Blashphemy = Powerful
Makaveli is an extremely important notion on this album and I believe Blasphemy is the heart and soul of this album. A large notion of Machiavellian principles is to operate under a public appearance while hiding your true objectives of personal gain. In my mind the notion of Makaveli is to begin debunking the Machiavellian principles the world operates under, and Blasphemy breaks it down like this:
The intro of the song lays out the basic principle of the bible that God is coming back with the Apocalypse to lay judgment, so behave God and you'll be ok, otherwise you're going to hell.
The song itself leans to the notion that the 'elite' of the world - predominantly those of European descent that set the foundation for Christianity - use this biblical position by controlling the behavior of the masses while furthering their own purposes under the Machiavellian principle of coming across one way to the public (religious) while fulfilling their own desires (greed). Anybody who opposes them (and the evil things they do to further themselves) can then be shrugged of as people who are blasphemous and opposition to God rather than opposition to their actions. God is then used as a shield. - It's like Bush saying if you oppose the war in Iraq you are not patriotic, or like when Hitler burned the Reichstag and declared marshall law denouncing any opposers to his ruling as unpatriotic, or when King's declared opposers as treasonous.
The song itself I don't believe is Blasphemous, but the title of the song rather eludes to the fact that it would be seen as Blasphemous because 2Pac questions this established principle.
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Your born into a place of poverty and struggle, so you need to work hard, think hard, and get money to escape the poverty and be able to fund the struggle. Elevate yourself to a place where you have equal or greater power than the establishment before you can revolt. The world however is setup so that like crabs in a bucket the people you want to help will try to tear you down to get themselves ahead. There's also a play on words when he says "remember what my pops told me - blasphemy (blast for me)" which indicates that you need to use power and sometimes violence to overthrow the establishment but 2Pac questions if the Thug Life he's been born into will end him before he can do such. "This Thug Life'll be the death of me."
Chorus
People are using religion to cheat and steal from the poor people (i.e. people in the ghetto [but not just the ghetto]) while religion says that the godly should be helping the poor. Many people in the church are then using their position of trust and responsibility to do more harm than good which is the ultimate betrayal of the power bestowed upon them.
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To go deeper into the song, 2Pac questions the very foundation of religion since the people who founded religion as we know it can't be trusted. Since we can't trust the founders of religion, it's quite possible "we're in hell already, our dumb asses not knowing."
Think of Santa Claus - parents tell kids "you better not shout, you better not cry, you better not pout I'm telling you why, Santa Claus is coming to town - he sees you when your sleeping, he knows when you're awake..." The very notion of religion seems similar in usage to controlling behavior for some while others take advantage.
"fighting devil niggas daily" - with many of 2pac songs, he was fighting the establishment and then the mainstream media crucified him i.e. you fight the establishment it comes back at you.
"They say Moses split the red-sea, I split a blunt and rolled it fat but I'm deadly." - I'm not the typical 'saint' but I'm able to make great change in the world.
"Babalyon beware, I'm coming for the Pharaoh's kids" - Babalyon is where it all started, and the kids who are the decedents of the 'kings' (i.e. the generation he's speaking to now) is going to be educated by him about the corruption so he's a threat to the establishment.
"in Jerusalem waiting for signs, God's coming she's just taking her time (hahahaha) - I think what 2Pac is saying here is we're all looking for signs of the Apocalypse as described in the bible, waiting for judgment day - the day God comes back to make judgment on how each of us has lived our life and end earth as we know it - the laughing may indicate 2Pac thinks this is a lie that we're being fed and the entire notion is humorous.
"Living by the Nile while the water flows, I'm contemplating plots wondering which door to go" - I'm sitting in the middle of it all wondering how to approach things and what do do about it exactly.
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"The preacher want me buried why? Cause I know he a liar" -> 2Pac sees the corruption and what they are doing and the establishment (not necessarily the religious establishment but those political, religious, commerce leaders etc. that operate under the Machiavellian guise of morals and religion).
"Have you ever seen a crackhead, that's eternal fire" - We're being told to worry about hell but we've got people in hell right here on earth who aren't being helped.
"Why you got these kids minds, thinkin that they evil, while the preacher getting richer saying honor God's people" - It's hypocritical to do what is making yourself richer while saying honor God's people and telling people they are evil if they do what you are actually doing.
"Should we cry, when the Pope die, my request, we should cry if they cry when we buried Malcolm X" - Malcolm X was part of the struggle, the movement towards equality and away from elitism, and if the elite don't care when Malcolm X dies and that struggle ends, then they don't actually care about the 'people' and so the 'people' shouldn't care if the symbol for the status quo is alive or dead. 2Pac is saying we should cry when the pope dies, when 'they' cry when Malcolm X dies, because that would signal equality.
"Mama tell me am I wrong, is God just another cop, waitin to beat my ass if I don't go pop?
" - Here 2pac is talking more about the corruption of the society in which we live. The cops again are here in a position to help but often abuse this privileged, so it's a smaller scale of a similar abuse of power which has 2Pac feeling jaded to anyone in a position of power.
"Memories of a past time, givin up cash, to the leaders, knowin damn well, they ain't gonna feed us" - our entire life we work hard for a fraction of money from the elite and give it back to the elite by way of taxes, fees, banking, etc. and they keep the money constantly increasing the gap between the rich and the poor while the lower classes work for survival. He touches a bit on this in Hellraiser when he says "I'm starting to think all the rich in the world is safe, while the poor babies rushing into early graves."
"They say Jesus is a kind man, well he should understand times in this crime land" - If Jesus is who religion says he is, he should also understand the crimes and misjustice prevalent in our society, so if he does exist, he must do so out of the context of classic religion.
"Do whatchu gotta do but know you gotta change, Try to find a way to make it out the game, I leave this and hope God can see my heart is pure, Is heaven just another door? I leave this here, I leave this and hope God see my heart is pure" - After all the 'Blasphemy' that was talked about in the song, 2Pac comes back to say he does believe there's a God, but that religion and the people who abuse it are the problem, not the notion of God itself. And in this context, God should understand this song, he should understand 2Pac's heart, and know that it is in the purest of intentions that he is questioning the establishment to lead people towards a better position on earth by using their brain and think and question what they are being told and question what is considered 'just the way things are.'
"Is heaven just another door? And my people say" - This leads into the chorus which is again a prayer from the bible - powerful - stating that while 2Pac says all of the above in the song, still people sing the prayers of the bible like they've been taught.
Sorry for coming at you like an ass.
