10 years already?

This post has nothing to do with Michigan football even though it is Notre Dame week. Instead I wanted to discuss the 10 year anniversary of Tupac Shakur's death. I couldn't believe when I heard on the radio that it was already 10 years since he had been killed. I still remember I was in my living room watching TV when MTV announced that he had finally died after struggling throughout the week after being shot in a drive-by.

I had grown up somewhat sheltered as my mom would not allow me to watch MTV growing up so up until about late junior high, early high school I had never been allowed to listen to other music except classical. Then when this MTV ban was lifted I remember watching one day and seeing the video for "2 of Amerikaz Most Wanted" and I was hooked. I can't really pinpoint exactly what it was, maybe it was because I was told not to listen to that type of music, maybe it was because it nothing like a kid from the suburbs had ever seen before but that instant I became a Tupac fan. I went out and bought All Eyez on Me and I never turned back. I think I either purchased or downloaded every possible Tupac album there is and to this day he is still one of my favorite artists of all time.

There was a lot more to Tupac than the violent portrayal of him but not many know that. During college whenever I was able to write papers on my own topic I ended up doing them on Michigan sports or on Tupac. There were many sides to him that most do not realize exist. Unfortunately the side that made him most popular is the side that ended up getting him killed. Times like these make me start to think I'm getting old, but I say that all the time since I am moving along in the real world and my youth is kept in check for Saturdays when I can scream and shout at a bad call by a referree or when I can sing the Victors after a touchdown. Tupac was right when he said he would have an influence on people across the country, I know because I am one and I know I'm not alone.