«They say pussy and paper is poetry, power and pistols»

[mikehelix]

I have deciphered the meaning of: " They say Pussy and Paper is Poetry, Power and Pistols ".

First look at a definition of Poetry: A quality of beauty or emotional power.

Now look at the sentence: 'They say Pussy and Paper is Poetry, Power and Pistols '

Tupac is defining poetry by differetiating the sexes:

# Pussy and Paper - They complement each other - Women like Money - a quality of beauty.

# Power and Pistols - Too go together - Men like War (and such use Pistols) - Emotional Power

So what Tupac is saying really is ' Pussy and Paper is Poetry, (just like) Power and Pistols (is).

Two different things that go together and the beauty of it.

I disagree 100%. so after he so beuatifully "defines poetry," then he immediately goes on 2 talk about "murdering mothafuckaz" and "picturin pitiful punk niggaz" ... no way! he's talking about his ENEMIES and what *THEY SAY.* hence, "they say...."

just think about it this way: if you had 2 define the ONE main subject Pac was talking about in the first verse - would it be the definition of poetry? no, it would have 2 be the demise of his enemies.

I agree with Dante here, read my long reply on page 1 also for more reasons why I disagree with you.


EDIT: also, on the subject of Poetry, anyone who hasn't picked up Pac's poetry book, you should do it. The Rose That Grew From Concrete. it's less than $15 brand new on amazon and TRUST me it's well worth the money. a few of the poems brought tears to my eyes, literally... very nice that they actually published the writings in their ORIGINAL form, you get to see a lot of Pac's handwriting and art doodles along with the poems. here's the link if interested:
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/t...104-8388161-2478353?v=glance&s=books&n=507846


For those of you who haven't heard the following classic poem, I'll be kind enough to type it out for you. I kept consistent with Pac's grammar, punctuation, and capitalization.... it's one of the many many poems featured in the book:




In The Event Of My Demise
Dedicated 2 Those Curious

In the event of my Demise
When my heart can beat no more
I Hope I Die For A Principle
or A Belief that I had lived 4
I will die Before my Time
Because I feel the shadow's Depth
So much I wanted 2 accomplish
Before I reached my Death
I have come 2 grips with the possibility
and wiped the last tear from my eyes
I Loved All who were Positive
In the event of my Demise!

 

[Ashur]

Posted by Dante
THEY say. not I say.
THEY are the people who are hypercritical of rap music, and THEY think that rap music is about sexuality (pussy), money (paper), poetry (rhyming), power (manipulation and influence), pistols (violence). i maintain that this line reflects the same thought process as don't stop the music.

Dante you are right, but on the half. If you carefully read everything above you will notice - Pac said THEY only in first verse. But when he starts the third verse he asserts that "Pussy and Paper is Poetry, Power and Pistols".

Posted by Yeshua
I have deciphered the meaning of: " They say Pussy and Paper is Poetry, Power and Pistols ".

First look at a definition of Poetry: A quality of beauty or emotional power.

Now look at the sentence: 'They say Pussy and Paper is Poetry, Power and Pistols '

Tupac is defining poetry by differetiating the sexes:

# Pussy and Paper - They complement each other - Women like Money - a quality of beauty.

# Power and Pistols - Too go together - Men like War (and such use Pistols) - Emotional Power

So what Tupac is saying really is ' Pussy and Paper is Poetry, (just like) Power and Pistols (is).

Two different things that go together and the beauty of it.

Nice interpretation, but I can't accept that one. mikehelix have already given reason for that. Plus I will say that for that meaning words just don't stand in right order. So no way Pac meant that.


Again I will repeat, poetry is a beautiful and sometimes strange thing.


PS mikehelix the poem you have posted is my favorite. Also I thin Outlawz did great song speaking about those lines.

 

[Maverick-old-account]

wow, so many things to say about a couple of lines that came out of tupacs mouth, im liking what ppl have to say

 

[Preach]

THEY say. not I say.
THEY are the people who are hypercritical of rap music, and THEY think that rap music is about sexuality (pussy), money (paper), poetry (rhyming), power (manipulation and influence), pistols (violence). i maintain that this line reflects the same thought process as don't stop the music.

im going for this explanation. maybe pac didnt write "they say" in his first verse when he wrote it, but added it as he recorded the track, or the other way around; maybe he had written "they say" at the start of the third verse but didnt say it when he recorded it. i mean come on, he was drunk and high when he recorded it lol. if pac truly wrote his verses as fast as people say he did, i doubt he had the time to sit down and think whether or not the line would mean something different if he cut or added "they say". he probably had a thought behind the line but im pretty sure there's not that big a meaning behind saying "they say" in the first verse and not in the third.

