PoemPart "The Rose That Grew from Concrete"

Only 4 the Righteous

Not a poem, but an early rap verse: how Tupac introduced his group Strictly Dope and DJ Dize in a question-and-answer routine and showed a clear profile.

Book: The Rose That Grew from Concrete (1999)
Part: The Rose That Grew from Concrete
Original text: not reproduced (copyright); see the book

A rhymed interview instead of quiet verse: in the first section of the book The Rose That Grew from Concrete, Only 4 the Righteous stands out. The piece is less a poem than a rap verse. It shows how close poetry and rap were for the young Tupac.

A Quick-Witted Interview for Strictly Dope

The text is structured like an interview: each line begins with a cue word in quotation marks, to which the rapper responds with a quick-witted answer. The very first line delivers a pun: he is “down with strictly dope,” a reference to Strictly Dope. Tupac worked with this group from 1988 to 1991 under producer Chopmaster J, alongside Ray Luv and DJ Dize. Dize is later explicitly named as the DJ who handles the scratches. As his microphone partner, the text names a “Roc”; who that was is not documented.

Safer Sex, No Drugs, and an Alert Mind

The answers sketch the picture of a clean, confident MC: rap is his only hobby, quitting is out of the question, drugs never. Sex only with his girlfriend and always with a condom. In the end, he declares the mind to be something he cultivates and cherishes, and politely says thank you.

Raps and Poems in the Same Notebook

According to the preface by Afeni Shakur, the texts were written between 1989 and 1991; no exact date has been handed down. The text proves that Tupac wrote his poems and raps in the same notebook and with the same ambition. The conscious, drug-free tone fits, as an interpretation, the self-image of the era’s so-called positive rap.

On the album The Rose That Grew from Concrete (2000), the text is performed by the rapper Rha Goddess.