From East Harlem to Cape Town: Tupac Shakur’s legacy as a globalised oppositional repertoire

Abstract

For marginalised people living in Cape Town, South Africa, rapper Tupac Shakur represents a globalised oppositional repertoire that people draw on for strength and esteem. The study focused on 22 purposefully sampled interviews from township communities throughout Cape Town, which were conducted within a broader multi-year research project that focused on street culture and gangs in the city. Perhaps the most obvious narrative emerging from the research was that of male gang members connecting to the defiant masculine aggression often projected through Tupac’s music. But research also found that gang girls can also draw on the oppositional power he embodies as a street soldier, leveraging it in order to push back against their physical and material insecurity through performances of street culture. There are also ways that Tupac, as the globalised ghetto prophet, serves as a cultural resource for those trying to resist the streets and participation in gangs. The continued resonance of his legacy and image among township residents in Cape Town hints at the links they find in common with disenfranchised groups in American ghettos, and the myriad of similarly segregated urban spaces around the world. Many such groups pursue common cultural strategies to counter their shared experiences with disenfranchisement and disempowerment.