 

[mikehelix]

im going for this explanation. maybe pac didnt write "they say" in his first verse when he wrote it, but added it as he recorded the track, or the other way around; maybe he had written "they say" at the start of the third verse but didnt say it when he recorded it. i mean come on, he was drunk and high when he recorded it lol. if pac truly wrote his verses as fast as people say he did, i doubt he had the time to sit down and think whether or not the line would mean something different if he cut or added "they say". he probably had a thought behind the line but im pretty sure there's not that big a meaning behind saying "they say" in the first verse and not in the third.

you know, you're probly right now that I think of it. but truly there's no REAL way to tell what he meant unless he specifically told someone (one of the Outlawz or a producer, for example) and they told us. even then, maybe Pac explained it to them leaning toward one side, when in reality he would have explained it completely different to another person! no way to really tell honestly.


but he definitely was faded in writing these, and you know, this is in line with the fact that looking at documents Pac wrote, there's tons of scribbles and scratched out words here and there, the rhymes often look disorganized and sloppily written...


though I still wouldn't count out the idea that Pac COULDN'T think of something this deep and change the meaning halfway through the song when he's faded and fastly scribbling down a rhyme. I think this is definitely possible for someone as smart and quick as Pac, even after liquor and blunts.


another consideration, the message behind the third verse is unarguably entirely different than that of the second verse so who knows?


nice discussion. I don't think there's a true right or wrong.





haha funny, listen to the last line of the song, "mothafuckaz don't understand If I Die 2nite" - I guess he knew that mothafuckaz wouldn't understand

 

[Bender]

I disagree 100%. so after he so beuatifully "defines poetry," then he immediately goes on 2 talk about "murdering mothafuckaz" and "picturin pitiful punk niggaz" ... no way! he's talking about his ENEMIES and what *THEY SAY.* hence, "they say...."

just think about it this way: if you had 2 define the ONE main subject Pac was talking about in the first verse - would it be the definition of poetry? no, it would have 2 be the demise of his enemies.

I agree with Dante here, read my long reply on page 1 also for more reasons why I disagree with you.


EDIT: also, on the subject of Poetry, anyone who hasn't picked up Pac's poetry book, you should do it. The Rose That Grew From Concrete. it's less than $15 brand new on amazon and TRUST me it's well worth the money. a few of the poems brought tears to my eyes, literally... very nice that they actually published the writings in their ORIGINAL form, you get to see a lot of Pac's handwriting and art doodles along with the poems. here's the link if interested:
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/0671028448/qid=1110682623/sr=8-1/ref=sr_8_xs_ap_i1_xgl14/104-8388161-2478353?v=glance&s=books&n=507846


For those of you who haven't heard the following classic poem, I'll be kind enough to type it out for you. I kept consistent with Pac's grammar, punctuation, and capitalization.... it's one of the many many poems featured in the book:




In The Event Of My Demise
Dedicated 2 Those Curious

In the event of my Demise
When my heart can beat no more
I Hope I Die For A Principle
or A Belief that I had lived 4
I will die Before my Time
Because I feel the shadow's Depth
So much I wanted 2 accomplish
Before I reached my Death
I have come 2 grips with the possibility
and wiped the last tear from my eyes
I Loved All who were Positive
In the event of my Demise!

You disagree with me yet contradict yourself!

# Power and Pistols - Too go together - Men like War (and such use Pistols) - Emotional Power

There is my interpretation and the reference to war, enemies, punk bitches, whatever you like etc... etc...

....the definition of poetry?

Yes that links, pussy-paper, power-pistols. That's why Tupac says 'poetry'.

I like your explanation as it looks at the whole song rather than that snippet, but it is too complicated to grasp easily.

(Ends thread without trying to divert peoples attention elsewhere)

 

[Ashur]

Originally Posted by T-Bone Rizzlienator D145.57
im going for this explanation. maybe pac didnt write "they say" in his first verse when he wrote it, but added it as he recorded the track, or the other way around; maybe he had written "they say" at the start of the third verse but didnt say it when he recorded it. i mean come on, he was drunk and high when he recorded it lol. if pac truly wrote his verses as fast as people say he did, i doubt he had the time to sit down and think whether or not the line would mean something different if he cut or added "they say". he probably had a thought behind the line but im pretty sure there's not that big a meaning behind saying "they say" in the first verse and not in the third.

That's true Rizzle. But again like mikehelix said we will never now.

One thing I want to add is that sometimes your soul thinks faster then your brain. So you get the meaning after saying or writing something. That can take you a minute or a year, it doesn't matter. I want to thank everybody involved in the conversation, I'm really glad that we had this nice talk.

And I will quote myself by posting this from another thread "blasphemy":


To everybody who posted in this thread:

I know some of you think that we are going to deep about the meaning and that Pac just spitted it how he felt. Well, I agree with that. But what we have here - is a beautiful intelligence talk. And we are looking through the lyrics and looking for poetry. Even if it wasn't the meaning Pac was trying to give it's just our thoughts, which won't harm anyone. So, please, don't attack us. I think by discussing Pac the way we do it, we learn a lot of things. Threads like this, I find - the most interesting and important thing on the board.

