DJ Mikeyswazz reviews one of the classics Changes by Tupac

DJ Mikeyswazz from DJ ISYS collective coming in to deliever a review on the grammy nominated song Changes by the beloved late and great artist Tupac Shakur. Usually Tupac has a distinct sound and flow originating from California and helping create the genre west coast hip hop. But the song ill be reviewing will take on a more serious agenda and prominate instruments such as piano and drums.



Changes is a chart topping song originating from 1992 but offically remixed and released at 1999, 3 years after his death. It received great reviews based on the topics the song would affect. Its video clip and touchy topics has garnered buzz around the world through its impactful lyricism centered around black politics, gang violence, poverty and the race war inside USA (Vale, 2016) as well as incorporation of signature sample of  the very popular song by Bruce Hornsby called The Way It Is.

Tupac - Changes  - via youtube.
Bruce Hornsby - The Way It Is - via youtube

Notable lyrics

"I see no changes" -
Opening words to the song, he is referencing to the period of 1960s where the cival rights movement occurred where there was promise to improve poverty, racism and equality (Vale, 2016) but now in 1990s he says nothing has changed.

"Cops give a damn about a negro,
Pull the trigger, kill a nigga, hes a hero" -
This issue is still relevant to this day with reports of police brutality towards unarmed African Americans especially  with the publicised deaths on Michael Brown (BBC, 2014).

"We gotta start making changes
Learn to see me as a brother instead of two distant strangers" -
These lines are significant as it shows the African American people are also part of the cause and need to improve their lifestyle in order to solve these issues, both sides must do their part to create equality. Especially in the 1990s where gang wars between the famous Bloods and Crips were increasing in the state of California.



 Since making the lyrics in 1992, some of the social topics are still relevant 26 years later. Although these issues are hard to mitigate they are have improving not as quick as we hoped but at least it is improving. This song has laid a platform to help many other artists express their opinions on similair topics.

Tupac will forever remain an influence towards the racism war especially in the USA. He is highly regarded amongst modern artists such as Kendrick Lamar who he identified as one of his most impactful artists of his life (Haltiwagner, 2016).


References:

Haltiwagner, J., (2016), 'It's Been 20 Years And Tupac's 'Changes' Lyrics Are Still Painfully Relevant', Elite Daily, viewed at 9th May 2018.

https://www.elitedaily.com/news/politics/tupac-changes-lyrics-relevant/1609358

Vale, S., (2016), 'Changes by Tupac', Words in a bucket', viewed at 9th May 2018. https://www.wordsinthebucket.com/changes-tupac

Lyrics via https://www.azlyrics.com/lyrics/2pac/changes.html

BBC News,. (2014), 'Ferguson protests: What we know about Michael Brown's last minutes',BBC US & Canada, viewed at 5th May 2018. http://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-28841715

Photo References:

http://www.ibhpartners.org/get-started/behavioral-health-data-sharing-toolkit/ca-context/

https://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/music/news/tupac-notorious-big-biggie-smalls-cars-murder-for-sale-collector-a8248811.html

https://www.pinterest.com.au/pin/83105555604694457/

http://hiphopgoldenage.com/list/10-classic-eighties-west-coast-hip-hop-songs/

https://taikonenfea.wordpress.com/2013/04/09/social-justice-101-racism/