Hartz 1 Scott Hartz Eng. 270 Dr.

Guzzio The Acceptance of Death and the Fight with God: Tupac, Immortal Technique, and Traditional African American Music

If we look into the lyrics of traditional African American songs and compare them to the lyrics of music by contemporary African Americans and other nonwhites we can find similarities in their subject matter and the treatment of the African condition. Lyrics from "Soon I Will be Done," an old African American spiritual song, have similarities to Tupac Shakur's poem "In the Event of My Demise". Contemporary Hispanic rapper Immortal Technique employs ideas about God similar to those used in the African American gospel song "Freedom in the Air." These works and others hold similar ideas about God, oppression of blacks, and the divide between people of different color. By drawing these comparisons we can see that the struggle for equality between people is still ongoing, despite years of reform and attempted mending. "Soon I Will Be Done (With the Troubles of the World)" is an African American spiritual song. The speaker repeats many times that their "troubles" will soon end. We can infer that the writer has become so worn by their trials that they have grown comfortable with the idea of death ("I want t' meet my Jesus, I'm goin' to live with God"(17-18). The speaker welcomes death because it provides a relief from "the troubles of the world." Tupac Shakur evokes a similar sense of accepting death in his prescient poem "In the Event of My Demise" when he states that he has

Hartz 2 "come 2 [sic] grips with the possibility [of death] and wiped the last tear from [his]eyes." Shakur feels that he will "die before [his] time because [he] feels the shadows depth." Although I cannot find the date that Tupac's poem was written, it proved to be prophetic because he was tragically murdered not long after it was written. Both lyrics reveal an acceptance of death, and in one case it is even welcomed because of the speaker's "troubles." These ideas about death and embracing God are further explored in other songs by people of non-white ethnicity. The African American gospel song "Freedom in the Air" concludes that "there must be a God somewhere (23)". The speaker's idea that there is "freedom in the air over [their] head" indicates a questioning hope from God for relief from earthbound suffering. Hispanic rapper Immortal Technique (Felipe Andres Coronel) states in his song "Internally Bleeding" that he "was chosen to speak the words of every African slave" thereby placing himself in a position to win some kind of retribution for those souls who were "[d]umped in the ocean/ stolen by America" by rapping about their former and current oppression. In his own internal conflict with God, Andres Coronel says that "[his] mother told [him] that placing [his] faith in God was the answer" but then replies with the assertion that "then[he] hated God 'cause he gave [his] mother cancer"(citation needed), thus questioning his own trust in God because of his mother's illness. Both works present a torn image of God as both savior and antagonist because of His power to give, take, and influence people's lives. Although they do not explicitly state that their problems stem from their ethnicities, the voices, in this case, come from Black and Hispanic people.

Hartz 3 In "Internally Bleeding" Andres Coronel also reaffirms the prevalence of death in his life by stating plainly that "the things [he has] seen in life will make you choke by surprise" and that "death is another part of life" (citation needed). This connects to the acceptance of death in both Tupac Shakur's "In the Event of My Demise" and "Soon I Will Be Done." Andres Coronel further explores his feelings of impending death as he raps "[t]hese are my last words, I'm having difficulty breathing/Dying on the inside, internally bleeding/ Angel of death dragging me away while I'm sleeping/ Watching my world crumble in front of me, searching for meaning" (citation needed). It is sad to look here at these recurring themes of accepting death in works that span time and include two different ethnic groups (in this case, African American and Hispanic). They point to a need for change in the treatment of people who don't have the privilege of being white, and it is even worse that being white today may still give someone an advantage over someone who isn't white. It is appropriate for the songs of any human to include themes of death and sadness, but why is it so prevalent in the strains of African American tunes? We should all work to give people something happy to sing about, especially those who have a history in our country as slaves. Songs about death and sadness will never disappear, but we can at least endeavor to give people more reason to move away from songs about forthcoming death and divide between men; let us work rather to give each other songs to sing of co-existing life and brotherhood. As John Lennon wrote in his famously hopeful song "Imagine": "Imagine no possessions/ I wonder if

Hartz 4 you can/ No need for greed or hunger/ A brotherhood of man/ Imagine all the people/ Sharing all the world" (citation needed).