Holler If Ya Hear Me
Trapped
In a recently unearthed clip from 1992 — an unaired MTV News interview hosted months before the debut of the late hip-hop legend’s freshman album, 2Pacalypse Now — Tupac laments our nation’s gross economic inequality, skewering our culture of excess and name-checking Donald Trump as an example of the kind of greed that perpetuates inequality.
“This world is such a — and when I say this world I mean it, I don’t mean in an ideal sense, I mean in an everyday, every little thing you do — it’s such a, ‘Gimme, gimme, gimme! Everybody, back off!’ You know, everybody’s taught that from school. Everywhere, big business, ‘You want to be successful? You want to be like Trump? Gimme, gimme, gimme. Push, push, push, push! Step, step, step! Crush, crush, crush!’ That’s how it all is and it’s like nobody ever stops.”
Tupac goes on to affirm the need for assistance — and a change in ethos — in order to equalize the playing field.
“For us to be on our own two feet — us meaning youth, us meaning black people, whatever you want to take it for — for us to be on our own two feet we do need help… it’s like, you got a friend that you don’t never look out for,” he told MTV News. “Now America got jewels, they’re paid and everything. Lending money to everyone except us. And it’s like, everybody needs a little help on their way to being self-reliant.”