2pac and the bard

Today, by popular demand, my first class studied Hamlet's soliloquy. They had all heard the first line, "to be or not to be," of course, but didn't know what came after, so we had fun reading it together and deciphering its meaning.

As we were mulling Hamlet's wavering between existence or non-existence, one of my students said,

"It's like that 2pac song."

"Um, ok," I stammered. If nothing else, my students learn anew everyday just how clueless I am.

"You know the one, 'I see no changes wake up in the morning and I ask myself, is life worth living should I blast myself? I'm tired of bein' poor and even worse I'm black."

The lyrics are from his song "Changes." Take a listen:

This intrigued me. Was 2pac Shakur inspired by Shakespeare? He was definitely inspired by Bruce Hornsby, from whose song "The Way It Is" he borrowed the chorus.

But maybe the bard inspired him, too. His song carries some of the same theme's as Hamlet's rant. Both give voice to a sense of utter frustration and hopelessness with the way the world is, offering an end to life as the only alternative to escape it. Both struggle between a deep seeded desire for a better life and a realistic pessimism that nothing will improve. Unlike Hamlet, though, who finally chooses life simply out of a fear that death may be even worse, 2pac, in his bridge, offers us an alternative to a miserable life or a violent death:

"We gotta make a change...

It's time for us as a people to start makin' some changes.

Let's change the way we eat, let's change the way we live

and let's change the way we treat each other.

You see the old way wasn't working so it's on us to do

what we gotta do to survive."

A living paradox, 2pac boasted a history full of violence and run-ins with the law, but maintained a philosophic idealism for his race and for our world. At age 25, he was killed in a drive-by shooting. The killers were never caught.

In thy prayers be all my sins remembered.