Here I Grow: Day 2 Tupac Tribute

Tribute Piece for Tupac (Excerpt)

by Allah's Apprentice

We put two fingers in the sky for Pac, for peace

Now let me see you put two feet in these streets

Cause a sign and a shirt ain’t gon’ cut, that’s fashion

Pac put his life on the line, that’s passion

See ya’ll can have the cameras and the lights, give me the action

That “Let My People Go” flow, tellin’, I ain’t askin’

My parents tried to be polite, but you didn’t (even) treat ‘em right

Said “Yeah we got yo civil rights, but only for the civil type

Assimilate and receive, but watch how hard you breathe

Hold your tongue or get hung and watch how hard you grieve”

See they don’t really want truth, just sound byte that sounds nice

“I have a dream”, “By any means”, everybody screamin’ “Thug Life”

Not comprehending that it’s more than that gun and drug life

Tupac was talkin’ healin’, give the hood a hug life

Told the story (of the forgotten) so they knew they weren’t alone

Then showed the lost souls how to get back home

In a world of confusion where righteous men are slain

Criminals exalted so we remember their names

Public killings meant to send a message of fear to young Blacks

Maybe some Blacks, but we’ve come to send a message back

See you can kill a man, but you cannot kill a mindset

And every time you try, you make it harder to die

So studied in survival that we could teach a class

Ph.D’s in perserverance so we know how to last

So many gun blasts that we’ve become immune to your bullets

‘Cause they can only kill us physically so go ahead and pull it

Told Kendrick Lamar don’t let him die, he told me the same thang

So die he never will if we remember his name

Not in vain, but in sincerity, to live his philosophy

In place of pain and poverty, put justice and equality

For the roses under concrete that challenge cement ceilings

Unconvinced their only choices in LIFE are dying or killing

We must become the doctors of sick communities committed to finding cures

Although tired, we endure, of our victory we are sure

In the the everlasting spirit of Tupac Shakur