Tupac and The Black Single Mother

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.