All Eyez On Me

Introduction
In today’s society, technology has taken over as the primary source of communication. In the “wired world” that we live, people from all over the globe have the ability to access, review and interpret all different types of literature and art with the click of a mouse. Additionally, these people can discuss and debate these topics through many public discussion forums that the Internet provides. As Wolfgang Iser once said “… the meaning of the text comes alive in the reader’s imagination.” The web allows readers to show their own thoughts and learn other’s perceptions of a common text in ways that have never before been possible. Thanks to technology, you don’t have to be a professional to critique works, now every spectator can publish their opinion.



 For my project, I’ve decided to focus on one of the most widely debated musicians of all time, Tupac Shakur. Focusing on Tupac’s last al bum released during his lifetime, All Eyez On Me, and his next work, which ended up being released posthumously under the stage name Makaveli, The Don Killuminati: The 7 Day Theory,I plan on discussing online fan communities that interpret and debate the motives of these critically acclaimed albums. As BlogCritic.org author James David Dickerson puts it best, “i t may not be out of range to say that, between Martin Luther King Jr.'s passing and his own, Tupac Shakur was the most influential black leader in America.”

Since Tupac passed away, seven monthsafter the release o f All Eyez On Me and just a month after recording The Don Killuminati:  The 7 Day Theory, fans have viewed these albums as prophecy. Through interpretations of Tupac's lyrical imagery, fans have become fixated on they symbols pointing to his death in his songs.Though Tupac often discussed topics like his own death, his music had a greater purpose, attempting to change the world and make it a better place. In doing this, Tupac was able to pave the way for a new type of rap artist.The large web reflection of his music shows that Tupac's legacy has lived on, and though we may never know the truth about his death, we do know that through fan communities almost all people appreciated Tupac's work in some way.

Lifestyle
There may be no other musical artist that redefined their genre like Tupac was able to do. As said by HipHopdx.com blog commenter “PeY0tE83” said it best: “2pac was a poet if u look @ His lyrics it's just strait poetry .....Poetry is harsh its raw..Undefined at times.......but its just rawness basically...spilling your guts about anything and everything goin on in your life .......Thats all that 2pac was was he was this giant Vat of Emotion .......i think people forget that.....it's all about the music and how your able to reach people with your words....Sooo 2pac Had that part on lock down.” Instead of focusing on girls and money like most rappers, Tupac was a rebellious lyricist who never hesitated to talk about anything from politics to gang violence. Though Tupac knew he was brought up into poverty and violence, he believed that educating himself and others could help make the world better and make people like himself know how to rise from their struggles. This can be shown on the All Eyez On Me track “Trading War Stories”, in which he states, “Pardon my thug poetry, but suckers is born everyday and fear of man - grow on trees. Criminal ties for centuries, a legend in my own rhymes. So ni**az whisper when they mention. Machiavelli was my tutor Donald Goines, my father figure…” This attitude can also be shown in The Don Killuminati: The 7 Day Theory in the song “Hold Ya Head” where Tupac says, “Hope to raise my young nation. In this world of greed&nbsp Currency means nothing if you still ain't free. Money breeds jealousy.Take the game from me, I hope for better days trouble comes naturally.Running from authorities, till they capture me.”

Tupac steered away from the normal identity of the typical rap artists, and when reading comments to his music, you can tell that people respect him for this. On the comment section of the Youtube video of the All Eyez On Me song "Life Goes On", commenter "Itachi005" says: "Maybe not the best rapper but he definitely was the biggest political, inspirational, realist voice of Hip/Hop PERIOD, u can be a better rapper than him but never will u reach his level﻿ of consciousness." Tupac was able to do this and still appeal to a huge audience, with most of his songs being radio hits. Usually rebellion and making the world better is associated with the genres like rock and country, but Tupac redefined the rap artist. As "Iron Man's BFF" said in a Yahoo! Answers post about his influences: "Also his contradictory styles, being a player in one song and a supporter of women's rights in another, or against black on black violence in one song and then threatening to kill all his enemies in another was a concept that no one had really done before." Tupac didn't make music that people just like to listen and dance to, he made songs that made people think about their life and how they could change the world. Tupac wasn't in music for the money, he wanted to make a difference and this was something that rap had never seen before. Without Tupac there would be no Eminem, 50 Cent or Kanye West, who are known for speaking their mind just as Tupac always did. Tupac's legacy has lived far beyond his years and people's obsession with his death go to show he will forever be loved for this lifestyle.

