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Hip-Hop, at its very foundation, has always been more than beats and rhymes — it has been a vessel for survival, resistance, and rebellion.
Born in the Bronx during the 1970s, the culture emerged as a way to channel poverty, oppression, and sociopolitical strife into creative expression and communal strength. That defiant spirit mirrored, and in many ways carried forward, the ethos of the revolutionary movements that preceded it.
The music and the figures behind it were spiritual successors to the Black Panther Party and Black Liberation Army of the late ’60s and ’70s, organizations that dared to empower young people of color to challenge authority, reclaim their dignity, and speak truth to power.
Among the most iconic figures to emerge from that revolutionary era was Assata Shakur. Born Joanne Chesimard in New York, she became active in activism during her college years, first joining the Black Panther Party before transitioning to the Black Liberation Army.
Outspoken and unyielding in her defense of Black lives, Shakur became a polarizing figure in the eyes of the American government.
In 1973, she and two other BLA members were involved in a violent shootout with New Jersey State Troopers on the New Jersey Turnpike. One officer was killed, another was wounded, and one of the BLA members was fatally shot.
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Though Shakur maintained her innocence, she was convicted of first-degree murder in 1977 and sentenced to life plus 26 to 33 years. Two years later, she staged one of the most famous prison escapes in U.S. history, ultimately finding political asylum in Cuba in 1984.
While the FBI branded her a fugitive and threat to society, Hip-Hop embraced her as something far greater: a freedom fighter, a survivor, and a symbol of uncompromising defiance against systemic oppression.
Considered an “aunt” to the late Tupac Shakur, Assata was revered not only by her nephew but also by countless artists who found in her story a reflection of Hip-Hop’s own struggle — marginalized voices fighting to be heard in the face of power.
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Her revolutionary spirit continues to echo through the music, referenced in verses and honored in interviews, a reminder that Hip-Hop is inseparable from the struggle that birthed it. To this day, Assata Shakur remains a beacon of love, resilience, and pride for Black people — a figure whose life, though fraught with controversy, has forever shaped the cultural consciousness of Hip-Hop.
Following her passing on Sept. 25, 2025, at the age of 78, she leaves behind not just a legacy of resistance, but a blueprint for artists who dare to stand defiantly against the forces that seek to silence them.
In celebration of her life and legacy, VIBE highlights more than 50 artists who kept Assata Shakur’s name alive in exile through their music. These lyrics and displays of homage will continue to resonate and introduce her to future generations of listeners and potential revolutionaries.
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2Pac
Image Credit: Steve Granitz Archive/WireImage “New Afrikan Panthers, America’s nightmare/ Mutulu Shakur, America’s nightmare/ Geronimo Pratt, America’s nightmare/ Assata Shakur, America’s nightmare.” – 2Pac, “Words of Wisdom”
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“Assata Shakur?”/ Another auntie, I miss her though/ Please thank Mr. Castro for keepin’ her safe bro/ How many more of us die before we can see the light/ It’s time brothers work it out, unite for a bigger fight.” – 2Pac, “Tearz of a Clown”
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Nas
Image Credit: Jamie McCarthy/Getty Images for Tribeca Festival “Y’all dudes will never see me down/ Reading everything, books and body language/ Du Bois, Baldwin, and Chavis/ Assata, John Hope Franklin, Angela Davis.” Nas, “Stay Chisel”
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“Football wives, basketball wives/ Mistresses slash more tires with knives/ They lookin’ for a dollar/ I’m lookin’ for a JoAnne Chesimard to turn to Assata.” – Nas, “Royalty”
