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