Or My Soul

Two dedications that could hardly be more contrasting: Tupac addressed Or My Soul to his mother and to those in power (“Dedicated 2 Moms” and “Dedicated 2 the Powers That B”). In the third section of the book The Rose That Grew from Concrete, the poem forms the counterpart to Government Assistance or My Soul, which appears shortly before it in the book, separated only by Family Tree.

An Ultimatum Instead of a Chance

At five lines, the poem is among the shortest in the book. It observes that poverty knows the choice: one’s own soul or government assistance. Then the speaker talks about himself. He is 18, in a country that offers no path for a young, unaddicted Black man with a dream. Instead of a chance, he is handed an ultimatum.

The double dedication makes the text multifaceted. Addressed to his mother, it sounds like an explanation, perhaps also like a defense of his own stance. Addressed to the “Powers That B”, it is an indictment of a state that offers help only in exchange for submission. This reading is an interpretation; the book does not comment on the dedications.

The Trail Leads to 1989 and 1990

According to the preface by Afeni Shakur, the poems were written between 1989 and 1991. The age given in the text is a clue, but not proof: Tupac was born in June 1971 and was therefore eighteen from mid-1989 to mid-1990. In the 1980s, his mother struggled to find work and battled drug addiction. Against this background, the reference to the “unaddicted” young man carries added weight.

More on the book in the introduction.