Is Tupac a feminist?

Tupac had spent much of his career building up his gangster image.  With 'Thug Life' tattooed on his chest, he wears a du rag, sags his pants, and can often be seen in pictures wielding a gun.  Despite this images, an argument can be made that if you only examine his song "Dear Mama" that Tupac Shakur is a feminist.  More specifically, Tupac's lyrics contain radical feminist ideas. 

Radical feminists believe that "women's oppression is the result of a system of patriarchy, a system of domination in which men as a group have power over women as a group" (135).  Throughout the song "Dear Mama," Tupac portrays father figures in a very negative light and does his best to paint a wonderful image of his mother.  For example, when explaining his regret for the struggles that his mother endured, Tupac says, "And even though we had different daddy's, the same drama
When things went wrong we'd blame mama."  Here Tupac implies that the absence of a father figure, produced the same result even though the fathers in question were different, implying that it was his mother's influence that had a real effect.  Another instance of this occurs at the beginning of the second verse.


"Now ain't nobody tell us it was fair
No love from my daddy cause the coward wasn't there
He passed away and I didn't cry, cause my anger
wouldn't let me feel for a stranger
They say I'm wrong and I'm heartless, but all along
I was lookin for a father he was gone"

Here Tupac expresses both his gratification for all his mother has done, but also his dislike of the patriarchy that let him down.  He expresses his anger that he was abandoned by his father and never had the opportunity to meet the man.  Here, Tupac rejects the patriarchy, stating that he feels no sorrow for the loss of his father, because his father was never there for him and was a stranger.  By rejecting the value of the patriarchy, Tupac indirectly builds up the image of his own mother.  He goes on to say that even though he experienced so much strife early on in life that "my plan is to show you that I understand, you are appreciated."