WAS KRS 1 ADDRESSING TUPAC ON HIS 1995 SELF TITLED ALBUM?

In 2005 Lawrence Chris Parker, aka KRS 1, was quoted on the blog, Basis, D.L. Chandler's frequent thoughts on the world of hip hop and beyond, stating that he wasn't shocked by the media's obsession with the violence in Hip-hop because it often gave them good stories to report on, and continued by referring to hip hop as a microwave culture that expected information hastily, plus didn't care to substantiate the information before accepting it as the truth.

With this, we can clearly identify how the legendary Bronx rapper felt about the way the media portrayed hip-hop to its viewers as a violent culture just to gain a larger viewership leading to profit, at the expense of the culture's perceived moral stance from the public point of view as a whole. Thus, it wouldn't be far-fetched to assume that during the mid-'90s, the media's propagated East-West conflict that was ongoing between rappers wouldn't have impressed KRS 1, who was by the time actively involved in hip-hop and in the process of releasing his second self titled studio album, Krs 1, which was by then highly anticipated.

Just to be perfectly clear, this is just my take based on my researched information, plus the songs from the talked-about period in time. On 10th October 1995, Krs 1 released his second studio album titled Krs 1, where he had featured the then younger up and coming rappers from Newyork in an attempt to affirm his street credibility plus commercial standing as a Hip-hop artist while being produced by Dj Premier, and getting distributed through Sony BMG. It got critically acclaimed as one of the best hip-hop albums that had been released that year. 

Just a month earlier, at the 1995 source awards that had been held in Newyork, Suge Knight the Deathrow CEO at the time, had taunted his then-rival Head of Badboy records Puff daddy. This is what triggered the East versus West mid-nineties rap conflict.

Another point to consider is that the West Coast rapper Tupac Shakur had been previously shot, on November 30th, 1994, while on the Manhattan Newyork Quad studios, where he had been hired to help a fellow rapper from Newyork. At the time, the West Coast legend had blamed his friend and fellow rapper from Newyork Notorious Big, who was present at the venue during the incident. He claimed that Biggie knew the people who shot him but wasn't willing to let him know who they were. Adding insult to injury, just months before the shooting, Tupac had been accused of rape and lost the case in court at the beginning of 1995. He was sentenced to serve between 18 months and 4.5 years in prison. Lucky for him, the Deathrow CEO Suge Knight came to his rescue and made his bail in October of the same year.

Now that we have gone through what had been ongoing before and during the time of the release of the Krs 1 self-titled album, Krs 1, we can now examine his song's lyrics and be able to point out if he was attacking the late west coast legendary rapper, Tupac Shakur. 

Firstly, at the interlude of the album, you can hear drops from the then re- known rappers from the East Coast sending him shout-outs as a sign of support and encouragement. Notably, there are no drops or shout-outs from any West Coast artists, which could have been seen as an extension of peace during an ongoing rap war between the two coasts.

 Secondly, on the second track known as de automatic, in the first verse, Krs 1 raps, ' i kick edutainment while you wait for your arraignment'. While reading the line, we must remember that at the time, Tupac Shakur was the only rapper who had been by then mostly recognized for his many cases in courts all across America, it would be quite difficult to assume that the line was not aimed at him while recognizing the fact.

Moreover, in the second verse of the same song, the Bronx native rapper begins his lyrical onslaught by rapping, ' fake rapper, how do think you got juice when you rock a pair of panties underneath your bubble goose'. As we review the lyrics we mustn't forget that 2 years before that particular time, Tupac Shakur had been cast to star in a movie called Juice, which he was widely known for in America.

Krs 1 continues on in the same verse giving us more clues to knowing who he is referring to when he raps, 'When you were home with your mother, afraid of the dark, I was sleeping out in prospect park'. This may certainly be another subliminal shot at Tupac. This is because the Oakland rapper was very outspoken about his poverty-stricken upbringing plus the challenges he together with his sister and mother went through. Knowing this, Krs 1 seems to allude to his upbringing being rougher, referring to how he grew up as a street kid with no one by his side who he could rely on. 

Listening through the rest of the album, you may come across many more lyrics that may seem to target the West Coast legend. However, I will end this by repeating that this is just my take based on assumptions I have had since I listened to the album and certainly not factual information.

THANKS.