

She says that in a way, Tupac and hip-hop showed her who she was- and aims to do the same for black youth with The Hate U Give. While writing the book, Angie claims to have listened to Tupac’s words of wisdom for inspiration. If you read closely enough, you’ll notice that Big Mav is described to look exactly like the greatest- Tupac Shakur. And in case you missed it- Starr sports a bandana on the cover of THUG, which can only be attributed to ‘Pac’s signature look. In a way, Starr is a tribute to the life of Tupac, and the daughter he never had. Though Tupac never had a daughter, he always claimed that he would name his daughter Starr. When deciding on a name for her main character, Angie drew inspiration from The Greatest himself.

Though It’s obvious that that title The Hate U Give came from Tupac, there are many other hidden places in the book that Tupac inspired! Starr Carter So when I saw that in the video, it was like a sign.” Tupac and The Hate U Give We see it in the form of anger and we see it in the form of riots. When these unarmed black people lose their lives, the hate they’ve been given screws us all. When I when I saw him explain what it means, it hit me that that’s not just in my book, but that’s what we see in society. In an interview with Cosmo, Angie Thomas said “When we were trying to figure out a title for the book, I came across a YouTube clip of him discussing THUG LIFE. Get it?” – The Hate U Give by Angie Thomas Meaning what society gives us as youth, it bites them in the ass when we wild out. “Pac said Thug Life stood for “The Hate U Give Little Infants Fucks Everybody.
