Dear Hip Hop:

This past week marked the tenth year since Tupac Shakur passed away.  We guess that this news was too much for you to bear since, soon after, you fell into a coma and haven't awaken yet.  From our understanding, those in comas or near death have a foot in the afterlife.  If this is so, have you spoken to Pac?  What is he like?  What are his regrets?  What does he think about the state of Hip Hop?

There are so many questions that Tupac's fans would love to have answered.  Tupac is remembered as a very intelligent and cultured man who was able to express his thoughts literally and vocally at an extremely high level.  On the other hand, people question why such a thoughtful person would put  himself into so many mindless situations, which ultimately lead to his death.

Many have criticized Tupac’s music for its supposed contradictory messages: praising single mother’s in one song and chastising gold diggers in the next. We, however, argue that Tupac’s opposing views were not contradictory, but rather a clear depiction of the extreme spectrum of people and experiences one is exposed to living in inner-city neighborhoods.

The fact of the matter is that immersed in a one-mile radius, in any inner-city neighborhood, lies women who are prostitutes, gold-diggers, teenage mothers, and drug addicts.  However, there are also women who are college students, single mothers holding down two jobs, and professionals.  Likewise, this same neighborhood would have men who are drug dealers, gang members, and ex-convicts, but it would also have men who are blue-collar workers, activists, and professionals.

New School rappers often paint this sensationalized picture of inner-city neighborhoods where there is far more money made from drug dealing than is economically feasible, there are no strong mothers, fathers, guardians or positive role models, and there are no law abiding citizens who would rather work several low-wage jobs than sells drugs, rob, and steal. In reality, Tupac’s music addressed the entire gamut of experiences in urban communities: the good, the bad, and the ugly.

Since you may have actually spoken to Tupac since his death, maybe you can someday answer some of  the most common question on the minds of his fans:

Would people around the world still claim to love his music and regard him as one of the greatest rappers of all time, or would the New School call him a washed up hater?

Would he have been in a beef with 50 Cent, or would he have been the New School’s version of Afrika Bambaata and preached Hip Hop unity?

Would the Baltimore native have totally focused on acting like Will Smith and played the role of Avon Barksdale in “The Wire,” or would his music career have spanned several generations of fans like LL Cool J?

Would he have been a critic of the commercialization of Hip Hop, or would he have jumped from bandwagon to bandwagon, supporting the next fad in rap?

Would he have joined Puffy’s “Vote or Die” campaign, or would he have denounced African Americans' support of politics?

Would west coast Hip Hop and Death Row Records still reign supreme, or would he have started his own label and worked with Dr. Dre and east coast artists?

 Would he have squashed his beefs would Jay-Z, Nas, and Mobb Deep, or would he have started new beefs with DMX and Ja Rule for biting his style?

Would he speak to at-risk youth, or would he glorify the Thug Life mentality like the majority of new school rappers.

Would he have married and had kids, or would he still be "Gettin' Around?"

 Would he have called out all of these talent-less New School rappers, or would he have “dumbed down” his lyrics in order to appeal to young rap fans?

Would he call out BET for its counterproductive programming, or would he be jumping around on “106 & Park” and “Access Granted?”

Would Biggie still be alive, and if so, would they have squashed their beef and made music together?

Would Pac have dropped his thug image, or would he have been murdered for some other senseless reason?

Here's hoping that someday you awake from your coma a can answer the questions in this diary.

Old School Tribune: An Urban Archives Publication

Hip Hop has been in an induced coma since 1996.  This is our open diary to Hip Hop; hoping that one day he will awaken and can catch up on all that he has missed.