear Me”.
In the rap, “Holla If Ya Hear Me” and the poem, “Life Through My Eyes” there are many repeated themes which is often how his songs and poems compare. In both “Holla If Ya Hear Me” and “Life Through My Eyes”, Tupac is portraying life as a black man living in poverty. In both pieces, he also talks about the violence that an African-American man in the ghetto lives with in a day to day basis with the hope of someday escaping all the violence and poverty and one day finding peace. In “Holla If Ya Hear Me” 2Pac says,
“We can have peace someday G
But right now I got my mind set up
Lookin down the barrel of my nine, get up
Cause it’s time to make the pay back fat
To my brothers on the block better stay strapped, black” while in, “Life Through My Eyes” Tupac writes,
“Life through my bloodshot eyes
Would scare a square 2 death
Poverty, murder, violence
And never a moment to rest” both having very similar themes and messages, just written differently. Each talk about never being able to rest and always having to be prepared to fight. It is also clear that this life is not glamorous and that Tupac was trying to get the message out to all young African-Americans that he believes one day they will have peace. At the end of “Life Through My Eyes” Tupac writes, “puts an end 2 all of this” where “this” means poverty, violence, and the hardships of life compared to “Holla If Ya Hear Me” when 2Pac talks about someday having peace. Tupac wanted people, especially African-American men who were coming from poverty, the ghetto, violence and drugs to know that their life is not over, there is hope for a better future. To survive, they had to keep doing what needed to be done but to fight for something better, to not give up and one day they will find peace.
Another theme that is present in both “Holla If Ya Hear Me” and “Life Through My Eyes” is drugs and getting high. In “Holla” he talks about “blazin up” and in the poem he opens in with, “Life through my bloodshot eyes”. Both do not directly say, use drugs, but each refers to getting high or being high. The one difference between the two is that in “Holla If Ya Hear Me” 2Pac uses smoking as a means of relaxing. Traditionally, smoking marijuana relaxes a person and in the song the way he uses it,
“Tell my young black males, blaze up!
Life’s a mess don’t stress, test” it sounds as though he is using getting high as a way to self medicate to allow himself and others to relax in the tough world in which they live.
From the rap “Holla If Ya Hear Me” the question has been raised, did 2Pac really believe someone would listen to his lyrics when he wrote them? I do believe he wrote this rap for all the people that could relate to his song. Personally I believe that 2Pac wrote not only for himself but for his audience. He was a very well spoken, intellectual man who wanted to change the world in a positive way however he could. “Holla If Ya Hear Me” is a song that pushes those who relate to fight and to get involved in making a difference.
Tupac Shakur has written many poems and songs. Often, Tupac wrote of things that were unspoken of and sometimes taboo to talk about. This is what sets him apart from other rappers. Tupac knew he could raise attention by telling the truth about life. In “Holla If Ya Hear Me” he says,
“And now I’m like a major threat
Cause I remind you of the things you were made to forget
Bring the noise, to all my boyz” these three lines say, we are not supposed to talk about these issues but I am going to, and I’m going to do it loud and clear for all to hear, now if you relate, get involved. Tupac wrote of things that had a deeper meaning and truth behind them. If Tupac did not believe people were listening to his music to get something meaningful out of if, then I do not think he would have wrote about such issues that were unspoken off and so brutally honest.
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