10 Tupac quotes to get you through the working day
1. “How long will they mourn me?”
How Long Will They Mourn Me?
Who hasn’t wondered aloud to colleagues, often and insecurely, about your intra-office legacy? No? OK. Me neither.
2. “There’s no way I can pay you back / But the plan is to show you that I understand / You are appreciated”
Dear Mama
Tupac was talking about his mother, but this line works equally well for managers who are unable or unwilling to offer above-minimum wage increases to their staff.
3. “Picture me inside the misery of poverty / No man alive has ever witnessed struggles I survived”
A helpful negotiating counter to the above.
4. “Let’s change the way we eat / Let’s change the way we live / And let’s change the way we treat each other”
Changes
Changes are perhaps Tupac’s most elegant track. A profound critique of race relations in the US, and a stirring indictment of injustice. It also sort of sounds like an HR manager talking about the new ergonomic chairs and hot-desking system.
5. “Don’t blame me / I was given this world I didn’t make it”
Useful for failed projects, missed deadlines, basically anything for which you’re trying to shed responsibility.
6. “Just got the message you’ve been calling all week / Been out here hustling on these streets, ain’t had a chance to speak”
Unconditional Love
Tupac’s answer to “sorry I missed you, I’ve been tied up in meetings”.
7. “Our future is our confidence and self-esteem”
In this quote from a 1996 interview, Tupac’s belief that your own self-worth will be society’s measure of your value sounds weirdly like the heading of a Powerpoint presentation about meeting KPIs.
8. “The seed must grow regardless of the fact that it’s planted in stone”
Tupac emerged from a difficult upbringing through the Digital Underground – an American alternative hip-hop outfit from Oakland, California – and, like this line, much of his oeuvre relates to making something from nothing.
Also good for convincing the intern to take on a project you know has no way of succeeding.
9. “Please don’t cry, dry your eyes, never let up / Forgive, but don’t forget, girl, keep ya head up”
Keep Ya Head Up
Tupac went through several tumultuous chapters in his personal life; prison, gun violence (obviously) and that time a teenage Rashida Jones dissed him in an open letter published in the Source. Through it all, though, his lyrics never wavered on calling out social injustices and reframing them as life lessons for other black youth.
This line, in which he exhorts his audience to persist through dark times, is also useful when awkwardly encountering a colleague crying in the stairwell.
10. “They’ve got money for war but can’t feed the poor”
Keep Ya Head Up
Extremely deep. Perfect for Christmas parties.
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