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Talk of Tupac: The Art of Speaking

Posted by Stephanie Robertson on March 3rd, 2010

My sophomore year in college I shared a semester of my life with a school that I was not too thrilled about. I was a top student in Speech class, not because of my interest in public speaking, but because I thought that the English language was simple to repeat in presentations. We were given an assignment to write a speech about a famous person who we had great interest in. My assignment was for the field of music. On my shortlist was Elton John, Bonnie Raitt, Fleetwood Mac and Tupac Shakur. Who was my choice? The obvious lone ranger, Tupac. I chose Tupac for many reasons. Initially it was because I had poetic respect for Tupac’s lyrical expression. I thought he was a genius of his art form. I also concluded that my classmates knew very little of his musical talent and I knew for sure that my teacher was uncultured to his reputation. The deciding factor for my Tupac decision was that the first year anniversary of his death was approaching. What a perfect sign.

For weeks I read unauthorized biographies, studied old BET and Yo! MTV Raps videos and footage and dedicated my time to the old fashioned Dewey decimal library research. I wrote an incredible tribute that would have made Tupac smile.

It was speech day and after hearing stories of bore and blah, I delivered this magnificent Tupac speech full of passion and confidence. I wish you could have been there. It may have been the greatest speech in that college’s history. If there was any grade higher than an “A” I knew it would have been created especially for me, changing the grading scale system forever. A week later when I got my grade I was astonished to discover that Tupac and I received a “D.” My presentation skills received an “A,” but my topic received an “F.” Can you believe it? I won’t go into how I staged a protest in front of the science building and how I initiated a student council petition. Now that I am older I have identified the reasons why I was slighted. Let this be a lesson to you in the art of speaking.

Lesson #1 – Consider your audience: My audience was not acclimated to the greatness of Tupac. Had I gone with my second mind and reintroduced the audience to the eccentricity of Stevie Nicks then I would have received an “A.” Neither my teacher nor my peers were in a position to receive Tupac into their life at that time.

Lesson #2 – Speak of relative interest: My classmates had no interest in Tupac. Had I presented a topic that was of interest to my audience then they could magnetically related their interest with my speech. The moment I said “Tupac” they started making paper airplanes from their Mead spiral notebooks.

Lesson #3 – Never explain, always emphasis: An extraordinary speaker does not explain the topic. He/she knows that their audience is there for a specific reason. Instead of explaining the reasons, the speaker emphasizes the points that complement the reasons. The moment someone said “Who is Tupac” I knew that I was in trouble. If done with precision, I should not have had to explain who Tupac was. My time would have been more useful emphasizing his talent rather than explaining it.

Lesson #4 – Take risks: If given the opportunity to do it again would I have chosen Tupac? Yes! I traded my “A” in exchange for bringing more awareness to the life of Tupac Shakur. Sometimes in order to develop a solid speaking presence you need to leave the comfort podium and venture out into the unknown. I would like to think that if I was able to touch one life when they walked out of that speech class then it was worth it. Consider me a musical martyr.

Not long after the experience, I decided to part ways from that college. I could see that was not the atmosphere which embraced my unique personality and perspective. Now I speak of topics less interesting than hip hop yet more adaptable to the quality of my audience. Lesson learned thanks to Tupac.

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