Believe it or not, Tupac Amaru Shakur was a brilliant poet. So why weren’t any of the poems in The Rose That Grew From Concrete put into music. The Rose That Grew From Concrete is a book of poems written by late rapper Tupac Shakur. Poet Nikki Giovanni gathered his poems to help people understand that Tupac was loving, caring, and a great poet on the inside, but a thug, a good father and superb actor on the outside. Many of these poems are about relationships. One theme of the book is that life changes over and over again therefore, the only thing that matters is what you learn from the changes and what you do about them. Giovanni published the book to share Tupac's artistic writing and show people he was more than just some thug. Tupac is a lover and is very kind despite the gangbanger image.

Tupac’s poetic story begins at Bayside Elementary School in 1989. Around this time, Giovanni discovered Tupac and instantly saw that he had great potential as a writer. Tupac reveals his good and bad side.
My favorite passage is from the poem “The Rose That Grew From Concrete.” Tupac writes, “Did you hear about the rose that grew from a crack in the concrete? Proving nature’s laws wrong it learned to walk without having feet. Funny it seems but by keeping it’s dreams it learned to breathe fresh air. Long live the rose that grew from concrete when no one else even cared.” This quote speaks to me because it reminds of a newborn child who comes into this world not knowing anything and nature(society) wants it to be a typical human being killing, fighting, and disrespectful to others. But it proves people wrong and wounds up being a high and mighty business executive.

The effect this book had on me was very life changing many of the poems were very deep. Since reading the book, I have somewhat of a new outlook on life and how I should live it I want to be an amazing writer when I grow up and this book has pushed me to better myself so that I can make my dream a reality. I would recommend this book to anyone who loves poetry and is aspiring to be a writer. This book has a very inspirational hook that you just can’t resist.