 

[Nut]

wow, so many things to say about a couple of lines that came out of tupacs mouth, im liking what ppl have to say

hihi yeah, but what i think is funny is that ppl think 2pac was the only one who said or the first one but a lot of rappers say it, for example Spice 1 on his Spiceberg Slim album he got a song called Pistols, Power, Paper so. What i notice is that (some) ppl think when 2pac is the only who says something it's automatically some deep shit

 

[kman_69]

i thought it was pretty simple...


he's saying "poetry, power, and pistols" = "pussy and paper"

basically meaning that to get woman and money you either need to have power...or take power with pistols....or gain power with poetry (ie rap music).

 

[optical]

I never looked at that song like this before... Lots of P's and some S's...

Puffy

Suge

OR

PS as in a footnote to a letter

 

[Bender]

I never looked at that song like this before... Lots of P's and some S's...

Puffy

Suge

OR

PS as in a footnote to a letter

You should know that if Pac wanted to implicate someone on a record he would just come right out and say it. Remember hit em up?

This song has nothing to do with Puffy or Suge or Post Scripts.

 

[Preach]

I never looked at that song like this before... Lots of P's and some S's...

Puffy

Suge

OR

PS as in a footnote to a letter

i'm sure if you reverse the song, tupac is reading out a letter to the devil too.

 

[7waqaveli7]

i thought it was pretty simple...


he's saying "poetry, power, and pistols" = "pussy and paper"

basically meaning that to get woman and money you either need to have power...or take power with pistols....or gain power with poetry (ie rap music).

I agree this is what I always thought too

 

[Maverick-old-account]

^actually now that i look at it that way i agree

 

[Bender]

I think the most important line in this song is the title ' If I die tonight '. Tupac says ' Motherfuckaz don't understand if I die tonight ' Like we living but know not of death or the evil that can cause it ' never to witness the wicked shit that they was facing ' It's like the 'what is death' thread. I think there is more to death than meets the eye.

 

[Ashur]

I agree that "If I die tonight" is the most important line, hence the title and the whole song.

Everybody can be touched, but many seem not to see it.

Motherfuckaz don't understand if I die tonight

 

[Makavelinine6]

actually i think the meaning of the song is more like he didnt care if he died tonight unlike most who want to live forever (heaven etc.)

"are you afraid to die? or do you want to live forever? ask yourself"

 

[Armando]

Nice thread!!I 'll try to organise my thoughts on this and later on I'll post something. Mean while keep this thread goin'.
Peace.

 

[Armando]

I could find some real good arguments through out this thread but this is my favorite and the one I feel that is the most real one: "I don't believe there is a "wrong" or "right" interpretation of this, and I didn't claim to have the "right" answer to begin with."
We can find a lot of truth on this words: there's no wrong or right answers since any of us is or was on Tupac's mind. Nevertheless we still can talk about it and have some fruitfull conversation.
That leads me to another point: when can we know that we are taking this too far... Like someone allready said: "probably reading a bit too much into it". But for me that's the all point for doing this in this thread. Discussion: We can discuss it and see how it goes.
One thing that I noticed-again, someone had allready said it- is that this song is strongly aliterated. A lot of p's, s's; a lot of fricatives... the p's can be linked with the sound of pistols firing if they are being said in a rough way, but if they are softer we can see them as a stack of bills being handled (i don't know how to say this better in english.) The s's is similar to something flowing...
One thing I also noticed is that the rithm of the first sentence is very similar in all verses. And I think this is not accidental. Also notice that the begining of the second verse is very similar to the other ones. And the way Tupac sais it helps a little bit to the similarity.
"I think it's used as a sort of synonym, when you have pistols, power and poetry you get pussy and paper. When you have paper and pussy you get pistols, poetry and power, something like that." I don't think you choose the best word for this... It's not a sinonym it's more like a consequence: If you have power and paper you'll have pussy. But that leaves pistols and poetry... The way I see it is that words are weapons. But Tupac sais "They say pussy and paper is poetry, power, and pistols" and what I interpreted is not exactly what he sais...
One thing we can all notice is evolution on this song: The first and second verse are different from the third. But they are not so different. Pay attention to: "Pissin while practicin' how to pimp and be a player
Overdose of a dick while drinking liquor when I lay her
Pistol-whippin these simps, for bein petrified and lame
Disrespecting the game, praying for punishment and pain." Of course we can see the Tupac that seeks redemption on this verse but that's not just it we can stii get the vengefull Tupac. What truely sets this verse apart from the others is that he give us an ideia that he knows that's not the best life style he can have and also he seems to acknowledge that "Pussy and paper is poetry, power, and pistols". Of course I think that he doesn't give the same meaning to this as "they".
One last thing that I would like to mention is that this line don't make much sense if we read in the order that Tupac said it. I don't think nobody said Pussy and paper is poetry, power, and pistols, they could have said Poetry (rap) is pussy, paper, power and pistols

 

[Makavelinine6]

i just think pac was extremely high when he wrote this thats why it sounds the way it does. there is no "deeper" meaning in the lyrics.