The most admirable quality about Tupac Shakur was (arguably) his empathy. He knew personally what it was like to struggle, to feel like he was stuck in a trap. Thinking about the economic disparity and racial injustice in America, there was a sense of gloom and doom. Consequently, when rap started to pay for him, he got to see both sides of the aisle.

However, rather than rest on those laurels, Pac fixated on his prior struggles. He felt burdened by the knowledge of what it’s like to live a good life while everyone else suffers. By knowing both, his catharsis was hampered, a never-ending torment. In an interview with Ed Gordon in 1994, Tupac described this state of being as a curse God struck him down with. “If I can’t live free, if I can’t live with the same respect as the next man, I do

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