The Rose that Grew from Concrete

Note: Although some versions of the poem appear without it, the original version has the word “autobiography” written under the title, suggesting from the very beginning that the poem is about Tupac. This guide therefore uses “the speaker” and “Tupac” interchangeably.

Tupac opens the poem with a question: “Did you hear about the rose that grew / from a crack in the concrete?” (Lines 1-2). It sounds like a question someone might say in conversation, and this repetition of the title adds to the feeling that this is an oral poem intended to be spoken or recited like Tupac’s rap lyrics. Since a rose growing from a crack in concrete seems unlikely, it piques the listener/reader’s interest. The contrast between the rose, a symbol of something beautiful yet potentially dangerous due to thorns, and the neglect and urban decay symbolized by the “crack in the concrete” (Line 2), further illustrate the poem’s autobiographical tone and its subject matter of inner-city survival.

The poem begins with a deceptively simple question, reminiscent of the opening to African American poet Langston Hughes’s famous poem “Harlem,” which also begins with a question—“What happens to a dream deferred?” While initially it’s unclear if Tupac is the speaker of the poem or if he is the rose, as the poem unfolds, the speaker reveals how the rose survives, thus confirming that Tupac is both the speaker and the rose and that, through symbolism, the poem’s metaphor of a rose applies to anyone. (Many writers, in fact, have depicted cities, especially inner cities, as “concrete jungles” where individuals either push through the dirt or perish. See Upton Sinclair’s The Jungle and Bertolt Brecht’s “In The Jungle of Cities,” among others. Julio Noboa Polanco’s poem “Identity," available here on SuperSummary’s website, also addresses the symbolism of flora pushing through dirt to thrive.)

After asking the opening question in the poem, Tupac provides the question’s answer: “Proving nature’s law is wrong it / [the rose] learned to walk with out having feet” (Lines 3-4). In other words, the rose learned to deal with what it didn’t have; in this case, proper soil, a garden, and someone to care for it like most roses have. On the figurative level, since the rose is Tupac, the lines suggest several things, especially when readers consider Tupac’s biography. For example, the rose not having “feet” could refer to Tupac as a young man not having stability. This stability could be financial, parental, or societal, due to early issues like poverty, gang violence, and drugs. But like the rose, Tupac was able to survive and thrive without having a so-called “solid” base.

Next, Tupac writes, “Funny it seems, but by keeping its dreams, / it learned to breathe fresh air” (Lines 5-6). Tupac was able to overcome the obstacles in his life through dreaming big, agency, and willpower. The words “Funny,” “dreams,” and “fresh air” in Lines 5-6 contrast sharply with the harshness and hostility of the urban environment from which both the rose and Tupac have come. Through hard work and determination, Tupac was able to overcome the odds stacked against him and become a superstar and ono of the most influential rappers of all time.

In the final couplet, Tupac writes, “Long live the rose that grew from concrete / when no one else even cared” (Lines 7-8). He salutes the rose, and the poem rises to an empowering, celebratory tone that concludes with a slant end rhyme, the words “air” (Line 6) and “cared” (Line 8). This causes powerful punctuation on the last lines. Tupac is toasting himself for his own resilience, and also raising his cup to salute other persons who have struggled but managed to survive, particularly Black people in America.