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Killer Mike
Image Credit: Jamie McCarthy/Getty Images) “When I surface on the streets I can hear the crowd yelling/ And see the neighborhood snitches pointing and telling/ I’m bailing like a felon or Assata Shakur/ Before the law leave me stinking like a bag of manure.” – Killer Mike, “Don’t Die”
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“The U.S. government has a million dollar bounty on the head of Assata Shakur/ Y’all ni**as go on the internet, check that sh*t out, man/ That was Pac aunt, she in exile right now in Cuba/ Don’t let them bring our mamas home man and put her in no cage/ Just a little consciousness for all y’all wanna be rap trap motherf**kers.” – Killer Mike, “Long A** Outro”
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“Thick with her a**, she in some Betty Shabazz, pretty as Coretta Scott/ All that I got, she got the face of a model/ She got the heart of Assata/ She from the gutter, my ni**a/ Wife and a mother, my ni**a/ Winnie Mandela, my ni**a.” – Killer Mike, “Down By Law”
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“Black lives matter? Then prove it/ Grab a black Glocker, make them coppers face the music/ They try to tell me, ‘Mikey, but your papa was a copper’/ I tell ’em, ‘Suck my d**k because my auntie is Assata’/ And then I double down and tell them something twice as hard/ Jesus is a fraud, the black woman is god.” Bobby Sessions featuring Killer Miker, “Black Neighborhood”
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Common
Image Credit: Rebecca Sapp/Getty Images for The Recording Academy “In the Spirit of God/ In the Spirit of the ancestors/ In the Spirit of the Black Panthers
In the Spirit of Assata Shakur/ We make this movement towards freedom/ For all those who have been oppressed/ And all those in the struggle.” – Common, “A Song For Assata”–
“My man went to Cuba/ Caught in a political triangle, Bermuda/ The same way they said she was the shooter/ Assata Shakur, they tried to execute her/ I went to Cuba to see her/ We should free her, like we should Mumia.” – Common featuring JAY-Z, “Open Letter Pt. II”
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“Child of a fresher God/ Influenced by the life of the former, Joanne Chesimard/ Assata Shakur, I gotta do more/ The light-skinned spook who got in the door/ I got in here for the same thing Cassius Clay uses pottery for.” – Common, “Pyramids”
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Rapsody
Image Credit: Emma McIntyre/Getty Images for Billboard “I came through the rain, and I came through the thunder/ I push through the pain; I’m laughin’ at summer/ My hell was way hotter—I feel like Assata/ Escape with my truth; I came back like Nirvana.” – Rapsody, “Back In My Bag”
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“Nobody know nada/ We all know the fate of Assata if Cuba don’t harbor/ Nobody know I’m harder on myself than lonely fathers/ Watching Mrs. Parker, these days nobody know who authored/ Rhymes of rappers on carpets.” – Rapsody, “Nobody”
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“Bullets burn; they Holocaust us, ashes to our daughters/ Pray our sons have granddaughters and live to be grandfathers/ Dedicated to Assata, broke our fourth chakra/ In memory of the Rasta who forewarned us for Breonna.” – Rapsody, “He Shot Me”
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Black Thought
Image Credit: Dimitrios Kambouris/Getty Images for GQ “Dear white people, I am not your negro/ Yeah, Black people, y’all just got your hero/ All these rap demons I’m about to Deebo/ Me and Assata, my ATLien alter ego.” – Sa-Roc featuring Black Thought, “The Black Renaissance”
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“It’s a long drawn out saga, like The Godfather/ Coming up this hard, it made a n**ga rock solid/ Now I be the top shotter, heart of a Rottweiler/ The boss that learned to move cautious as Assata.” – DANGERDOOM featuring Black Thought, “Mad Nice”
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Public Enemy
Image Credit: Dimitrios Kambouris/Getty Images
