Tupac Shakur was born in Brooklyn, Ny on June 16, 1971. His birth name was Lesane Parish Crooks, it was later changed by his mother as a tribute to Incan revolutionary Tupac Amuru. Both of Shakur's parents were members of the Black Panthers according to nndb.com. Tupac was a poet, lyricist, and actor. Shakur was favored by many, especially those of the hip hop community. In the year 1996 on September 16th, Tupac Shakur was murdered in Las Vegas. Before Shakur died he'd written numerous songs and poems that are still favored to this day. One that particularly stood out the most was "The Rose That Grew From Concrete."
In "The Rose That Grew From Concrete" by Tupac Shakur, there was one specific symbol that was the focus of the poem, the "rose" (line 1). The poem was essentially speaking about how the rose grew from a crack in concrete. Throughout the poem Shakur explains how the rose proved natures law wrong by growing from such a hard location. Shakur states "Proving nature's law is wrong it learned to walk without having feet"(lines 3-4). Further explaining how the rose still prevailed after growing from such a difficult spot. It didn't bloom from a beautiful location, it grew from somewhere gritty and hard and struggled to become the beautiful rose that it was.
The denotative meaning of the rose would be that it was just a flower. According to Merriam-Webster.com , a rose is "a flower with a sweet smell that is usually white, yellow, red, or pink and that grows on a bush which has thorns on the stems. " Also according to Merriam-Webster.com, "concrete"(line 2), is "relating to or made of concrete." These are just factual definitions of the symbols, however its meaning go far beyond that.
Upon first reading one may just think that this poem is just about someone prevailing in a harsh situation when odds were against him. Even though that would be a correct assumption, with further analysis I believe the poem goes a bit deeper than that. When a black male is born in a tough location, odds are already against him. When that male succeeds in life he has proven societies laws wrong, much like the rose in the poem. I believe Shakur was relating this poem to his life, how he was not born in an amazing location and still overcame so much. Shakur Became famous and successful when so much was against him and even though he met a tragic end, Shakur was still a rose.
Sources
http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/concrete?show=0&t=1379898341
http://allpoetry.com/poem/8574649-The-Rose-That-Grew-From-Concrete-by-Tupac_Shakur
http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/rose
http://www.nndb.com/people/548/000024476/
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