ABSTRACT
In one of his saddest rap songs, “Shed So Many Tears,” slain rapper Tupac Shakur describes a distinctly Black male cognitive dissonance not unlike the sentiments of other Black males across organizations. In the lyrics, the desire to produce children symbolizes a fresh beginning for a Black man who has coped with the social ills of his world in ways he regrets. Yet, the maze in which he is trapped is not one entirely of his choosing as he must exist in a world marked by oppression and in an America in which Black males are arguably in crisis. Notwithstanding, the desire to produce children as embedded in these lyrics bespeaks a hopeful act in which one Black male may potentially avow or reclaim an identity as a good man. Ironically, Black males in college may also know of what Shakur speaks.
