In light of the Tupac megathread. Somebody had posted some excerpts from Tyson's autobiography on tw*tter recently. Tyson is a complex dude.
Also, highly recommend this mix of songs sampled in Tupac tracks https://www.nts.live/shows/sameed/episodes/sameed-2pac-samples-14th-may-2019
He did seem to have a sincere interest in revolutionary politics, at least for a little while. He's a fucked up guy, tons of demons. Maybe I give him too much credit but he always seemed like a smart and somewhat sweet guy who shot from utter poverty/gang life to superstardom, and everyone around him encouraged and enabled his worst attributes and his addictions. He's such a product of 70s-80s america, I feel like you can get an understanding for that era just by looking at his life.
He could have good political views while being a terrible person. People are complicated and don't make sense a lot of the time.
The person who accused him was likely an FBI informant, he was only charged with touching her butt. I don't know where you got you're ideas about him, but he was the son of an incredibly influential Black Panther and he was relentlessly involved in Communist organizations. You're right that he played up his "thug" image though. Do you think he cared what white suburbians thought of him? I'll leave John Potash here if you care about actually understanding anything about Tupac.
He's hardly the first person to discover revolutionary theory in prison, but yeah he was in prison for being a piece of shit not for doing something cool.
It was a FBI/CIA op, they tried but in the end only got him for touching a womans butt. The woman in question had consentual sex multiple times with Tupac. Tupac thinks he was drugged by her and an associate.
they got money for war, but they can’t feed the poor
Vladimir Lenin, Imperialism, the Highest Stage of Capitalism
Also Mike Tyson:
"I was gonna rip his heart out. I'm the best ever. I'm the most brutal and vicious, the most ruthless champion there has ever been. No one can stop me. Lennox is a conqueror? No! He's no Alexander! I'm Alexander! I'm the best ever. I'm Sonny Liston. I'm Jack Dempsey. There's never been anyone like me. I'm from their cloth. There is no one who can match me. My style is impetuous, my defense is impregnable, and I'm just ferocious. I want his heart! I want to eat his children! Praise be to Allah!"
