TUPAC - CHANGES (That's just the way it is)

[UdoKier]

Song: Changes

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 and 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 crack to the kids who the hell cares
one less ugly 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


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


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 both 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




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.

And still I see no changes can't a brother get a little peace
It's war on the streets & the 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 blacks givin' it back to you
Don't let 'em jack you up, back you up,
crack you up and pimp 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

[yardwork]

1. I seem to remember Rush Limbaugh saying mean things about Tupac

Oh yeah. Rush accused Tupac of being a drug addict.

[ghostsofgiants]

2. Never liked Tupac, but that song was pretty decent.

Might be the Bruce Hornsby sample, haha.

[sonicx]

3. sampling gets a bad rap, but...

most of my favorite rap songs sample.

[UdoKier]

4. I wouldn't call myself a fan, but this song changed my view of him.

I used to see him on MTV with is "Thug Life" tattoos, surrounded by "ho's" and thought he was nothing more than a hood.

After his death, I was shocked to listen to the lyrics of this song (certainly prophetic.

I saw the recent documentary about him, and it was fascinating to learn about his Black Panther mom, Afeni Shakur, how he survived growing up with a crack-addicted mom in the projects in Oakland and got together with Digital Underground (Humpty Hump), and eventually made a solo career for himself.

Again, I'm not exactly a fan, but I find him to be a fascinating person, and the lyrics of this particular track, sample notwithstanding, really spoke to me.

[Champ]

5. Very true, that is the way it is

Not many know what it is like to grow up poor on the bad side of town, but we are so quick to judge and call them monsters when they do something wrong. The graduation rates in the public schools in many inner cities are incredibly low, they get very low funding. I've heard stories of 30 students in a single class and 5 textbooks. I agree with what Bush said but we need to ask himself the question, Is our children learning? Changes have obviously got to made, hence the song title. Many resort to stealing and selling stolen merchandise and drugs, given not what is right or wrong but what is easier, would you rather sell drugs and stolen stuff or work your ass off 5 days a week for little pay, many in the inner cities can't find a good job because of lack of skills which an underfunded public system is to blame. Every try walking down a bad neighborhood where no one recognizes you? That is scary shit, people who live there fear for their life every single day. Look at Ron Artest for example, grew up in Queensbridge, New York. Imagine being raised with that mentality and then look at how Artest reacted. It is so easy to say what Artest should've done, but we aren't fired up. We are rational when deciding on how Artest reacted and then seeing several of your teamates getting attacked by fans, I would really want to know what was going through Artest's mind at the time. From the push all the way to the time when he had a beer thrown on him.

On edit: This is a cancer on our society and will be for years to come unless some serious changes start being made. From the documentary, Tupac in interviews stated that he just reports what he sees in the inner cities and hopes he would spark public reaction that would lead to changes, just like the vietnam war. If the images of the war that the American people saw caused WIDESPREAD public reaction. If the media would show everything that is going on in Iraq, the stuff the public NEVER sees George Bush wouldn't of got at the most 40 million votes. Damn I wish Kerry won. I hate it.

[UdoKier]

8. Unfortunately, people like Tupac have been replaced by bling-bling hacks

...who have nothing to say except how long they will bang their ho, and how many rocks they got on their fingers.

I didn't like a lot of gangsta rap, but the consumerist swill coming out now is worse.

[Champ]

9. I'm with you

Only listen to a little bit of Snoop but I consider him part of the bling, cars, hoes rap genre. He is an excellent lyricist but hardly states something that can move you the way some of the pioneers of rap have. One of the last great rappers out there is Eminem, a lyrical mastermind, he can say something that makes you think. Just can't stand any song released by his alter-ego Slim Shady, those just annoy me.

[mark414]

6. i really miss tupac

real real bad

he could say it like no one else

RIP pac

[laheina]

7. Me too.

While I didn't like some of his songs others were/are very poignant. This one in particular was one of my faves.

[Champ]

10. Tupac's best besides this one

"Life goes on"

"Dear Mama,"

"Keep Ya Head Up,"

"Brenda's Got a Baby,"

"Can U Get Away,"

"I Ain't Mad at Cha,"

This is a fave of mine, I might as well dedicate it to my g/f

-Unconditional Love-
It'll last for all these crazy days
These crazy nights
Whether you wrong or you right
I'm a still love you
Still feel you
Still there for you
No matter what (hehe)
You will always be in my heart
With unconditional love
Verse One:
Come listen to my truest thoughts, my truest feelings
All my peers doing years beyond drug dealing
How many caskets can we witness
Before we see it's hard to live
This life without God, so we must ask forgiveness
Ask mama why God deserved to die
Witness the tears falling free from my eyes
Before she could reply
Though we were born without a silver spoon
My broken down TV, show cartoons in my living room (hey)
One day I hope to make it
A player in this game
Mama don't cry, long as we try
Maybe things change
Perhaps it's just a fantasy
A life where we don't need no welfare
Shit with our whole family
Maybe it's me that caused it
The fighting and the hurting
In my room crying cause I didn't want to be a burden
Watch mama open up her arms to hugging
And I ain't worried bout a damn thang, with unconditionl love

http://display.lyrics.astraweb.com:2000/display.cgi?2pac..2pac_greatest_hits..unconditional_love