late but great, book

The Rose That Grew From Concrete, by Tupac Shakur

I know this is a bit late but I still wanted to read this book and……Holy shit. It is amazing. I sat down to read it and was left wanting sooo much more after I had read the last poem. Tupacs poetry is so different than his rapping and if you couldn’t tell from his songs, his poems show that his words are truly form the heart and soul. I was blown away after reading some poems and am just motivated to write now. For the lovers of long elaborate poems, Tupac may not satisfy you b.c he works in a short-but-sweet style, but dam he says a lot. Many of the poems are working with somewhat predictable rhyme schemes, because he uses the common AB style in most of his poems giving them a somewhat romantic feel. He does branch out a few times to work with more contemporary styles being free verse or other experimental styles. One of the best parts of this book is its realistic feel. In both the physical sense, and the emotions that he conveys. What I mean by physicality is that every poem in the book has 2 copies, on adjacent pages. One is an exact photocopy of what he wrote in his notebook, and the other is a typed copy of the poems. The photocopy is awesome because you are getting more of the poets personality out of the poem. Tupacs handwriting gives you more information of the kind of man he was, or was at the time. Also he has his own loosely defined key he uses, but never defines, in his poetry. Many times he will replace the word ‘I’ with a small drawn picture of an eye. He also uses a lot of ‘AIM’ lingo we use or used to. 2= to, two, too; a heart= love, heart; U=you etc. the overall feel of reading the poetry seems entirely more authentic then when you see his handwriting and graphics, and doodles and pictures he has drawn within, or around the poem. The other reality is that everything he talks about is somewhat introspective about his life or struggles. Nothing is hollow like so many hip hop songs out there. Theres nothing about money, bitches, or hoes. Its all about the struggle of poverty, his emotions, admitting he cries, his search for his place in the world, what happens if he dies… tupac the poet, is very different, yet linked with, tupac the rapper. I would 100% recommend this book to every poet regardless of who they are, and anyone else for that matter.