“Flow on, the project, the pop off/ Low tempo to go off/ COINTEL better go to hell/ Bout that time hear the bell y’all/ Gotta lotta nerve never knowing Assata/ Gotcha mind wading in the water.” Public Enemy – “Gotta Give The Peeps What They Need” -
Talib Kweli
Image Credit: Bryan Bedder/Getty Images for Ozy Fusion Fest 2017 “The highest caliber make it a night to remember like Shalamar/ Then escape to Havana with Assata I do what I gotta/ Planes get shot down in Cuban air space over the water/ I got insight it’s a clear case of reading your aura.” – Reflection Eternal featuring Yasiin Bey, Mr. Man, “Fortified Live”
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“She’s earth, wind and fire, don’t tempt her to show her power/ Turning all weeds to flowers/ Looking into her wise eyes will make a blind man see/ How can you dare name a eurocentric girl after me?/ Assata Shakur Barbara Jordan Nikki Giovanni and Angela Davis/ Look it up!/ These are the real symbols of liberty.” – Talib Kweli, “Manifest Destiny”
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“I got love for every artist, I’m more than just a product/ I’ve been a prisoner, see Mumia, I’ve been to Cuba to see Assata/ Way before Mr. and Mrs. Carter went on a dinner date/ I had to send the lyrics ahead of time before I hit the stage.” – Talib Kweli, “5AM In Brooklyn
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Dead Prez
Image Credit: Evan Agostini/Getty Images “This is for Mumia and Sundiata, Herman Bell, we got ya/ Mutulu Shakur, we want you free with Assata/ And Giuliani, yo, you can swim with the lobsters/ I hope you mobsters lose your livers to the vodka.” – Dead Prez, “Together”
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“Yes, they really invading your home/ And if you’re really looking for Assata Shakur/ She right here, it’s me, her and 2Pac over here having a beer/ Cheers, a toast to a lovely revolution/ What’s hush hush they know what we doing.” – M1, “Confidential”
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Fatal Hussein
Image Credit: Johnny Nunez/WireImage “Roddy shot Yak, Mu took the Shahada/ I had another baby girl, and I named her Assata/ Her middle name your last name, her family tree/ I can’t help but think where we would be.” – Fatal Hussein, “Letter To Pac”
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“If I don’t make it home tonight/ Kiss Assata and tell her daddy got it on tonight/ If it’s meant to be I be back the same way she was sending me/ And I ain’t gotta finish the century, gotta ’em history.” – Fatal Hussein, “Blocka Blocka”
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Sean Price
Image Credit: Mike Lawrie/Getty Images “Slap a, bi**h boy knock his tooth out his grill/ Sean Price be the truth in the ‘Ville, listen/ If ya, knock on my door I’m cockin the four/ Great escape from the law like Assata Shakur.” – Sean Price, “King Kong”
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Shock G
Image Credit: Earl Gibson III/Getty Images “Afrika Bambaataa, Miles motherf**king Davis/ Sister Assata Shakur, once known as Joanne Chesimard.” – Digital Underground, “Heartbeat Props”
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Rome Streetz
Image Credit: Gary Gershoff/Getty Images “Went platinum off the product to pay the rent, and cop the Prada/ My bi**h a model but she down to pop it like Assata/ Vow to let no snake in the grass divide us/ Dip the bogie in the juice if they tryin to buy dust.” – DJ Mugg featuring Rome Streetz, “Ace Of Swords”
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Sa-Roc
Image Credit: Paras Griffin/Getty Images for BET “They try to censor me, instantly on a hundred/ Named Assata, makes sense I’ma be the most wanted/ Wanna send for me, got the sentry on the hunt/ With that rrah soundin’ like a freaking symphony, son.” – Sa-Roc, “40 And A Mule”
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“I ain’t new to this profession, I’m established in it/ Any challenge to the status quo would be a cataclysm/ Cuz I’m Assata with the good hair-9 ether/ I have em pissing lemonade when I arrive eager.” – Sa-Roc, “Queen Ting”
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Kxng Crooked
