2Pac Friday
17 November 2023
This song emanates from the roots of 2Pac’s career. Not only is it from the his debut album, 2Pacaplypse Now, but it also has a Digital Underground influence (the group that played a big role in helping launch 2Pac’s career) as Raw Fusion, which includes Money-B of Digital Underground, helped produce this track along with Pee-Wee, long-associated with Digital Underground.
This song has both a particularized as well as universal appeal and meaning, I believe.
On the particular level, the song is specifically about racism and police brutality. The song opens with friends calling 2Pac about particular incidents they experienced before 2Pac rapping about the topic and specific examples in greater detail, along with Pogo, who is featured on this track. The song ends with the antithesis of shoutouts, where 2Pac gives a “fuck-off” list of those he finds to be the biggest culprits in these injustices. So the core message of the song is quite clear and delivered in no uncertain terms.
The song’s structure of setting up and delivering a clear message using clear examples is very indicative of this album, where 2Pac’s messages are rooted in the specific. In a way, even know this is 2Pac’s debut album, it could possibly be his most intellectual.
In a larger, broader sense, in addition to the narrator being fed up with the above injustices, the song appeals to a larger audience beyond those with such shared experiences who simply vision themselves as rebels or “not giving a fuck.” So I think the song’s title—”I Don’t Give a Fuck” branches out to provide a larger, more universal appeal.
It also sets the stage for who 2Pac intends to be on the public stage—someone who doesn’t care what other people think about him, someone who is going to say what is on his mind, someone who is not going to censor himself or keep his mouth closed. In short, this song announces that he is a rebel.
2Pac certainly delivers on this promise.
And he is still speaking to us today, every Friday, in these 2Pac Fridays.
And if you don’t like 2Pac or 2Pac Fridays, well, we’ll just have to respond to your ignorance with the title of this week’s featured track. We don’t need your validation for 2Pac’s greatness.