Interpretive Discussions
The most common and most controversial theme of All Eyez on Me is the idea of Tupac talking about his death. This is most clearly shown through the music video for the song “I Ain’t Mad At Chu” which was released after Tupac’s death. In this fictional video, Tupac is shot in front of a building, dies in an ambulance and then is shown throughout the video as an angel, in heaven and on earth with his friend the song talks about. The music video has opened eyes, with people having all different types of interpretations, as shown in this video’s Youtube comments section. Fan’s have used this forum to spread their opinions, and one user named “JRacheal23” notes: “The weird thing is that he died almost the same way as it is in this video. I know it sounds dumb and I know you might flag this comment, but people think about it for a second. How could a man know how he will die?” Additionally, commenter “Cylence1979” adds: “In what's probably one of the most tragic ironies in music video history, the last video 2Pac filmed before his shooting death in Las Vegas opens with the rapper being gunned down as he leaves a hotel party with a friend. Reborn as an angel in a white suit, his spirit travels to heaven and hangs with Marvin Gaye, Bob Marley and Jimi Hendrix before returning to earth to watch over his surviving pal. "I Ain't Mad At Cha" is one of the most literal depictions of spiritual and personal rebirth.”

The theme of death continues on during Tupac’s next album The Don Killuminati: The 7 Day Theory with a similar music video. In the music video for the albums first single “Hail Mary” a gravestone that reads “Makaveli 1971-1996” is continually shown. In between All Eyez On Me and The Don Killuminati: The 7 Day Theory Tupac changed his stage name to Makaveli, and this gravestone gave the actual lifespan that Tupac lived. The video shows the gravestone cracking and Tupac is sitting in jail as his enemies are killed. Much like the “I Ain’t Mad At Chu” video, this video has seen much commentary on its Youtube page, which has over 17,000 posts most of which conspire about the death of Tupac. Seeing the trend in death messages, commenters on this video began making conclusions. One commenter “Minimixed” gives his imput saying: “Did anybody noticed the two guys at the end of the video laughing about the name Makaveli.. That was not why they where laughing as you can see at the end of the video, The stone is broken and it makes the words. Mak en aveli seperate. You noticed the guy that filmed this videoclip is zooming to the words aveli, wich creates the word 'ALIVE'.” Another commenter, “2pacOfficial” notes: “heres another theory why tupac is alive this video was made in 95 and at the end of the video it said makaveli 1971-1996 how the f**k did they know he was gonna die the next year?"

{C}JRacheal23 and 2pacOfficial's points are intriguing because they portray Tupac in a prophetic way, knowing exactly how and when he would die, which people actually take away from his death references. "I Ain't Mad At Chu" is able to explain the troubles that relate to Tupac and he shows his discomfort from that saying: “Don't shed a tear, cause Mama I ain't happy here.” He also shows his troubles in "Hail Mary" stating: "Institutionalized I lived my life a product made to crumble.&nbsp {C}But too hardened for a smile, we're too crazy to be humble, we balling". Death would have been the ultimate escape from these issues and these video defiantly shows Tupac’s flirtation with the idea of getting way. On the other hand Cylence1979’s post interprets this as a mere coincidence, though Tupac did believe that he would die young, he used this song as a symbol of betterment on his own problems, rather then predicting his escape from them. The song’s lyrics later say: “So many questions, and they ask me if I'm still down? I moved up out of the ghetto, so I ain't real now?” By saying this, Tupac shows that his friend has been able to leave the life of the ghetto, but Cylence1979’s belief is that this is a symbol for himself. Instead of being dead and gone, as portrayed in the video, Tupac essentially is showing his “death” from the ghetto and moving on with his life. Meanwhile Minimized brings up topics of faking death which have led to many conspiracies and fan fiction pieces that are evident all over the web.

