For my research paper
in English 102 I needed to select a cultural artifact, such as a movie,
television program, or a song and identify a myth pertaining to social
identity. The artifact that I have chosen to do this research paper on is the
song “Dear Mama” by Tupac. The song “Dear Mama” from Tupac’s album Me
Against the World depicts the struggles of the single black mother. The
song also addresses his attempt as a young black man to escape poverty and cope
with the lack of a father in his life. I will be analyzing different aspects of
the artifact and how they relate to social identity.
The aspects of the
artifact that I will be analyzing are the lyrics, music video and the album art.
The lyrics Tupac uses in his song paint a picture of the black single mother
and her struggles. Race is obviously an aspect of the stereotypical black
single mother. Another social aspect of the black single mother is class. The
class of the single mother as described by Tupac is the lower class. Despite
the fact that she works hard to try and support her family she also needs
welfare in order to get by. This is evidence by his quote “a poor single mother
on welfare tell me how you did it”. Another aspect of social identity of the
black single mother that the song addresses is gender. The black single mother
is gendered as both feminine and masculine because as well as being her
children’s mother she also has to be their father in a way.
One of the sources I
found for my research paper is “A
Homegrown Revoultionary”?: Tupac Shakur and the Legacy of the Black Panther
Party by Kara Keeling. This journal article is about Tupac’s mothers
involvement in the Black Panther Party. The Black Panther party is a black
militant organization. Just one month befor Tupac was born his mother Afeni
Shakur was acquitted of charges that she was involved in a Black Panther plot
to bomb public places in New York City.
The article mentions how Afeni Shakur struggled with drug addiction like
other former members of the Black Panther Party.
Another Source that I
found is Tupac Shakur: Understanding the
Identity formation of Hyper-Masculinity of a Popular Hip-Hop Artist by
Derek Iwamoto. Iwamoto discussed the hyper-masculine violent image of Tupac and
other rappers of the time. Iwamoto
mentions that in Tupac’s songs “Keep Ya Head Up” and “Dear Mama” he acknowledges
his mother’s love and tenderness as well as her commitment to raise him right.
Iwamoto also states that “Tupac knew that the stigmatization and preconceived
notions about people on welfare are generally based on myth”. According to Iwamoto
mothers on welfare are subjected to the “stereotype of the lazy, careless (black)
welfare queen. Tupac knew this was not the case as he watched his mother work
hard and struggle to get by. His mother needed the additional assistance
because she could not get by without it.
In my paper I am going
to take what Iwamoto said about the Welfare Queen stereotype and apply it to
the lyrics of the song “Dear Mama”. This stereotype is related to the social
identity aspects of race, class, and gender. In this stereotype the welfare
queen is assumed to be black. The welfare queen is perceived to be a member of
the lower class. The social identity of gender is also deeply entrenched in the
myth of the welfare queen because in order to be a queen one must be female.
