Tupac did join communist orgs though. The rappers who are more explicitly ideological aren't Beyonce level entertainment stars. It's the platform and the messaging that was the problem. Fred Hampton was 5 years younger than Tupac when he was murdered by the police (in an era before rap music). Tupac was on his way to becoming a mega star next to people like Michael Jackson (which would make him much harder to touch at that point). That's a serious platform.
Tupacs communist league membership card: https://www.tiktok.com/t/ZT8MMwjXo/
To add to what you said, Tupac was also getting into acting, which shouldn't be surprising since he was a theatre kid at high school. Lucas apparently wanted Tupac to be Mace Windu and Samuel L Jackson only got the role because Tupac got murdered.
The dude was super talented and was sufficiently radicalized that the feds would want him dead. The combination of having star power and respect from OGs was a potent combination.
Again, he may have been a communist but it was never part of his image. But I agree with you that he would’ve received a very large platform, and perhaps he was waiting until he did before he spoke about communism more openly.
I'm extremely confident that was the plan. The dude openly talked about all of those values and wasn't in it for the money. His image was crafted so he would be heard by a specific audience. He was raised by multiple panther leaders (high ranking leaders too) from the good panther era.
Preaching values without labeling them as communist seems like it could be a good strategy tbh, especially if they are concerned about being targeted. Someone can still be actively pursuing ideological goals without saying "communism". I imagine throwing an audience into the deep end isn't as effective as moving gradually.
The video of him where he mentions owning and reading a book by Stalin just screams someone playing down how committed they are. It felt like he was pretending to forget Stalin's name and letting someone else say it for him. I find it very sus that someone who owns and reads theory wouldn't be able to remember the name "Stalin" lol
Tupac did join communist orgs though. The rappers who are more explicitly ideological aren't Beyonce level entertainment stars. It's the platform and the messaging that was the problem. Fred Hampton was 5 years younger than Tupac when he was murdered by the police (in an era before rap music). Tupac was on his way to becoming a mega star next to people like Michael Jackson (which would make him much harder to touch at that point). That's a serious platform.
Tupacs communist league membership card: https://www.tiktok.com/t/ZT8MMwjXo/
To add to what you said, Tupac was also getting into acting, which shouldn't be surprising since he was a theatre kid at high school. Lucas apparently wanted Tupac to be Mace Windu and Samuel L Jackson only got the role because Tupac got murdered.
The dude was super talented and was sufficiently radicalized that the feds would want him dead. The combination of having star power and respect from OGs was a potent combination.
Again, he may have been a communist but it was never part of his image. But I agree with you that he would’ve received a very large platform, and perhaps he was waiting until he did before he spoke about communism more openly.
I'm extremely confident that was the plan. The dude openly talked about all of those values and wasn't in it for the money. His image was crafted so he would be heard by a specific audience. He was raised by multiple panther leaders (high ranking leaders too) from the good panther era.
Preaching values without labeling them as communist seems like it could be a good strategy tbh, especially if they are concerned about being targeted. Someone can still be actively pursuing ideological goals without saying "communism". I imagine throwing an audience into the deep end isn't as effective as moving gradually.
The video of him where he mentions owning and reading a book by Stalin just screams someone playing down how committed they are. It felt like he was pretending to forget Stalin's name and letting someone else say it for him. I find it very sus that someone who owns and reads theory wouldn't be able to remember the name "Stalin" lol