Editor’s Note: While we don’t necessarily agree with the following thesis, we found the idea compelling – and controversial – enough that we couldn’t say no. As this does use some integral-nerdspeak (i.e. “second tier,” “spiral wizard,” “yellow,” etc.), some of our readers might want to check up on the “Spiral Dynamics” model of developmental psychologists Clare Graves, Don Beck, and Chris Cowan.




THE LIFESTORY AND COMPLETE ARTISTIC WORK OF TUPAC SHAKUR represent integral art at its finest. Progressing from extreme idealism in youth, through the rigors of fortune and fame, and finally emerging as a monumental icon of spiritual struggle and redemption (only to be murdered under suspicious circumstances), Tupac Shakur left the world wondering what to make of this media-celebrity deity/martyr.

Mission objective: Plant seeds across entire spiral, then escape into silence while Essence-Soul-Psyche-Symbolic-Mind remains relatively immortal across the television/radio wave-length.

We're probably in Hell already- our dumb asses not knowin'
Everybody kisssing ass to go to Heaven ain't goin'
Put my soul on it! I'm fighting devil-nigga's daily
Plus the media be crucifying brother's severely
Tell me I ain't God's son?
Nigga, momma's a virgin...
Babylon, beware! I'm coming for the Pharaoh's kids..." [1]

Like the Jews reading Torah, he moved to the beat; like Arabs chanting spontaneous poetry in praise of Allah, he spat his rhythms deep from the diaphragm. The first three chakras ignited and we saw it blast out of the fourth vortex as rainbow, every meme represented throughout the entirety of the work, and the only yellow second-tier assurance you ever need is the sound of his genuine laughter.

"Niggas in Jerusalem waiting for signs... God's coming; She's just taking Her time..." [1]

"Tupac" and "Amaru" are Inca words meaning "shining serpent." "Shakur" is Arabic for "Thankful to God". In his last recorded interview (which took place just a few days before his death)[2], Tupac Shakur spoke of a psychological, social, political, and above all, monetary revolution. He did not talk about the use of weapons or the use of violent force; in his emphatic tone he promised that if he was continuously supported by people buying his albums, he would create a political party with the sheer weight of his "essence," media popularity, and financial success.

His words: "I don't care if you're red, black, Indian, Armenian--whatever the fuck you are, we all have the same problem," at this point pounding the table for emphasis: "We built this country and we get none of the benefits." [2]

He was not speaking with the voice of a wild left-wing / green meme radical. The hierarchy of his design was readily apparent. In this last interview, he promised visible progress towards this goal within the coming four years ("God willing, if I'm alive"). Days later he was shot.

"The preacher want me buried; why? 'Cause I know he's a liar.
Have you ever seen a crack-head? That's eternal fire.
Why you got these kids' minds thinking that they evil?
While the preacher's getting freaky you say honor God's people.
Should we cry when the pope dies?
My request: we should cry if they cried when we buried Malcolm X. Momma, tell me am I wrong; is God just another cop
waiting to beat my ass if I don't go pop?
My memories are of a lifetime giving up cash to these leaders knowing damn well they ain't gonna feed us.
In my brain how can YOU explain time in BC?
It's hard enough to live in these times of greed.
They say Jesus is a kind man
well, he should understand times in this crime-land
My THUG nation: do what you gotta do, but know you gotta change
try to find a way to make it out of the game."[1]

A mere “gangsta” rapper?

"I'll leave this and hope God'll see my heart is pure. Is Heaven just another door?" [1]

In his words from the interview: "I've plotted this from the beginning." "This is a MAJOR, MAJOR strategy." "People will see in the end that I plotted every move." [2]

Tupac (at right) gives the universal hand sign of the
Red v-Meme as an ecstatic Notorious B.I.G. looks on.

