Tupac Shakur Quotes: 154 Quotes to Explore the Profound Wisdom and Resonating Power of his Words

“My adversaries crumble when we rumble; it's a catastrophe.”

Tupac Shakur

"When We Ride" (1996)
1990s, All Eyez on Me (1996)

“To dance with the naked [blow-up] doll, that was me! That's what I mean by I'm real, I'm truly hardcore, because I needed the money and I had to work. So if he told me that for me to get paid I had to go out there in bikini briefs and hop on top of this [blow-up] doll and that's how I gotta get paid, and I was homeless at the time, that's what I had to do. But What I did was not let him pimp me, you know what I'm saying. It wasn't like I just did that because that was my order. As soon as I got the check's to say what was on my mind, I said what was on my mind. And we have a platinum record now, you know what I'm saying.”

Tupac Shakur

1990s, MTV interview (1994)

Money , Time , Dance

“Currency means nothing if you still ain't free. Money breeds jealousy. Take the game from me; I hope for better days. Trouble comes naturally. Running from authorities. 'Til they capture me, and my aim is to spread more smiles than tears. Utilize lessons learned from my childhood years.”

Tupac Shakur

"Hold Ya Head" https://play.google.com/music/preview/Te5ppuyfquh4t6lnlla3zs6w33e?lyrics=1&utm_source=google&utm_medium=search&utm_campaign=lyrics&pcampaignid=kp-lyrics
1990s, The Don Killuminati: The 7 Day Theory (1996)

Money , Jealousy , Smile , Hope

“Live At The House Of Blues (with Outlawz, Dogg Pound, Snoop Dogg, K-Ci & JoJo) (2005)”

Tupac Shakur

Discography

Housing

“On the whole, I don't have any friends. Friends come and go; I've lost my trust factor. I believe I have people who think they're my friend. And I believe that there are people probably in their heart who are friends toward me or are friends to me. But they're not my friends, because what I learned is that fear is stronger than love.”

Tupac Shakur

1990s, Vibe magazine interview (June 1996)

Love , People , Fear , Thinking

“Remember, this country had a man named J. Edgar Hoover, whose job it was to destroy the credibility of any black man coming up.”

Tupac Shakur

Posthumous attributions, Tupac: Resurrection (2003)

Country

“The Rose that Grew from Concrete”

Tupac Shakur

2000
Discography

“And you can't go, "There's a hair in my Jell-O. I'd like to send this back. Can I see the cook, please?" The cook is a big dude named Bubba Joe.”

Tupac Shakur

Posthumous attributions, Tupac: Resurrection (2003)

Cooking

“America is the biggest gang in the world.”

Tupac Shakur

1990s, Prison interviews and interrogations (1995)

World

“First, I wanna say 'peace' to my mother. She's not here but I gotta give a 'peace out' to her because I wouldn't be here if it wasn't for my mother.”

Tupac Shakur

1990s, Malcolm X Grassroots Movement, Atlanta (1992)

Peace

“If your not cheering for me, for what I'm doing, don't cheer for me. Don't cheer cause you think I'm cute, you know what I'm saying, screw that. Cheer for me for what I'm doing, for what I stand for, and when I go to jail you should cheer louder.”

Tupac Shakur

1990s, Ed Gordon interview (1994)

Thinking

“It's a constant man-ego-check going on in the streets, in this world.”

Tupac Shakur

1990s, Ed Gordon interview (1994)

World

“Keep ya head up. Do what you gotta do. And then, inside of you, I will be reborn.”

Tupac Shakur

Posthumous attributions, Tupac: Resurrection (2003)

“I'm not thuggin' for me, I'm thuggin' for my family, I pay all the bills, I feed my whole family, wrong or right, I do and I can't stop.”

Tupac Shakur

1990s, Ed Gordon interview (1994)

Family

“I have no patience for anybody that doubts me, none at all.”

Tupac Shakur

1990s, Ed Gordon interview (1994)

Patience

“It's not going to stop until "we" stop it. And it's not just white man that's doing this to Brenda. It's not just white man that's keeping us trapped. It's "black."”

Tupac Shakur

And we have to find the new African in everybody... But before we can be African, we gotta be black first.
1990s, Malcolm X Grassroots Movement, Atlanta (1992)

Men

“It's not just about you taking care of "your" child. It's about you taking care of these children.”

