To Live and Die in L.A.

The fourth track on the album is To Live and Die in L.A.

To live and die in LA, where everyday we try to fatten our pockets
Us niggas hustle for the cash so it's hard to knock it
Everybody got they own thang, currency chasin'
Worldwide through the hard times, worryin' faces

I've heard people say instead of 'Worrying' Tupac actually says 'Warrior.' However, I believe he says 'worrying' because he is talking about the 'hard times.' Nevertheless, everyone's interpretation is never definitive, unless of course Tupac, himself, had an explanation.

Shed tears as we bury niggas close to heart
What was a friend, now a ghost in the dark, cold hearted bout it
Nigga got smoked by a fiend, tryin' to floss on him
Blind to a broken man's dreams, a hard lesson

This part of the verse is so incredibly powerful that its open to several interpretations.

'Smoked' means to be shot and killed and then he says 'trying to floss on him.' I believe he's basically saying the crack fiend was pretending to do business with him and then killed the dealer.

He then says 'blind to a broken man's dreams.' The 'broken man' Tupac is referring to is not the crack fiend, as most would interpret it as, but its the dealer. Tupac has often displayed lyrical disdain for drug dealers, particularly crack dealers.

He was himself a dealer and saw the destruction of the drug firsthand. He even sometimes referred to a New York that was 'B.C,' which meant 'Before Crack.' Tupac was not proud of this, but understood that perhaps sometimes it was vital to survival. Although, the dealer was a 'broken man,' he was only 'broken' temporarily and the fact that he had 'dreams' emphasises this because the fiend was blind to such dreams and therefore uncaring of the mans future.

The 'hard lesson' is pretty much self-explanatory in that his ways of financial pursuit led to his death. As a scholar of literature, one can recongise that multiple meanings of a certain poem or phrase is not a principle of uncertainty or ambiguity. Tupac often says things that can mean different things, whether its in the general flow of his writings or in a single pun.

William Shakespeare has famously used puns in many of his writings, for example in Hamlet he uses the word 'sun' which can also be interpreted to be the word 'son.' Obviously, since Shakespeare's writings can be read in a book we know the appropriate spelling of the word, but nevertheless the other spelling of 'son' would work as well.

Im going a little off topic here but the most appropriate example of such word play in Tupac's work can be seen in a song in 'Better Dayz.' The song 'All out' where Tupac says:

'I'm similar to Saddam, sometimes I question Hussein [or Who's Sane]'

This line is very intelligent because it speaks of Saddam Hussein, obviously, but then it asks Who's Sane? One meaning of this is the general question: who is sane. Another meaning is perhaps questioning this 'Hussein' in that Hussein is himself, because he says 'I'm similar to Saddam.' So very cleverly in between the lines he questions his violent ways and even his occasionally insincerity for particular people.

Nevertheless, Tupac goes on to say:

Court cases keep me guessin, plea bargain
ain't an option now, so I'm stressin

A plea bargain, for those who don't know, is a settlement between the prosecutor and the defendant in a court of law whereby the defendant will be charged automatically with perhaps a less severe punishment than he or she would have perhaps received had they fought against the charge.

Cost me more to be free than a life in the pen
Makin' money off of cuss words, writing again

This line is important to Tupac's overall message. It's as if he is admitting that he understands that the intellectual intensity of some of his music is not as powerful as he would want them to be, but the main point is it's possible to make money off of this specific sacrifice.

Learn how to think ahead, so I fight with my pen
Late night down Sunset liking the scene
What's the worst they could do to a nigga got me lost in hell
To live and die in LA on bail, my angel sing

His first line here is certainly open to interpretation but I believe he is saying that perhaps it's always easy to write about the present or the past, but writing about the future is always difficult and as a consequence he 'fights' with his pen to produce the right words. 'Liking the scene' doesn't really sound like scene at all and I was wondering maybe he's saying 'sin.' Liking the sin of the city, on the other hand he could be saying scene in a way which rhymes with pen.

It's the, City of Angels and constant danger
South Central LA, can't get no stranger
Full of drama like a soap opera, on the curb watching the ghetto bird helicopters,
I observe so many niggas getting three strikes tossed in jail
I swear the pen right across from hell

The first four lines here are self-explanatory, the last line is a little more complicated. I believe he's saying that the penitentiary is almost as bad as hell.

I can't cry 'cause it's on now, I'm just a nigga on his own now
Living life Thug style, so I can't smile

Again these lyrics depict a Thug persona which perhaps has to be 'lived' up to.

Writing to my peoples when they ask for pictures, thinking Cali just fun and bitches

Tupac may be talking about people that he knew on the east coast and also in Baltimore where he lived for a brief time.

Better learn about the dress code, B's and C's
All them other niggas copy-cats, these is G's

B's and C's are Bloods and Crips respectively.

I love Cali like I love women
'Cause every nigga in L.A. got a little bit of thug in him
We might fight amongst each other, but I promise you this
We'll burn this bitch down, get us pissed
To live and die in LA

Here Tupac is saying that sometimes the 'thugs' may be individuals but they will unite when needed.

Cause would it be LA without Mexicans?
Black love brown pride and the sets again
Pete Wilson trying to see us all broke

Pete Wilson is the Governor of California.

I'm on some bullshit
Out for everything they owe, remember K-DAY

K-DAY is a radio station in California.

Weekends, Crenshaw -- MLK

Crenshaw is a district within California in which Martin Luther King Boulevard is located.

Automatics rang free, niggas lost they way
Gang signs being shown, nigga love your hood
But recognize that it's all good, where the weed at?

Here Tupac is saying that there's nothing wrong with representing your city as long as you don't act violent towards someone else because of it. Then he asks 'where the weed is at' to suggest that weed could be a peaceful element between these people.

Niggas getting shermed out
Snoop Dogg in this mother fucker permed out, M.O.B.

Sherm is another name for the drug PCP. Perhaps here Tupac is saying that Snoop Dogg is intoxicated in some form and also M.O.B stands for Money over Bitches.

Big Suge in the Low-Low, bounce and turn
Dogg Pound in the Lex, wit a ounce to burn
Got them Watts niggaz with me, OFTB

OFTB stands for Operation From The Bottom who are a rap group from Watts, California.

They got some hash took the stash left the rest for me
Neckbone, Tre, Head Ron, Buntry too
Big Rock got knocked, but this one's for you

Roger 'Neckbone' Williams and Alton 'Buntry' McDonald were former friends of Suge Knight, the owner of Death Row Records. Tre and Head Ron were also associates of the suspected Blood member, Knight. I would imagine Big Rock was also someone involved in the running of the Death Row.

I hit the studio and drop a jewel, hopin it pay
Gettin high watchin time fly, to live and die in LA

This is a great poetic line from Tupac saying he'll 'drop a jewel' and indeed he does make a great song in To Live and Die L.A.