Image Credit: Tiffany Rose/Getty Images for Smoke Big Documentary “Conspiracy theories fueled the rumors/ Slaughterhouse faked they death and moved to Cuba/ Yeah, they with Assata now, the group is not around/ Ni**as went solo like Bobby Brown.” – KXNG Crooked, “Sorry”
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Styles P
Image Credit: Paras Griffin/Getty Images for ESSENCE
“They say payback’s a motherf**king ni**a/ That explains why I’m sick of getting treated like a goddamn step-child/ Living like Assata, I’m an exile/ Gotta climb out of my skin, just like a reptile.” – Styles P, “Cause I’m Black” -
Flatbush Zombies
Image Credit: Johnny Nunez/WireImage “My grandfather, he live through me/ In the night, sometimes I feel like his voice is talkin’ to me/ Connected to a higher power, they couldn’t find me like Assata/ Weh dem a do like Mavado, and I’ma shoot if I gotta.” – Flatbush Zombies featuring RZA, “Quentin Tarantino”
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JID
Image Credit: Kevin C. Cox/Getty Images
“Y’all need some lovin’ in your life/ A little Giovanni by your side/ A little of Assata’s all I need/ A little bit of Angela Davis and Ruby Dee.” – Alkebulan, “W4R” by JID & 6LACK featuring OG Maco -
Stephen Marley
Image Credit: Ethan Miller/Getty Images “It’s foul how the youth glued to the television/ Ain’t heard of Assata but twitter following Paris Hilton/ It’s only right we want to be more than poor and righteous but/ Even the rich today can’t ignore the crisis in Babylon.” – Stephen Marley, “Babylon”
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Freddie Gibbs
Image Credit: Dimitrios Kambouris/Getty Images “Prick my finger, Alfredo, Illuminati/ Joe Pesci, pushing product/ You ni**as is sweeter than Joe Exotic/ On the run like Assata, so f**k the police/ As a ni**a be chillin’ in La Habana.” – Freddie Gibbs & The Alchemist, “1985”
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Yasiin Bey
Image Credit: Arturo Holmes/Getty Images “All our loved ones behind the walls/ All of those still in the struggle/ Assata, Mumia/ Sundiata/ My man Jamil, life is real/ To all the real soldiers, black people/ We family, y’all Let it be bright.” – Yasiin Bey, “Sunshine”
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Vic Mensa
Image Credit: Paras Griffin/Getty Images for BET “Rockin’ Prada leathers bought my chick a Saffiano/ Gelato in the fronto, it’s thick as a Cubano/ Touched down in Havana, just to holla at a Assata/ When they stop me at customs, I know nada.” – Vic Mensa, “Clipse Freestyle”
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Billy Woods
Image Credit: Facebook “Is that stupid or gangster?/ Is that flight or bammer?/ Mumia, if I had a hammer/ You’d be with Assata in Havana.” – billy woods, “High Treason”
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“Temple Grandin, keep the cattle calm/ Side-saddle, took Carrie to the prom/ Joanne Chesimard, windows open, nights warm/ Power cuts, no ice, so the cuba libre’s strong.” – billy woods, “Smith + Cross”
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Noname
Image Credit: Emma McIntyre/Getty Images for Coachella “We seen ’em murder the indigenous, the Passage Middle/ The Constitution, a life for a bag of Skittles/ So when we bleed, I load the sacred pistol/ And if you need, I’ll read Assata with you/ And if you rich, I pray that God forgive you.” – Anderson .Paak featuring Noname, “Lockdown (Remix)”
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Nick Cannon
Image Credit: Robin L Marshall/Getty Images for ESSENCE “This for Rosa and Coretta, Assata and Loretta/ Betty, Roseta, Angela, Mahalia/ Dr. Bethune, Sojourner, she the truth/ I do it for the culture, the new Oprah in the booth.” – Nick Cannon, “The Invitation Is Cancelled”
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Smino
Image Credit: Paras Griffin/Getty Images for BET)
“Silk the chakra, I’m tuned in with Assata/ From womb, been a lil prodigy/ New boo, like Rapunzel/ I love her the long way like PeeWee/ Spit shine like kiwi, for a hour, it make life more easy.” – Smino, “Black Luv Ain’t Dead” -
Arrested Development
Image Credit: Monica Schipper/Getty Images for The Recording Academy) “Freedom is our right, we demand that/ Possessed with the spirits of the Black Panthers/ The MOVE Organization/ Nat Turner/ Assata/ David Walker.” – Arrested Development, “Pride”