Tupac Shakur

1990s, Malcolm X Grassroots Movement, Atlanta (1992)

Children

“Now if we do wanna live the thug life and the gangsta' life and all that, OK, so stop being cowards and let's have a revolution. But we don't wanna do that, dudes just wanna live "character", they wanna be "cartoons", but if they really wanted to do something, they was that tuff, alright, let's start our own country, let's start a revolution, let's get outta' here, let's do something. But they don't wanna do that, they wanna pimp our communities and portray this image that they know we all can't survive and make, and that's what I saw.”

Tupac Shakur

1990s, Prison interviews and interrogations (1995)

Life , Communication , Country

“Accept no substitutes; I bring truth to the youth.”

Tupac Shakur

"Holla If Ya Hear Me" http://www.azlyrics.com/lyrics/2pac/hollaifyahearme.html (1993).
1990s

Truth , Youth

“Best Of 2Pac Vol 1:Thug and Vol 2:Life”

Tupac Shakur

2007
Discography

Life

“Measure a man by his actions fully, through his whole life, from the beginning to the end.”

Tupac Shakur

Posthumous attributions, Tupac: Resurrection (2003)

Life

“I believe honestly that I can talk. I believe that I have the ability to reason, I have logic, I have compassion, I have understanding. If we talk there's no problem you know what I'm saying. But that's not what happened. People used what they heard in media and that's how they come at me, and then you know we got a clash.”

Tupac Shakur

1990s, Ed Gordon interview (1994)

People , Understanding , Problem

“The guns are turning away from Europe and Russia and Iran and Iraq and they're turning to us.”

Tupac Shakur

1990s, Prison interviews and interrogations (1995)

“Killing ain't fair, but somebody's got to do it.”

Tupac Shakur

1990s, "Hit 'Em Up" (1996)

“Jail is big business, believe me. I'm in jail, I see the big business. You can feed a whole town off one jail. This jail is in the middle of a town that feeds everybody. Everybody works here, this is the main income. So if there were no criminals, nobody would work.”

Tupac Shakur

1990s, Prison interviews and interrogations (1995)

Business

“It's like a battle, trying to find the right words to say at the right time.”

Tupac Shakur

1990s, Ed Gordon interview (1994)

Time

“But in my homeboys' high school, it's not like that. They don't have trips to go see this Broadway play, they don't read things we read. They didn't know when I was like: "Yo, Shakespeare's dope."”

Tupac Shakur

Posthumous attributions, Tupac: Resurrection (2003)

School , Reading

“My mother was pregnant with me while she was in prison. She was her own attorney, never been to law school. She was facing 300 and something odd years. One black woman, pregnant, beat the case. That just goes to show you the strength of a black woman and the strength of the oppressed.”

Tupac Shakur

Posthumous attributions, Tupac: Resurrection (2003)

School , Law

“I know how it's gonna be when I die. It's going to be no noise, you ain't going to hear people screaming. I'mma fade out.”

Tupac Shakur

1990s, MTV interview with Tabitha Soren (1995)

People

“What I want you to take seriously is what we have to do for the youth.”

Tupac Shakur

1990s, Malcolm X Grassroots Movement, Atlanta (1992)

Youth

“I'm a reflection of the community. ”

Tupac Shakur

Communication

“You claim to be a player, but I fucked your wife.”

Tupac Shakur

1990s, "Hit 'Em Up" (1996)

“All good niggas, all the niggas who change the world, die in violence. They don't die in regular ways.”

Tupac Shakur

1990s, Details magazine interview (Spring 1996)

World , Way , Change

“Listen to the words people say in their lyrics, and tell me, if that's some real shit, if that's real to you, you know what I mean. Listen to what they sayin', don't just bob your head to the beat, peep the game, and listen to what Im saying. Hold us accountable for it.”

Tupac Shakur

1990s, Prison interviews and interrogations (1995)

Game , People

“I'm known as a survivor now, I hope so, for the jail thing, bullets and everything, controversies and everything, I hope so. And I want to be in the future known as somebody. You know I want people to be talking about me like you know: "remember when he was real bad, remember when Tupac was real bad". You know what I mean, they do that about a lot of actors now, like John Travolta I read stories like "remember you were wild."”

Tupac Shakur

And all these other people, and now they're like sweet hearts. We all should get that chance, I just want my chance.
1990s, MTV interview with Tabitha Soren (1995)

Reading , Bad luck , Future , People

“The main thing for us to remember is that, the same crime element that white people are scared of, black people are scared of. The same crime element that white people fear, black people fear. So we defend our self from the same crime element that they are scared of, you know what I'm saying, while they are waiting for legislations to pass and everything, we're next door to the killer, we're next door to him you know. Because we up in the projects where it's 80 niggas in the building. All them killers that they letting out, they're right there in that building. Just because we're black we get along with the killers or something? We get along with rapist's because we're black and from the same hood? What is that? We need protection too.”

