A Rapper and a Poet?

And 2Morrow Today is filled with anger fueled with hidden hate scared of being outcast afraid of common fate Today is built on tragedies which no one wants 2 face nightmares 2 humanities and morally disgraced Tonight is filled with rage violence in the air children bred with ruthlessness because no one at home cares Tonight I lay my head down but the pressure never stops knawing at my sanity content when I am dropped But 2morrow I c change a chance 2 build a new Built on spirit intent of Heart and ideals based on truth and tomorrow I wake with second wind and strong because of pride 2 know I fought with all my heart 2 keep my dream alive  Tupac Shakur  I find this poem to be very interesting, coming from such a controversial rapper as Tupac.  I did not know he had published poetry until I was reading an article from the NY Times and happened upon this information.  It is not surprising that a rapper would write poetry, but what is surprising maybe, is that he recognized the problems of his society, of his day, that these issues apparently worried him.  It is easy to think of rappers as mere thugs, to assume that they live a life of mere ignorance and luxury.  I think that works such as this can serve to remind us of humanity, and that we are indeed all dynamic, we must remind ourselves of this before we pass judgement on our human brothers and sisters based on the image we think we know of people.