Tupac's "My Block" Analysis

In Tupac's "On My Block" the rapper narrates the mounting racist violence, drug trade and corrupt system that dominates  the everyday of his neighborhood, and how that environment led him to engage in criminal activities and consequently, impact his personality. By reminiscing on his mistakes and highlighting the corruption of the law against the African American community, Tupac is indirectly warning the next generation of not repeating the same mistakes as him and is calling for conscience on the unfairness of the system is as it is trivially inescapable. The theme is justified in the first stanza as Tupac claims "the only time they notice a nigga is when he's clutching on a four-five". This is commenting on police violence against African-Americans and how they are insignificant under the eyes of the law unless they pose a threat to society. In context to the theme, this is causing the reader to question his own prejudice against the affected community and is also accentuating how tough thriving is for those impacted by this injustice due to racist biases. Furthermore, the use of slang in "nigga" creates a division in the audience as it may exclude those who aren't part of the African-American community. Consequently, this causes those who are part of it to connect more personally to the conveyed message and stir their frustration against the body of authority. Tupac continues to stress the inescapability of the drug world as "the system's suicidal with this Thug's Life, staying strapped forever trapped in this drug life". The use of imagery causes the reader to feel how cornered the African-American community is when it comes to making a choice– to either be financially secured by drugs or starve under a racist welfare system. In turn, this highlights how the justice system pushes African-Americans into this corrupt system and thus how hypocritical it is that that same system discriminates them. Lastly, Tupac reflects on the fact that "[he] hit the green to maintain" yet he "[feels] pain for all the niggas that I lost to the game". The near undervaluation of money as just "the green" compared directly against the consequence it brings (death) causes the reader to reflect on the true worth of money, and if the means justifies the end. By stirring this reflection amongst the readers, Tupac is indirectly making a call for action because by the end of the song, it becomes clear that his stance is of regret. He doesn't want others to repeat his mistakes because human lives are not equal in worth to dirty money and all that it entails. Thus, Tupac, by touching upon topics of racism, violence, drug trade and abuse and its consequences on communities is taking a reprimanding stance against the system that serves as a fertilizer for all the aforesaid to thrive. Because overall Tupac is reflecting on his experience encountering these concepts, he consequently is calling for the audience to reflect on their own decisions and calls for them to be aware of how inescapable it can be once one gets involved in it. He is taking a stance to being an end to be violence that seeped into his block.