Tupac Amaru Shakur – Long live the rose that grew from concrete!
Born Lesane Parish Crooks, and renamed Tupac Amaru Shakur at the age of one, Tupac was born in East Harlem to parents who were active Black Panther Party members. His mother wanted him to have a revolutionary’s name and chose to name him after Túpac Amaru II, a descendant of the last Inca ruler, who was killed by the Spaniards in 1781 after leading a revolt against them.
As a child, Tupac’s mother moved them from New York City to Baltimore in search of a better life. It was there that he enrolled at the Baltimore School for the Arts and studied acting, poetry, jazz, and ballet. Tupac moved to the San Francisco Bay Area during high school where he performed in several theater productions. During that time, he began attending poetry classes and started recording and performing under the name “MC New York”, which ultimately lead to him being one of hip-hop’s greatest artists.
Before his musical career, Tupac wrote dozens of poems. Even at his young age, he wrote coherently and passionately about socio-political issues such as race, black liberation, incarceration, masculinity, and love.
Out of all his poems, there is one which is my favourite and stands on its own. The Rose That Grew from Concrete was written when he was 19 years old and is part of his posthumous book that was released in 1999 with the same title. For me, this poem is the epitope of resilience and the human spirit – I read it often – long live the rose that grew from concrete!
The Rose That Grew from Concrete
Autobiographical
By: Tupac Amaru ShakurDid you hear about the rose that grew from a crack
in the concrete
Proving nature’s law is wrong it learned 2 walk
without having feet
Funny it seems but by keeping its dreams
it learned 2 breathe fresh air
Long live the rose that grew from concrete
when no one else ever cared!
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