Tupac is simply used a scapegoat. .
Another constant criticism of gangster rap is that it causes much violence among the youth today. In her essay titled, Tupacs Squandered Gift, Kenneth Carroll goes as far to not only blame gangster rap, but Tupac himself for society's ills. "I do hold him responsible for exploiting the carnage and basking in the mayhem of urban America, where young girls are found raped and killed near their high schools, or where brothers are murdered standing outside their homes playing catch(1)." Carroll moves on to suggest that while these rappers may rap about issues not concerning street life, they are condoning it even if they are speaking about the troubles caused by life in the inner city. Bakarie Kitwana in her essay Walking The Tight Rope: the Art, Reality and Impact of Tupac Skakur, defends this statement, "In All Eyez on Me, his attempts to glorify street culture is overshadowed by his willingness to glorify it Thus many young people are imitating what they assume to be reality. And while this reality does exist, it is not simply a Black reality(2)." .
Afeni Shakur, Tupac's mother, put it best when she said, "It doesn't make sense to suggest that rap's violent lyrics are to blame for society's ills. If that were the case, she said, gospel music would have saved the world(2)." She understood that her son's music, while often condoning violence and urban destitution, was music that people could empathize with and relate to. .
Gangster rap, often termed gangsta rap has maintained a bad rap since its beginning. Newsweek columnist Johnnie L. Roberts offers a solid explanation.
"Gangsta rap, which chronicles the bleak, often violent life of the nation's toughest black neighborhoods, has increasingly sparked controversy since it emerged in the late 1980s and early 1990s. Much of the controversy has centered on violent lyrics. And the music industry, insisting that it is defending artistic freedom and arguing that music doesn't cause violence, has weathered a storm of criticism.