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Time For Change?

By Literacy 'n' Poverty Project
More than ten years after his death, rapper Tupac Shakur's influential track "Changes" is still in rotation. Known for being one of the greatest rappers of all time, it is no surprise that his lyrics carry messages easily relatable to current issues within our society.


Tupac rapped in the mid-nineties that; "its war on the streets and the middle east / instead of war on poverty they got a war on drugs."


Those two melodic bars touch upon issues that effect all of our daily lives. However, for a multitude of reasons these problems are often overlooked and devalued.


Fortunately, we as a united people, have elected to recognize that these issues need to be addressed. Some have concluded that these problems will not go away without the right leadership. We have elected Barack Obama as our first non-white president.


He presents to our nation a change in ideological properties, and breaks down many embedded stereotypes. Sadly, such a momentous part of history is tainted by the lack of momentous change in society, including a recent controversial dialogue from prominent black role model and activist Rev. Jesse Jackson, who used the word "nigger" and mistakenly spoke on a live microphone negatively (and offensively) about Barak Obama.

How much change is really going on? We move two steps in the right direction to fall three steps backward; this is not the change we need in order to resolve our issues.


The ignorance within our society is holding us back from our full potential. With mainstream music encouraging us to "turn a crack rock into a mountain", "get silly" and "superman that hoe" - what exactly is being taught? Are enlightening lyrics like those in "Changes" even going to help? How many people stopped selling crack after hearing "Changes"? How much did gang violence decrease? How much did the population of incarcerated blacks decrease? How much CHANGE for the better came from this record?


How much CHANGE for the better will come from having Barack Obama as president?


It is up to SOCIETY to change.


The right leadership is meaningless without the right following. We are quick to "pass the buck" and blame the government, the poor people, the rich people, the blacks, the whites, etc. Issues like pollution and global warming are the responsibility of each and every member of society.


Fortunately, we are indeed going in a direction that promotes humanitarian & community awareness. Unfortunately, not fast enough!

Written by Charity Activist and Market America Unfranchise Owner, Daniel Rechel. Daniel is also Co-Founder of The DON, a brand of great importance dedicating 100% of its profits to charity..
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Comments

Anonymous said…
I share Daniel's concern for the negative influence that many of today's musical "artists" may have on already vulnerable youth. Most of these artists are corporate projects and their objective is to make money. The beats, the bass, the hook, the lyrics are all calculated to a disturbing degree to stick in people's heads so they can sell sell sell. Major radio stations are in on it too, going along with record company "pay to play" deals- why do you think we hear the same twenty songs on over and over? Because the playlist is paid for. It may seem like no big deal how much exposure these ignorant coorporate lacky artists have, but their influence can't be underestimated. Hopefully this trend will stop but the kind of shallow, materialistic, soulless, and amoral "hip hop" that'a played on the radio and on TV is seen as reality by kids and even adults (that's sad). Yeah, it's up to each of us individually to respect ourselves and tuen away from these clowns and tell everyone we know to do the same.
March 11, 2009
Anonymous said…
Let's all hope for a better change in this world!
March 14, 2009

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