Topic: Upward Mobility

2 chapters across the catalog

75: What U Gonna Do Cuzz
1:07:11 - 1:10:12

75: What U Gonna Do Cuzz

Tupac Shakur, 1992 Interview on Economic Payback

A 1992 interview clip of Tupac Shakur features the rapper discussing the need for economic help and "payback" for Black Americans to achieve self-sufficiency. Mo Facts notes that the message of being denied upward mobility remains consistent from the 1960s through the 1990s. He warns that America is ignoring a growing class of disenchanted, out-of-work young men.

47: Killer Wasp
1:46:55 - 1:51:22

47: Killer Wasp

American Caste System and Upward Mobility

America and Australia are described as having roots as penal colonies for Europe's "waste people." The American caste system allows for some upward mobility, but those who ascend often "pass" into WASP culture and distance themselves from their origins. The debate over reparations is framed as a national debt owed by the state rather than a personal grievance between individuals.