pagi ini, di GMHR di sela2 acara Beat Boxing Academy, gw denger ada lagu lama dari seorang rapper favorit gw, yg jadi salah satu tokoh yg mempengaruhi selera musik gw, Tupac Amaru Shakur (June 16, 1971 — September 13, 1996).

This man, Tupac Shakur

———————
Tupac Shakur - Changes (Featuring Talent) – 4:29

[Verse 1]
Come on come on
I see no changes wake up in the morning and I ask myself
is life worth living should I blast myself?
I’m tired of bein’ poor & even worse I’m black
my stomach hurts so I’m lookin’ for a purse to snatch
Cops give a damn about a negro
pull the trigger kill a nigga he’s a hero
Give the crack to the kids who the hell cares
one less hungry mouth on the welfare
First ship ‘em dope & let ‘em deal the brothers
give ‘em guns step back watch ‘em kill each other
It’s time to fight back that’s what Huey said
2 shots in the dark now Huey’s dead
I got love for my brother but we can never go nowhere
unless we share with each other
We gotta start makin’ changes
learn to see me as a brother instead of 2 distant strangers
and that’s how it’s supposed to be
How can the Devil take a brother if he’s close to me?
I’d love to go back to when we played as kids
but things changed, and that’s the way it is

[Chorues with changing ad libs]
Come on come on
That’s just the way it is
Things’ll never be the same
That’s just the way it is
aww yeah
[Repeat]

[Verse 2]
I see no changes all I see is racist faces
misplaced hate makes disgrace to races
We under I wonder what it takes to make this
one better place, let’s erase the wasted
Take the evil out the people they’ll be acting right
’cause mo’ black and white is smokin’ crack tonight
and only time we chill is when we kill each other
it takes skill to be real, time to heal each other
And although it seems heaven sent
We ain’t ready, to see a black President, uhh
It ain’t a secret don’t conceal the fact
the penitentiary’s packed, and it’s filled with blacks
But some things will never change
try to show another way but you stayin’ in the dope game
Now tell me what’s a mother to do
bein’ real don’t appeal to the brother in you
You gotta operate the easy way
“I made a G today” But you made it in a sleazy way
sellin’ crack to the kid. ” I gotta get paid,”
Well hey, well that’s the way it is

[Chorus]2X

[2pac Talking]
We gotta make a change…
It’s time for us as a people to start makin’ some changes.
Let’s change the way we eat, let’s change the way we live
and let’s change the way we treat each other.
You see the old way wasn’t working so it’s on us to do
what we gotta do, to survive.

[Verse 3]
And still I see no changes can’t a bother get a little peace
There’s war in the streets and war in the middle east
Instead of war on poverty they got a war on drugs
so the police can bother me
And I ain’t never did a crime I ain’t have to do
But now I’m back with the facts givin’ em back to you
Don’t let ‘em jack you up, back you up,
crack you up and pimps Smack you up
You gotta learn to hold ya own
they get jealous when they see ya with ya mobile phone
But tell the cops they can’t touch this
I don’t trust this when they try to rush I bust this
That’s the sound of my tool you say it ain’t cool
my mama didn’t raise no fool
And as long as I stay black I gotta stay strapped
& I never get to lay back
‘Cause I always got to worry ’bout the pay backs
some buck that I roughed up way back
comin’ back after all these years
rat-a-tat-tat-tat-tat that’s the way it is uhh

Chorus 2x

Some things will never change…

——————————-

lagu ini berkisah ttg keluh kesah seorang Tupac ttg isu sosial yg terjadi saat itu (di Amerika). tentang rasisme (terhadap kaum kulit hitam yg srg disebut negro), ttg kekerasan yg dilakukan oleh polisi (police brutality) - terutama kepada kriminal kulit hitam, obat2an terlarang, dan kekerasan yg dilakukan oleh geng2 di sana.

gmn sulitnya perjuangan kaum kulit hitam utk mendapatkan persamaan hak di Amerika

It’s time to fight back that’s what Huey said
2 shots in the dark now Huey’s dead

Huey di sini adalah salah satu aktivis organisasi kulit hitam, Black Panther, yg memperjuangkan persamaan hak kaum kulit hitam

This man, Huey P. Newton

dan, perhatiin deh kata2 yg gw bold, yg ada di lirik itu:

We ain’t ready, to see a black President
dan tepat 10 tahun setelah lagu ini dirilis di album Greatest Hits-nya Tupac, kita bisa lihat bahwa Amerika telah mempunyai seorang Presiden Kulit Hitam (Pertama)

Now we see that America is ready to have a Black President…

This Man, Barack Obama
and we are watching him makin’ changes
(Tupac Shakur - Barack Obama - change? is it a coincidence?)

but, some things will never change