Page 4 • The Battalion
ASS ieli f e
Thursday • December I pday
Z-Rock hits Aggieland
By Rob Clark
The Battalion
T here’s a new tune
on the radio waves
in Bryan-College
Station. Z-Rock, a
24-hour national
rock station, started
broadcasting last
week on the 101.9
FM frequency.
In a news release,
Carolyn G. Vance
said the station is
geared toward the
adult audience ages
18-34.
Vance said sur
veys were conducted
on the Texas A&M
and Blinn campuses
during the spring
and summer semes
ters.
“We found the
true rock format was
not being met by any
station currently
serving the Ag
gieland area,” Vance
said. “In fact, some
Rapper shot five times, checks out of hospital same day
Robyn Calloway / Thk Battalion
Bill Vance, Brett Vance, Mike Fitch,
Cylinda Walker and Carolyn Vance
in front of Z Rock’s satellite dish.
stated ‘We must listen to the local rock station by default.’”
Z-Rock has a different style of programming than most
radio stations. There are no disc jockeys at the station. In
stead, it is a national format, with the radio shows in Dallas
and Houston being broadcast at the local affiliate station.
NEW YORK (AP) — Rap star Tupac
Shakur, whose “gangsta rap” lyrics echo
his own violent way of life, was shot five
times in a robbery Wednesday, a day after
a jury began deliberating sexual assault
charges against him.
He was listed in serious but stable con
dition at Bellevue Hospital with gunshot
wounds to the hand, head and groin. After
undergoing surgery, Shakur checked him
self out of the hospital against medical ad
vice, said hospital spokesman Larry
Dugan.
“He was in satisfactory condition” when
he left early Wednesday evening, Dugan
said. He had no more information about
Shakur’s medical condition.
The sequestered jurors at his trial were
unaware that the 23-year-old musician
and actor and his manager had been
wounded and robbed of $45,000 in jewelry
shortly after midnight in the lobby of a
recording studio.
Police said the gunmen apparently did
n’t know the identity of their victims. But
Shakur told police he believed the as
sailants knew him and were after him,
said a police source who spoke on condi
tion of anonymity.
Shakur and another man, 24-year-old
Charles Fuller, are on trial on charges of
sodomizing and sexually abusing a woman
in their New York City hotel room last
year.
Neither was in court Wednesday, and
Judge Daniel Fitzgerald told the jury that
“circumstances beyond their control” were
responsible.
“Please don’t hold it against them in
any way,” Fitzgerald said. The jury retired
for the night Wednesday without reaching
a verdict.
Shakur, who has the words “Thug Life”
tattooed on his torso, has faced criminal
charges five other times since March 1993.
In 1992, then-Vice President Dan
Quayle urged record chains to remove his
album “2Pacalypse Now” because of lyrics
condoning violence against police.
In his new video “Natural Bom Killaz,”
Shakur — who starred with Janet Jackson
in the movie “Poetic Justice” and also ap
peared in “Above the Rim” — plays an offi
cer who guns down fellow rappers Dr. Dre
and Ice Cube.
Police said Shakur lost a large diamond
ring and an assortment of gold chains in
the holdup at Quad Recording Studios.
According to police, Shakur and his
three-man entourage were followed by two
robbers into the building, where a third
robber was waiting.
“Anybody who was going into that
building at that time was going to be
robbed,” said Assistant Police Chief John
Hill.
Shakur was shot when he refused the
gunmen’s order to get on the floor and
lunged for one of their guns, police said.
Shakur’s manager, 24-year-old Freddie
Moore, was shot in the abdomen and
chased the gunmen into the street before
collapsing, police said. He was listed in
stable condition.
Six months ago, Shakur spent 15 days
in jail for assaulting a video director. Two
Tupac Shakur
weeks earlier, he was held overnightl
weapons and drug charges. Last year,:
was charged with assaulting a limousj
driver.
Once his trial is finished, Shakure
return to Michigan to serve 10 days:] va | c
menacing a fellow rapper with a based
bat during a 1993 concert. Charges w]
dropped in a shootout last year withti
off-duty officers in Atlanta.
Police on Wednesday found a clip i
15 rounds of ammunition and threekj
of marijuana in Shakur’s jacket at then
bery scene. No charges will be filed:
cause he wasn’t wearing the coat, saidt
lice spokesman John Miller.
Shooting of Shakur indicative of plague of violence in the gangsta rap worlif
Rob
Clark
W ednesday’s shooting of gangsta rapper Tu
pac Shakur was ar devastating blow to the
rap industry. Shakur is a
gifted rapper, mixing
tales of urban violence
with social consciousness.
And Shakur has made a
huge splash in the
movies, scoring with stun- Aggielife Editor
ningly charismatic perfor
mances in “Juice” and
“Poetic Justice.”
But it seems that life imitates art once again
when it comes to gangsta rap.
Shakur is no stranger to trouble with the law.
Charges of resisting arrest in 1991, a brawl with
film directors Albert and Allen Hughes, charges
of shooting two off-duty police officers in At
lanta, a sexual assault case in New York.
