by Dr. Boyce Watkins, Syracuse University – Scholarship in Action
The recent spoof claiming that the late Tupac Shakur was killed by Suge Knight got my mind racing back to 1996, the year that Tupac was murdered. Some might say that Tupac was the greatest rapper in history. I don’t agree, but then again, my pick for "the greatest" changes with my mood. I can say that I listened to Tupac every morning and found his energy to be contagious. He represented a type of fearlessness, creativity and (most of the time) intelligence that led him to sell 75 million albums worldwide (he makes more money as a dead man than most of us will ever make in life). I am not here to pretend that Tupac was perfect, for he was flawed in quite a few significant ways. But he was certainly a legend and well-ahead of his time.
As we approach 2011, the year that most of us thought would never arrive, I thought I would list some quick reasons that Tupac wouldn’t necessarily enjoy being here with us. Sure he would probably rather be alive, but he might be a bit disappointed with what he saw. Let’s start from the beginning, shall we?
