Assertion Analysis #3 Rose From Concrete
Hip-pop legend Tupac Shakur was one of the most dynamic, influential, talented, yet troubled soul who left behind his momentous, significant musical legacy behind at age 25. He released four albums between 1991-1996 ultimately selling over 75 million albums worldwide. Shakur embraced the 1990's gangsta-rap aesthetic and was one of the most notable figures in the 1990's East Coast - West Coast Hip-pop rivalry. Sorrowfully, he paid the terminal price and was murdered in a drive-by shooting in Las Vegas, 1996. He was not only a rapper, actor, and producer, and much more but he was also a poet as well. Shakur wrote a book, The Rose That Grew from Concrete that consists more than 100 poems where Shakur's most intimate and honest thoughts were revealed. In one of his poems, it resembles The American Dream.
In his poem, Shakur summarizes what it's like to be successful from a tough community. He starts off the poem with, "If you walked by a street and you saw a rose growing from concrete..." He uses analogy to compare the apparent contrast of the beauty of a rose and the rough, cold, hard, and broken concrete. With that being said, the rose symbolizes a person successfully flourishing out of the cold, broken concrete which also symbolizes the ghetto. He then continues on with, "... even if it had messed up petals and it was a little to the side you would marvel at just seeing a rose grow through concrete." Furthermore, he uses imagery describing the rose's petals and crooked stem. Afterwards, he finishes off with, "So why is it that when you see some ghetto kid grow out of the dirtiest circumstance and he can talk and he can sit across the room and make you cry, make you laugh, all you can't talk about is my dirty rose, my dirty stems, and how am leaning crooked to the side. You can't even see that I've come up from out of that." He's implying that whether a person has gotten out of the ghetto and is pursuing a career people are still going to judge you. Shakur also uses pathos as a way to target the emotions those who happen to still live in the ghetto and who have been through this type of situation. Of course, this is where stereotypes take place. An individual will always judge one another just because of where they were originated. Just because an individual grew up around ghettos, street violence, drugs, and gangs doesn't mean they'll end up like their surroundings. An intelligent human being will know what's right from wrong and obviously would want something way more better for themselves. People who make it out of poverty or the ghetto don't get enough recognition.
As a result, Shakur's poem explains the struggle of being judged and prejudiced just trying to get through live and trying to make a living. We are all one race. We are just from different ethnic groups. For a person who wants nothing but the absolute best, they should absolutely not be giving people the satisfaction of their ethnic stereotypes.This results to Shakur believing that The American Dream is real. Shakur was an example himself, he rose from the depths of poverty and violence and became known as one of the most dynamic and influential rappers of all time.
In his poem, Shakur summarizes what it's like to be successful from a tough community. He starts off the poem with, "If you walked by a street and you saw a rose growing from concrete..." He uses analogy to compare the apparent contrast of the beauty of a rose and the rough, cold, hard, and broken concrete. With that being said, the rose symbolizes a person successfully flourishing out of the cold, broken concrete which also symbolizes the ghetto. He then continues on with, "... even if it had messed up petals and it was a little to the side you would marvel at just seeing a rose grow through concrete." Furthermore, he uses imagery describing the rose's petals and crooked stem. Afterwards, he finishes off with, "So why is it that when you see some ghetto kid grow out of the dirtiest circumstance and he can talk and he can sit across the room and make you cry, make you laugh, all you can't talk about is my dirty rose, my dirty stems, and how am leaning crooked to the side. You can't even see that I've come up from out of that." He's implying that whether a person has gotten out of the ghetto and is pursuing a career people are still going to judge you. Shakur also uses pathos as a way to target the emotions those who happen to still live in the ghetto and who have been through this type of situation. Of course, this is where stereotypes take place. An individual will always judge one another just because of where they were originated. Just because an individual grew up around ghettos, street violence, drugs, and gangs doesn't mean they'll end up like their surroundings. An intelligent human being will know what's right from wrong and obviously would want something way more better for themselves. People who make it out of poverty or the ghetto don't get enough recognition.
As a result, Shakur's poem explains the struggle of being judged and prejudiced just trying to get through live and trying to make a living. We are all one race. We are just from different ethnic groups. For a person who wants nothing but the absolute best, they should absolutely not be giving people the satisfaction of their ethnic stereotypes.This results to Shakur believing that The American Dream is real. Shakur was an example himself, he rose from the depths of poverty and violence and became known as one of the most dynamic and influential rappers of all time.
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