When I think of Dr. Martian Luther King Jr. and Tupac Shakur, at first I did not think that they had any thing in common until I began to look deeper into both of their background. Both men were icons in their respected time and era. Dr. King, who was an initiator of the 1960's civil rights movement, was an icon for that time. Tupac Shakur who had an unconventional way of conveying his message through rap music was part of a hip-hop movement, was an icon for that time. Both Dr. King through oration and Shakur through rap had some of the same messages African American racial issues, the black community empowerment, and African American self-love. Shakur became the voice for the today's youth and Dr. King message is still resonate. Both obtained wealth Dr. King through his lectures, speeches and sermons and Shakur through his music.
             Both Dr. King and Shakur were advocates for justice and can both be deemed as self-help gurus. In Shakur's song "Changes" he rapped about the racial inequality that still exist in the black community, police brutality, governmental neglect in the black community and drugs and how as a nation we have to start making chances. Dr. King was also determined to improve the quality of life for African Americans. It is of my opinion that both men were liberals, in Dr. King's, "I Have A Dream Speech" he said, "One hundred years later, the life of the Negro is still sadly crippled by the manacles of segregation and the chains of discrimination. One hundred years later the Negro lives on a lonely island of poverty in the midst of a vast ocean of material prosperity." In Shakur's Changes he raps "And still I see no changes, can't a brother get a little peace? There's a war on the streets and the war in the Middle East instead of a war on poverty"
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