Icon of hiphop
Talisman of the streets
A voice of dissent
His rage released
Son of Afeni Shukur
A leading Black Panther
He carried this legacy
His unique street alchemy
His mother imprisoned
Enslaved by addiction
Raised with no father
Tupac survived with vision
He went to art school
Never hardened by the street
Tupac a natural thespian
His creativity unleashed
His voice polyvalent
Its timbre so soulful
He conjured inspiration
Honing intuitive imagination
Both rough and effeminate
Both radical and retrograde
His legacy dynamic
So much power in his fame
He created with passion
A simultaneous frenzy of tracks
Redefining the hiphop game
His flow a fierce attack
I see so many signs
Wondering if he was bipolar
Sometimes creative and vivacious
Sometimes trapped in depression
His voice of rebellion
Riddled with contradiction
He resisted white supremacy
But celebrated nihilism
A courageous voice for women
The sheer beauty of ‘Dear Mama’
But he perpetrated misogyny
Convicted of sexual assault
His abdomen tattooed
The words ‘Thug Life’
But this was never his truth
He was ensnared by Suge Knight
His murder catastrophic
KIlling a giant of a generation
His rebellion assassinated
Releasing an ocean of raw devastation
His anthem ‘California Love’
His battle rap ‘Hit ‘em up’
Rebranded as Makaveli
Tupac’s album after death
Child of the Black Panthers
His legacy radical conviction
We celebrate his rebellion
Resolving its potent contradictions
art by DYLAN PETROHILOS: @dpetrohilos on IG
–BYPO PHOENIX c)2026
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