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Denzel Curry
Image Credit: Dia Dipasupil/Getty Images “Anti-American, I’m pro-Assata/ Write rhymes like a scholar, all about a dollar/ Dollar equals Allah, put away the scouters/ You won’t see my power, this your final hour.” – Denzel Curry, “Hate Government”
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Grand Puba
Image Credit: Johnny Nunez/WireImage “Now if this falls short, I’ll try harder/ A wisdom to me is someone like Assata/ I’d like to say peace to Bambaata.” – Grand Puba, “Brand Nubian”
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Paris
Image Credit: Raymond Boyd/Getty Images “So many things that I seen on tour/ Took a trip down to Cuba, met Assata Shakur/ Had dinner with Fidel, talked about hard times/ And now America’s steady tryna destroy minds.” – Paris, “Check It Out Ch’All (Alternate Version)”
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“We the same thang/ That’s why the media is givin’ us the same names/ Convicts strikin’ Assata, the same game/ Settin’ up the same circumstances in the barrio and in the hood ’til we gangbang.” – Paris, “One Gun”
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Saul Williams
Image Credit: Jason Mendez/Getty Images “Yeah, I became militant too/ So it was clear on every level I was blacker than you/ I turned you on to Malcolm X and Assata Shakur/ In my three quarter elephant goose with the fur.” – Saul Williams, “Black Stacey”
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Saigon
Image Credit: Brad Barket/Getty Images “They said all I had to do was just follow the for-/Mula you does, and you gon’ be popular boy/ See, what they fail to realize is I rhyme for the cause/ And got the same mind frame as Assata Shakur.” – Saigon, “The Game Changer”
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Blu
Image Credit: Chelsea Lauren/WireImage “Al Sharpton, Fred Hampton, Oprah Winfrey/ Barack Obama, Assata Shakur, Tupac Shakur, Biggie/ And everyone else creating black history/ That lives with me everyday, until I’m gone.” – Blu & Exile, “Roots Of Blue”
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“Yeah and ain’t an artist as pure behind bars like Assata Shakur/ Slap cops, peace to Zsa Zsa Gabor, tell ’em pardon my gore/ Had flashbacks, started a war/ What a loss got caught in a storm.” – Blu, “BeGo(o)D!”
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Killah Priest
Image Credit: Roy Rochlin/Getty Images
“Taught to pray hard, he would answer/ But he never answered the prayers from the Panthers/ From Stokely Carmichael, Geronimo Pratt, Assata Shakur/ We adore.” – Killah Priest, “The Beloved (DJ Wool Remix)” -
Meshell Ndegeocello
Image Credit: Roy Rochlin/Getty Images for Tribeca Film Festival “If you desire to be confrontational like Sojourner Truth/ If you wish to be audacious like Audrey Lord, antagonistic like Angela Davis/ Gangsta like Winnie Mandela, angry like Assata Shakur/ Come roar with us in the corner, sit beside us in schools/ Chant with us in church, vote with us and for us at the pole.” – Meshell Ndegeocello, “Tsunami Rising”
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Chino XL
Image Credit: Alberto E. Rodriguez/Getty Images
“I took a deep breath leaving everything I knew behind/ The country air, the green grass and my piece of mind/ Harassed by white cops on our way, we’re pulled out our car/ Mistook my mom for Joanne Chessimar, now I’m really scarred.” – Chino XL, “What Am I?” -
Blackalicious
Image Credit: Rick Diamond/WireImage “I am the might of common law/ Kumbaya Chronicle/ Got piranha flow/ Jungles beside a hole/ Songs that Assata told Geronimo Pratt.” – Blackalicious, “Aural Pleasure”
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Mr. Muthaf**king’ Exquire
Image Credit: Roger Kisby/Getty Images “Start out with her brain/ Not so that she’s trained but to make sure that she’s sane/ Funny like Kim Wayans/ But strong Assata Shakur.” – Mr. Muthafucking’ Exquire, “Build A Bi**h”
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MARCO PLUS
