Holla If Ya Hear Me, Searching for Tupac

In Holler If Ya Hear Me, Searching for Tupac Shakur by Michael Eric Dyson Tupac Shakur's whole life is discussed. Tupac's mother Afeni Shakur was discussed as well, she is Tupac's mother. Afeni was a drug addict, convicted, and was also in the black panthers in the 60's. Afeni being on drugs affected Tupac and the kind of life he had. The media and how women are portrayed negatively and how it affects young women and other adolescents as well. The author talks about the use of the "b" and "n" word and how the definitions for the words are changed. He compares Tupac's different songs for example: "I Get Around" which shows how promiscuous he is to "Keep Ya Head Up" which is to stay positive and to keep your head up through rough times. The author met with a close friend of Tupac's who talked about how they met and how he was a bigger reader. Overall Holler If Ya Hear Me, Searching for Tupac Shakur just shared different events in his life up, who Tupac was as a person and what he believed in.

Quote: "All the themes that surfaced in the conversations I had when I went to the warehouse are important: his strong black masculinity, his willingness to speak up, his thirst for attention, his powerful poetry, his thug image, his entrepreneurial exploits, his prophetic stances, his role as a pop icon, his search for the authentic black experience, his heartfelt messages to the urban poor, his incredible work ethic, his unfulfilled potential, his ascension to Elvis-like status, and the grief that was provoked by his premature death." This quote was important to this story and just overall because it represents everything Tupac was about and who he was.