Tupac Shakur's 'Still I Rise'

“Though variously described as a writer in whose work the black picaresque tradition has been extended, as a misogynist or an heir to both [Zora Neale] Hurston’s folk lyricism and [Ralph] Ellison’s irony, he [Ishmael Reed] is, perhaps because of this, one of the most underrated writers in America. Certainly, no other contemporary black writer, male or female, has used the language and beliefs of folk culture so imaginatively, and few have been so stinging about the absurdity of American racism.” (Darryl Pinckney). Ishmael Reed cannot be contained to one catagory. His career as a playwright, novelist, poet, cartoonist, songwriter, publisher, essayist, activist and public media commentator has been bountiful which caused him to become well known …show more content…
From being mentioned in Tupac Shakur’s “Still I Rise” to being edited and critiqued by Langston Hughes, he has jumped from multiple completely different areas of art, yet still remains relevant and insightful. In an interview by Open Road Media, Ishmael Reed claims, “I had an idea of mixing sampling before the hip hoppers. I’ve always been mixed into sampling, my mind just works that way. It’s hyper-textual. You know, I think of one thing and it leads me to another. I’m not a linear thinker. That’s one of the reasons that I’m able to make different associations that people wouldn’t normally make.” (Ishmael Reed, OpenRoadMediaVideos). If there is one thing we can take away from Reed’s most famous work, Mumbo Jumbo, it is that there is not a single linear thought present in that novel. His mix of historical, cultural, religious and political context combines in a non-sensical, yet genius way that left plenty of interpretation and thought evoking discussion …show more content…
The novel mimics the Harlem Renaissance as an epidemic of African American culture through song, dance, religion and disease. The epidemic discussed in the novel, Jes Grew, causes carriers to dance associated with “ragtime” from the 1920’s and is considered a cure to the soullessness in America. I’ll see if I can extend my vocabulary or use another way of telling the story. Songs, piano playing, performing, all of which are ways to get the story out. It’s like a full-court press.” (Ishmael Reed,

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Tupac Shakur's 'Still I Rise'

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