Not 2 Shocking: Looking for the Next Tupac Shakur by Brian Moshe brianmoshe@gmail.com

This September will mark the tenth anniversary of the death of Tupac Shakur. As with many artists' untimely deaths, speculation began as to the legacy he would leave behind, as well as who would fill his shoes. Would he be remembered as an iconic figure or would his relevance fade as time passed, only to be replaced by the latest hot artist? Ten years have elapsed, and Shakur's legacy speaks for itself. In the current climate of mainstream club hits and underground "conscious" hip hop, music fans and record labels alike are looking for their next Tupac Shakur, but duplicating his impact will be very difficult – but not without people trying their best.

Since Shakur passed, people have scrambled to find the next Tupac. Record labels have pushed artists, with violent messages and storylines, in hopes of replicating Shakur's "realness" and controversial demeanor. Young Jeezy's drug dealing persona is augmented by his not so subtle snowman logo, 50 Cent flaunts being shot nine times, and bulletproof vests have become just as prevalent in music videos as Timberlands or Adidias. The long running Hip Hop tradition of competitive beef, which, for a moment, had been seen as unfashionable in the wake of the violent demises of Shakur and Notorious B.I.G., has returned to the forefront of Hip Hop in recent years to such an extreme that a diss record is just as mandatory as a music video for record promotion. Whether these images and messages are justified or socially responsible is beside the point – what is obvious, as evident by the commercial success of rappers such as 50 Cent and Young Jeezy, is that the conventional wisdom is "controversy sells." But is it really controversial?

It's 2006 - fourteen years since the government was in a frenzy over Ice T's "Cop Killer" and seventeen years since 2 Live Crew's album "As Nasty As They Wanna Be". NWA released "Fuck Tha Police" and Public Enemy released 'It Takes a Nation of Millions to Hold Us Back" in 1988. Those were controversial artists. Those were controversial records. At what point does violent lyrics and social commentary change from controversial to the norm? Have any rappers, being presented as the next Tupac Shakur, said anything truly controversial since Shakur's passing, or has the public simply accepted the notion that if a song contains gun talk and profanity, it is considered controversial?

The record labels and a large majority of artists and listeners are missing the boat if they are looking for/wanting to become the next 'pac. The violent side of Shakur was merely one aspect of his personality. And it wasn't the violence that made Shakur controversial – it was the complexity of his character which made him controversial. He was a child of a Black Panther, and, with that lineage, brought messages to his music. While he released party singles, like "I Get Around" or "California Love," he also released singles like "Brenda's Got A Baby," "Keep Ya Head Up," and, his posthumous single, "Changes." These are the types of songs that made Shakur great. Those were the songs that put him a step above his contemporaries, and the reason he continues to remain relevant in Hip Hop. It seems that this is what record labels forget about when looking for the "next Tupac Shakur," and many rappers seem to forget about when they aspire to follow in his footsteps, as one of the nicest to hold a mic.

In a time of Hip Hop where image and production trumps talent and content, is it even possible for a "next Tupac Shakur" to emerge? The easy answer is - no. There will never be another Tupac Shakur, just as there will never be another Michael Jordan, Marvin Gaye, John Lennon, Miles Davis, and so on. But there will be a <insert your name here>. Despite the fact that mainstream hip hop continues to be infatuated with materialism and image, the explosion of hip hop culture on the internet and in coffee houses and clubs across the globe, there are more and more aspiring artists with something to say with plenty of avenues to display their art. And, as long that that is the case, its only a matter of time before hip hop finds its next icon.

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