Tupac admittedly used a persona of Beige (food, sex, survival), Purple (tribal customs), and Red (power god, rebellious hero, reckless youth) to sell his image, spoke towards Green ends (exploration of caring dimensions in community) with the moral conviction of Blue (Good vs. Evil, order under ultimate truth). His mantras painted vast pictures of Orange networks (play the game to win, self-reliance) favoring imbalance towards the advantage of the privileged few who use Blue language to back their Orange financial system while enforcing it physically world-wide with the tactics of Red.

In September of 1992, countless political officials (including George Sr. himself, and vice-president Dan “Potatoe” Quayle) and media figures came out to decry the words of this young man [7], a young man who had already prophesied the downfall of their Babylon with his first album: "And you shall fall by my hand..." [4] And this prophecy stands a chance of being fulfilled: Tupac teaches that if his words are understood ON THEIR OWN GROUND, judged from Yellow, then he will serve as an inspiration to ALL types of people,

"...and then I'll be reborn in YOU." [3]

How could anyone possibly benefit from the words of a "gangsta" rapper?

His definition of “NIGGA”: Never Ignorant Getting Goals Accomplished

That “THUG LIFE” tattoo on his stomach?: "The Hate U Gave Little Infants Fucks Everybody"

Tupac was the son of the original Black Panther Party; his mother, Afeni, was arrested as a terrorist by the FBI's CoIntelPro [7]; he developed in the womb while she sat in a federal penitentiary. In April of 1969, Afeni was arrested for allegedly conspiring to plant bombs in various places throughout New York City. His mother was five months pregnant when she entered federal prison in February of 1971. He went through his first years of schooling hounded by the FBI and CIA concerning the whereabouts of his relatives (who all were either murdered, incarcerated, or escaped to political sanction in Cuba). [3] [5] [7]

At the same age when Malcolm X was still a pimp and a hustler (21 years old), Tupac was preaching spiritual, economic, political, and emotional salvation to the largest audience a young black male has ever received in this Oil Steel Empire, releasing two best-selling albums before he was even legally allowed to drink. His final biographical release (Tupac: Resurrection, published in 2003) presents copies of communication releases distributed throughout the inner-cities and penitentiaries of the United States, implying that he had constructed an inter-penitentiary infrastructure of communication stretching from the East Coast to the West Coast, [3] thus uniting the intelligence officials of inner-city "organized" criminals all throughout the states.

Holding picnic rallies to unite Crips and Bloods throughout the country, Tupac made himself the obvious target of the United States government's continuing intelligence programs dedicated to the "neutralization" of insurgent elements within the cultural system. [7] Apparently they don't like it when you restructure the subjective psychology, cultural world-view, and politics/resource distribution of an oppressed class. The FBI's Counter Intelligence Program (CoIntelPro) and the National Security Agency have both released documents detailing the surveillance and "handling" of Tupac's relatives and family members. [6]

Perhaps once enough time has passed to ensure no single person or organization can be tried or accused, we'll learn of the truth about what happened that sad night in Las Vegas….

As Tupac himself so often stated, he was merely using art, popular media, and technology to reach as many people as possible. The media treatment of this cultural martyr would lead us to believe he was merely one of many violent highly-sexual young black males.

As he was drawn into the world, he regressed and faltered, but always rose again. In one line he seems the power god supreme, exploding all as ego; in the next line he's reasoning his faith in an Absolute against the injustice of this life.

A simple study of his complete work (the larger portion being rushed out during the final months of his life) reveals an intensely introspective individual whose knowledge and opinions cover all domains of existence. From his own poetic existential musings to his judgment of current institutionalized religion, from his condemnation of the top-heavy form of economy facilitated by Orange and defended by the language of Blue, this young man screams out to us as the essential and archetypal urban warrior who by the end of his life had realized silence and escaped into the noosphere, living on through the psyche-mind-souls of those who felt his passion.

A hero of all memes, Tupac Shakur flies up and down the spiral of world-view-colors and leaves the audience feeling as though an individual crescendo of integral art has been witnessed, never to be replicated.