Image Credit: YouTube “Black panther in the booth, Fred Hampton picked my suit/ And then I smoked a spliff with Huey and Queen Assata did my hair/ Yo team silent, we the livest up in here/ So keep quiet cuz I speak knowledge but I preach violence up in here.” – MARCO PLUS, “Lately”
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Lowkey
Image Credit: Martin Pope/Getty Images “Men make them, but the women get harmed in wars/ I pray for a heart as pure as Assata Shakur‘s/ We put them down, but on the pedestal we should put them/ Behind every good man, there’s a good women.” – Lowkey, “Something Wonderful”
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Marlon Craft
Image Credit: Johnny Nunez/WireImage “We live in a time when something’s gotta be more/ Where everyone who post a meme is Assata Shakur/ Where we live on explore pages but don’t gotta explore/ And everything they got in store, they done got in a store.” Marlon Craft, “Bars On I-95 Freestyle”
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Brother Ali
Image Credit: C Flanigan/Getty Images “Trying to open eyes, organize, and build power/ I know all about the hell I’m trying to get out of/ Two million dollars on sister Assata’s head/ It’s when you really get it poppin’ that they want you dead.” – Bambu featuring Brother Ali & Odessa Kane, “Illuminotme”
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Nick Grant
Image Credit: Paras Griffin/Getty Images for Universal Studios “If I take this peace sign, and I aim it at the coppers/ Would they take me for a threat, or just lay me out unconscious?/ Can’t explain this to my mamma/ No relation to Assata/ But these women strong and black, they been this way since a minor.” – Nick Grant, “Window Seat”
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Cambatta
Image Credit: Johnny Nunez/WireImage “Aim it at their black 750 arm strong and steady/ Let off one shot for every song on the Makaveli/ I’m sorry for your mom Afeni/ I like your aunt Assata heavy/ If you live I hope you go to Cuba/ I hope they got my million dollars ready.” – Cambatta, “Tupac Murder Confession”
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Jasiri X
Image Credit: Roy Rochlin/Getty Images for Tribeca Festival “See Trump then gun but him now he’s really deaf/ That light skinned rapper blacker than Biggie’s neck/ Militant hardcore like them boys in Quantico/ With Assata in the chopper coming to close Guantanamo.” – Jasiri X, “P.O.W.E.R.”
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Jamila Woods
Image Credit: Bennett Raglin/Getty Images for Slow Factory “Sojourner was a freedom fighter/ And she taught us how to fight/ Assata was a freedom fighter/ And she taught us how to fight.” – Jamila Woods, “Blk Girl Soldier”
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Truck North
Image Credit: YouTube “It’s automatic/ The devil calls it magic/Nah this ain’t no Harry Potter more like Garvey and Assata/ Tussle with wicked warriors from Africa to Georgia/ Watts to Copenhagen, slaughter pagans up in Persia.” – Truck North & The 3rd, “Out There”
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Zion I
Image Credit: Miikka Skaffari / Contributor “Yo, renegade rap writer/ Cadillac rider/ Track inside, I spray verbal Mac hot/ Blast the gat, lick a shot/ Then run like Assata/ Head to the hills, post no bills Don Dada.” – Zion I, “Target Practice”
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Elucid
Image Credit: YouTube “The Wi-Fi name is Assata Is Safe Here/ The pass code transposed and notated between kick and the snare/ For whosoever believe, feelin’ Beastie, Paul Revere/ It’s all gone square, sand shiftin’, a brief history.” – Armand Hammer, “Tread Lightly”
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Bambu
Image Credit: Instagram “And later as I grew up/ I found more connection in a book than in the hood I grew up/ Girls I used to fuck with used to bug/ When I request that we skip the DVDs and grab Assata off the shelf.” – Bambu, “Books”
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PHZ-Sicks
Image Credit: X “My Angela Davis. black women/ My Nikki Giovanni, black women/ My Michelle Obama, black women/ My Maya Angelou, black women/ My Assata Shakur, black women/ My Josephine Baker, black women.” PHZ-Sicks, “Black Women”