Remediation
{C}Though the internet has some fair assessments on the lyrical content of All Eyez On Me, and The Don Killuminati: The 7 Day Theory, other people have used the web as a place to display some far fetched theories {C}about Tupac’s life and death. Plenty of blog fiction pieces have been published online, outlining wild ideas on what the author believed happened at the end of Tupac’s life based on the lyrics and themes of his music. My favorite piece comes from a man who believes Tupac is indeed alive and is entitled “PROOF Tupac Is ALIVE!!With Video!!” Written by an author name “Gemwolf”, this article begins by explaining Tupac’s motivesbehind changing his stage name to Makaveli and naming his album The Don Killuminati: The 7 Day Theory. The name Makaveli came from Italian philosopher Niccolò Machiavelli, who is believed to have faked his own death during war, only to come back seven days later at the expense of his enemies. Because of this connection “Gemwolf” used Tupac’s album to come up with the following theory:

“'''After leaving the Tyson fight on Saturday September 7, 1996 Tupac was allegedly shot 5 times. He lived through the shooting and was taken to a nearby hospital…'''

{C}Out of the 12 shots fired Suge Knught (Tupac's manager)wasn't hit once and claims he had a conversation with Pac just before the ambulance arrived,where he lived for 7 days and died at 4:03..

'''I'm sure youve heard of the 7 day theory? Which the album he just made before he died. {C}On the cover of, "The 7 Day Theory," There is a picture of Tupac crucified with five bullet holes in it. Could he be planning a resurrection?''' {C}Could the 7 day theory be about his faked death? {C}Here's why.

'''1-He was shot on September 7th.. 2-Died 7 days later.. 3-He was 25 when he "died" 2+5=7 4-Tupac's album All Eyes on Me was released on Feb.13, 1996 exactly 7 months before his death.. 5-Tupac died at 4:03 PM 4+3=7.. 6-In the Toss It Up video, he also smashes the mirror, perhaps a reference to 7 years bad luck.. 7-In Tupac's last movie Gang Related his badge number is 115,1+1+5=7.. 8-In the movie, "Gridlock'd," when Tupac and Roth are in the diner and they glance up at the menu, all the L's are upside down 7's.. 9-On the song, "White Man's World" if you listen very closely at the beginning, there is a voice in the background saying, " 7 years, 7 years, 7 years... 10-There were twelve shots fired with five hits; 12-5=7.. 11-In the, "I Wonder If Heaven Got A Ghetto," video, the girls room number is 7, and the clock in the diner says 4:03.. 12-In the intro on "The 7 Day Theory" there are six gunshots.And when Tupac starts rappin, there's a seventh.. 13-There were seven Outlawz members.." '''

Though this blog fiction piece doesn’t come off as the most well written and reliable source, it contains a lot of raw facts that seem too coincidental to not be part of some master plan. It is fairly odd that Tupac decided to name an album “The 7 Day Theory”, but never directly addresses the topic, instead leaving the listener with subliminal messages. Tupac was a very educated person, as shown through the influence of philosophy on his stage name, so if he wasn’t faking his death, he was clearly smart enough to plot a scheme such as this to get his audience thinking the crazy thoughts that fill the internet.



My personal favorite remediation of Tupac came out last month when rap icon Dr. Dre revealed a Tupac hologram at the Coachella Music Festival. The crowd had no idea that this hologram was going to perform and the performance has created a huge amount of Internet buzz. Videos of the performance have gone viral throughout the web, #TupacHologram was trending on twitter for over a week, accounts for the hologram have been made on Twitter, and rumors have spread that the hologram may go on tour.

Just like Tupac himself this hologram is revolutionary to the music industry. Because of Tupac’s influence, we may be able to see people like Michael Jackson and Jimi Hendrix and groups like the Beatles perform again. I bet that Tupac is happy knowing that this “wired world” has allowed his messages to be spread better then ever before.

Links and Resources
http://www.biography.com/people/tupac-shakur-206528

http://www.cduniverse.com/productinfo.asp?pid=4434204

http://rateyourmusic.com/release/album/makaveli/the_don_killuminati__the_7_day_theory/reviews/2

http://www.washingtonpost.com/business/technology/how-the-tupac-hologram-works/2012/04/18/gIQA1ZVyQT_story.html

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Niccolò_Machiavelli