Tupac Shakur

1990s, Ed Gordon interview (1994)

Self-confidence , Fear , People , Waiting

“I want, when they see me, They know that everyday when I'm breathing is for us to go further. Everytime I speak I want the truth to come out. Not one person even realizes that I have white relatives, my cousin just had a son who is “White” but everytime I speak I want a shiver so yes, I do omit things that I feel are not accurately portraying my “character.””

Tupac Shakur

I don't want them to be like; they know what I'm gonna say, because it's polite. Im not saying I'm gonna rule the world or I'm gonna change the world, but I guarantee you that I will spark the brain that will change the world. And that's our job, It's to spark somebody else watching us. We might not be the one's, but let's not be selfish and because we not gonna change the world let's not talk about how we should change it. I don't know how to change it, but I know if I keep talking about how dirty it is out here, somebody's gonna clean it up.
1990s, MTV interview (1994)

Truth , Feeling , Personality

“What I want you to take seriously, is what we have to do for the youth. Because we're coming up in a totally different world. This is not the same world that you had this is not 6th Street its not. You grew up, we grew up B. C. Before crack. That's just saying it all. You understand? We did not grow up without parents. You had parents that told you this and that and told you what went on back in the day. You have young kids, fourteen, coming home and their mama is smoking out, going to their best friend to get the product. You understand what I'm saying? So that means it's not just about you taking care of "your" child. It's about you taking care of "these children". It hurts that I got to, it bothers me, not hurts, that I have to sidestep my youth to stand up and do some shit that somebody else is suppose to be doing. You understand what I'm saying? There's too many men out here for me to be doing this, because it ain't my turn yet. I'm supposed to be following behind him getting the knowledge. I don't even got a chance to get the fucking knowledge. I can't go to college. There's too much problems out here. I don't got the money. Nobody does. You understand what I'm saying? So what I'm saying is, it's not as easy as we're mapping it out to be. We've got to stay real. Before we can be new African we've gotta be black first. You understand? We've gotta get our brothers from the streets like Harriett Tubman did. Why can't we look at that and see exactly what she was doing? Like Malcolm did, the real Malcolm, before the Nation of Islam. You've got to remember, this was a pimp. You know what I'm saying, we forgot about all that. In our strive to be enlightened we forgot about all our brothers in the street, about all our dope dealers, our pushers and our pimps, and that's who's teaching the new generation, because y'all not doing it. I'm sorry. But, it's the pimps and pushers who's teaching us. So, if you got a problem with how we were raised, its because they was the only ones who could do it. They the only ones who did it, because everybody else wanted to go to college, and you know, yeah everything's changed, they were the ones telling you 'the white man ain't shit, there you go, check this out young blood, you take this product, you switch it, you get money and that's how you beat the white man, you get money, you get the hell up out of here.'”

Tupac Shakur

Nobody else did that. So I don't wanna hear shit about nobody telling me who I can't love and respect until you start doing what they did. To me, this is Mecca. This is the black family. You know what I'm saying? But, what makes it that much sadder, what makes me wanna cry, is that when I leave this place, so does Mecca. You understand what I'm saying? We're going back to the real deal. Right out there, you're going see the same sisters and Brenda, they're right out there, and y'all are going to get in your cars and drive the fuck home.
1990s, Malcolm X Grassroots Movement, Atlanta (1992)

Money , Home , Hurt , Hell

“It's not going to stop until we stop it. And it's not just white men that's doing this to Brenda. It's not just white men that's keeping us trapped. It's 'black', and we have to find the new African in everybody. In all of us, because if we keep running around looking for black and who got the most colors on or who got the baddest dashiki, we're still going to, excuse my language, we're still going to get fucked. Because it hurts me that my mother right now is going though, you know, she has to get clean. This is somebody I watched travel the whole country. You know what I'm saying? During the time when our women were scared to speak up. But, a Black Panther she spoke at Harvard, Yale, everywhere and now. I see my mother as what's really going on. You know what I'm saying? I don’t see no big parade around my mother now. She's got a dozen fucking awards, and I don’t see nobody there. You understand what I'm saying? So out of this, I take that lightly. I take all this lightly.”

Tupac Shakur

1990s, Malcolm X Grassroots Movement, Atlanta (1992)

Hurt , Time , Understanding , Country