Permissions beyond the scope of this license may be available at /’s Mother’s Day! So it’s only right that this week’s #CultreClassic shows love to all the moms out there with hip-hop’s most classic ode to mom, “ Dear Mama” by 2Pac. Voices Across Time is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License. In 2010, 'Dear Mama' became the third rap song to be included to the Library of Congress's National Recording Registry. Tupac raps the verses and the chorus is sung by Reggie Green and Sweet Franklin. 'Dear Mama' samples two songs: the slow and reflective 'In All My Wildest Dreams' (1978), by pianist, composer, and jazz artist Joe Sample, and 'Sadie' (1974), a song in memory of mothers by the R&B group the Spinners.

Tupac addresses the struggles that his mother faced and admires how she cared for him and his sister throughout it all. 'Dear Mama' is an autobiographical song and a tribute to his mother. Shakur died in 1996 at the age of twenty-five when he was shot while in a car at a stoplight in Las Vegas, Nevada. Before his career took off, he made ends meet by selling drugs, a part of his life addressed in many of his songs. Tupac attended the Baltimore School of the Performing Arts before leaving home at age seventeen and moving to Oakland, California. In 1986 she moved the family to Baltimore, Maryland, in search of better job opportunities. His father left the family when Tupac was five, after which his mother, Afeni Shakur, worked hard as a single parent to raise him and his half-sister in the face of many difficulties, including drug addiction and poverty. Tupac Shakur was born in Brooklyn, New York, in 1971. Rights have not been secured to reprint the words for this song. The official video may be viewed on YouTube. Available on iTunes, Spotify, and YouTube.įor more information on Tupak Shakur, visit his official website. 'Dear Mama' recorded by Tupac Shakur on Greatest Hits, © 1998. Listen to 'In All My Wildest Dreams' and 'Sadie.' Do you think Tupac sampled these songs for any particular reasons? What does Tupac do now, as an adult, to show his mother his gratitude? According to the lyrics, what challenges did Tupac and his family face when he was growing up?Īccording to the lyrics, how did Tupac's mother help him deal with these challenges? Why do you think Tupac wrote the song like this?

With the title 'Dear Mama,' the song takes the form of a letter.

Youtube 2pac dear mama