Some Say the Blacker the Berry the Sweeter the Juice

"...I say the darker the flesh, the deeper the roots."  Does anyone else get chills when they hear 2Pac deliver these words in his rap classic "Keep Ya Head Up?"  I do.  I'm serious, I do...the kind of chills that raise the hairs on your arms.

This week we celebrate 2 events that inarguably (IMHO) are 2 of the most influential occurrences to happen to Black Americans. The birth of TuPac Shakur and the realization by the enslaved, and the delivery of the news on June 19th 1865, that slavery had been abolished. This is what is commonly referred to as Juneteenth. 

My thoughts on 2Pac are bittersweet.  He was my leader, my friend, my teacher.  Before he began going on beat induced rants to the hater of the moment, he was intelligent on the mic, deep, with a clear understanding about social justice and various issues concerning racism and equality.  And who am I kidding, I thought he was smart and deep and clear, when he was saying things like, "I F*d your B you Fat MF."  Come on I was an angry kid once, too.

2Pac and I even met once, granted this is my reality and it was in a dream, but this was one of the most vivid dreams I ever had.  This man was running at marathon speed on a treadmill, while watching the news, and smoking a Newport, in a home we shared. His very existence was an uncomfortable oxymoron; still makes me smile.

Here is a thought....If 2Pac lived in the days of the Civil War, I think that we might not have had the 2 year delay in receiving the information that slavery had been abolished when Lincoln signed the Emancipation  Proclamation in 1863.  I mean Black people had no idea for 2.5 years that slavery had been outlawed.  Sickening.

2Pac would have spit that ish over a dope Dre beat and in a matter of a week slaves would have C-Walking off the plantation. 

That's the way I see it.

I miss you 2Pac.

"Keep Ya Head Up"

2Pac