“Dear Mama” was the lead track from Me Against the World (1995), one of Tupac’s most celebrated albums. He could share the pain and the loss and the love and the undeniable connection that you have to your mother, no matter what’s going on.” The Success of “Dear Mama” “I marvel at his ability to be in a situation where he could reveal that about his mother. “When I heard ‘Dear Mama,’ it gave me a rush of emotions it still does when I hear it,” Pinkett said. In the song, Shakur also discusses the lack of a father figure during his childhood and the fact that he and his younger sister wrongly blamed Afeni for his absence, writing: “No love from my daddy cause the coward wasn’t there / He passed away and I didn’t cry, cause my anger wouldn’t let me feel for a stranger.”Īfter writing it, he shared the lyrics with his longtime friend Jada Pinkett, whose mother had also struggled with drug addiction, according to the 2008 book Tupac Remembered: Bearing Witness to a Life and Legacy. Is to show you that I understand: you are appreciated. There’s no way I can pay you back, but the plan In part of the song, he raps: Even as a crack fiend, Mamaįor a woman it ain’t easy tryin’ to raise a manĪ poor single mother on welfare, tell me how you did it Moved by everything his mother had overcome in her life, Tupac started to write “Dear Mama,” in which he described living in poverty as a child, his mother’s drug habit, their estrangement, and their eventual reconciliation. She and Tupac reconciled, and they remained close until his death in September 1996. “I thought, ‘What am I doing?’”Īfeni became determined to break her drug habit, which she finally did after moving back to New York City in 1991 and attending Narcotics Anonymous meetings. “I didn’t know what was happening to my son,” she said. As Tupac first began to achieve success as a rapper, Afeni was unaware of his career until friends told her. Getty Imagesīy 1989, Afeni and her children were living in California, and Tupac left home because he was “tired of watching his mother wither away,” according to People. Tupac Shakur at the 1994 Source Awards on April 25 in New York City. The family had to move often, living off welfare because she could not keep a job, according to Vanity Fair. Raising Tupac and his half-sister alone, Afeni worked as a paralegal before falling into a crack cocaine addiction in the early 1980s. Tupac’s father, Billy Garland, lost contact with Afeni when Tupac was 5, and Tupac would not see him again until he was 23. The Washington Post wrote that Afeni “demolished” the case, and the Panther 21 were acquitted in May 1971. Her cross-examination revealed that undercover police officers who had infiltrated the Black Panther Party had not actually witnessed any criminal activity. During her trial, Afeni represented herself, interviewing several witnesses on the stand. She was the first for whom the Black Panther Party raised bail so that she could help raise more money to have the others released. The youngest of the group at age 22, Afeni faced a possible 300-year sentence if convicted. She was part of the Panther 21, a group of 21 Black Panther members arrested in 1969 for allegedly planning coordinated bombings and rifle attacks on police stations and offices in New York City. Afeni Shakur was a political activist and member of the Black Panther Party before her son Tupac was born.
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