Shakur’s rap list is about as graphic as his most
violent rap songs.
But then again, Shakur is not alone in his
troubles. Snoop Doggy Dogg is still pending tri
al on murder charges and Dr. Dre was recently
sentenced to jail time for (among other things)
taking the police on a high-speed chase in his
Ferrari.
So why are gangsta rappers so attracted to
violence?
Simply put, most hardcore rappers come from
an environment of violence. A world where gang
warfare is rampant, drug abuse is the norm and
a place where 40-ounces and blunts replaced
books a long time ago.
In the February issue of VIBE magazine,
Shakur said his young life was one of fear.
“Hell, I felt like my life could be destroyed at any
moment,” he said.
But rap provided a way out for Shakur and
other young black men. Rap talent paved the
road from the ghetto to stardom. Money, girls
and success was at stake now.
Perhaps the escape route of rap stardom isn’t
an escape at all.
Fame, riches and the adulation of millions is
something Shakur never experienced growing
up in the ghetto. The harsh world of poverty
and racism has suddenly been replaced by top
ten singles, successful videos and sold-out per
formances.
And there is no question that some of
Shakur’s raps are undeniably violent. The most
graphic case is “Souljah’s Story” from his 1991
album “2Pacalypse Now.” Shakur tells the tale
of a shootout with police officers — “Keep my sh-
t cocked, ‘cause the cop’s got a gloc too / What
the f—k would you do? Drop him or let him drop
you? I chose droppin’ the cop.”
Indeed, the shocking imagery of songs such
as these is undeniable.
But there is another side to Shakur’s music.
For all the misogynists in the rap game, Shakur
displays a rare respect for women in his music.
This was best portrayed in his 1993 hit “Keep
Ya Head Up.”
“Since we all came from a woman, got our
name from a woman and our game from a
woman /1 wonder why we take from our women,
why we rape our women, do we hate our
women? /1 think it’s time to care for our women,
heal our women, be real for our women.”
Now there is no question Shakur has put
himself in many a dangerous situation and has
made bad judgment in several cases. But he
still has not been convicted of a major charge,
like murder or rape.
Can Shakur stay out of trouble? “What do
they want me to do?” Shakur asked in the VIBE
interview. “There’s not a place called ‘Careful.’”
Shakur found that out Wednesday as the five
bullets tore into his body. But he was lucky.
He’s going to live. Yet the image of violence
seems to be permanently branded on the rap in
dustry.
There piay not be a place called ‘Careful.’
But if rappers would learn to explore solutions
to violence in their raps and keep violence out of
their personal lives, perhaps then they could
keep their heads up.
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From Tupac Shakur’s 1991 album “2pacalypse Now
The Perfect Gifts
for Your Aggie
Graduation
or Christmas.
Citizen
Watches with
Official A&M Seal
Gold-Tone $179 95
Two-Tone $159 95
Quartz Movement. 3 yr. Wananty. Water Resistant.
*Call for Quantity Prices
4.0 and GO Art
700 E. University Dr. Suite 108
Behind Golden Corral and Blockbuster Video
(
Finals Schedule
SAT 12/03
SUN 12/04
MON 12/05
TUB 12/06
WED 12/07
THR 12/08
3-6
ACCT 230
Test I &
New Material
ACCT 230
Test II &
New Material
3-5
ACCT 230
Test I & New Mat.
ACCT 230
Test I & II & New Mat.
ACCT 230
Test II & New Mat.
11-2
MATH 152
New Mat. & Reviei
pm
5-7
BANA 303
Test I & New Mat.
BANA 303
Test II & New Mat.
BANA 303
Test III & New Mat.
2-5
ACCT 229
New Mat. & Reviei
6-9
ACCT 229
Test I &
New Material
ACCT 229
Test II &
New Material
7-9
ACCT 229
Test I & New Mat.
ACCT 229
Test II & New Mat.
ACCT 229
Test II & New Mat.
5-7
BANA 303
New Mat. & Reviei
pm
9-11
MATH 152
Test I & New Mat.
MATH 152
Test II & New Mat.
MATH 152
Test III & New Mat.
7-9
MATH 151
New Mat. & Reviei
9-12
MATH 151
Test I & II
& New Material
MATH 151
Test II & III
& New Material
11-1
MATH 151
Test I & New Mat.
MATH 151
Test II & New Mat.
MATH 151
Test III & New Mat.
9-11
ACCT 230
New Mat. & Reviei
pm
9-11
FINC 341
With Lil Dave
FINC 341
With Lil Dave
FINC 341
With Lil Dave
9-11
FINC 341
With Lil Dave
Tickets for Finals will go on sale Saturday at 2:00 p.m. Math 141 classes will be offered the weekend between exams.
For questions call 846-TUTOR (846-8886)
John D. Huntley 79 is
also an official authorized
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ORDER FORM
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I Gift
Price
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John D. Huntley, Inc.
313 B. South College Ave.
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409-846-8905
Texas Residents add
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