Strangely enough, I think if I had to compare Lord Byron’s life and work to someone that’s more our era, I would compare it to late rapper Tupac Shukur. Tupac Shakur as you probably already know was a famous rapper that was slain more than a decade ago. He was famous for being a ruthless gangsta rapper that rapped from the mean streets of the ghetto. They seem like completely different people right…well maybe not as different as you may think.

True, one made a living rapping while the other wrote poetry, but if you think about it, what is rap? It’s poetry with a beat. Tupac was actually a poet before he was a rapper. When he was young he went to an art school and picked up poetry there. He loved writing poetry and always did it in his free time. But he soon realized that poetry would probably not get him that far nowadays because it’s not very popular, not to mention not very popular with the fellas. So he turned to something that could get him somewhere and was socially acceptable to the people he hung with. And it was rap. Now say you put Lord Byron in today’s society. I bet there’s a pretty good chance that we might have had another Eminem on the scene.

Another similarity in the lives of these two was there personal life. While they were at the top of their games professionally, they both seem to run into problems personally. While Tupac was on the scene killing it with his music, he got charged with rape and sodomizing a girl at a party along with three of his buddies. He had to do prison time for it. And there were many other legal problems that he got into with different people he was with and the police and so on. So just like Lord Byron getting into trouble through the public eye, Tupac did the same.

Another very distinct similarity between the two was how they died. Both died of unnatural deaths and because of that both died before they should of. On September 13^th, 1996, Tupac died of gunshot wounds suffered in a drive-by shooting. He died at age 25, as Lord Byron died at 36. Both not the usual life spans a person should have. As they were similar in the way they lived, they were also alike in the way they died.

And last but not least, the fame. Both were extremely famous during their era, for doing basically the same thing. Although tupac rapped about the harsh times he faced on the streets, and being gangster and all that, he also had a soft spot. He rapped about his love loses and about being lonely and about women. That’s exactly what the majority of Lord Byron’s poems and books were about. They were loved and admired for their craft, and both won many awards during their time. While Lord Byron was voted Talent of the Century, Tupac is considered by many to be the best rapper that ever lived. Now if you look at all that these two accomplished and the way they lived, besides skin color, you have to admit that these two very different individuals...actually are not that different at all.