Jerry Foxhoven was fired from his job at Iowa’s social services agency after quoting Tupac too much. Here are some of the rapper’s best lines to use at work

This article is more than 1 year old

This article is more than 1 year old

What role should the late, great rapper Tupac Shakur play in the day-to-day life of a public servant? It’s a question 66-year-old Jerry Foxhoven, until recently the director of Iowa’s social services agency, might have mixed feelings about.

Foxhoven was ousted from his post in June the day after sending an email containing Tupac lyrics to employees of the Iowa department of human services.

Facebook Twitter Pinterest Jerry Foxhoven, the former director of Iowa’s human services department and self-confessed Tupac superfan. Photograph: Charlie Litchfield/AP

For those in the know, this wasn’t an uncommon occurrence. A renowned Tupac superfan, Foxhoven was known for sending emails to his colleagues that included lyrics from Tupac’s songs and for hosting listening parties – dubbed “Tupac Fridays” – in his office. He even celebrated his 65th birthday with “thug life” frosted cookies. It’s just that this time, the email went to all 4,300 staff.

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While it might seem incongruous for a white bureaucrat in his 60s to stan the 90s hip-hop legend, a closer look at Tupac’s work reveals a social poet whose work is remarkably compatible with the everyday office grind. Here are 10 lyrics and quotes from his oeuvre that won’t – hopefully – get you fired.

1. “How long will they mourn me?”

How Long Will They Mourn Me?

It seems not long at all in Foxhoven’s case, but who hasn’t wondered aloud to colleagues, often and insecurely, about your intra-office legacy? No? OK. Me neither.

2. “There’s no way I can pay you back / But the plan is to show you that I understand / You are appreciated”

Dear Mama

Tupac was talking about his mother, but this line works equally well for managers who are unable or unwilling to offer above-minimum wage increases to their staff.

3. “Picture me inside the misery of poverty / No man alive has ever witnessed struggles I survived”

Thugz Mansion

A helpful negotiating counter to the above.

4. “Let’s change the way we eat / Let’s change the way we live / And let’s change the way we treat each other”

Changes

Changes is perhaps Tupac’s most elegant track. A profound critique of race relations in the US, and a stirring indictment of injustice. It also sort of sounds like an HR manager talking about the new ergonomic chairs and hot-desking system.

5. “Don’t blame me / I was given this world I didn’t make it”

Keep Ya Head Up

Useful for failed projects, missed deadlines, basically anything for which you’re trying to shed responsibility.

6. “Just got the message you’ve been calling all week / Been out here hustling on these streets, ain’t had a chance to speak”

Unconditional Love

Tupac’s answer to “sorry I missed you, I’ve been tied up in meetings”.

7. “Our future is our confidence and self-esteem”

In this quote from a 1996 interview, Tupac’s belief that your own self-worth will be society’s measure of your value sounds weirdly like the heading of a Powerpoint presentation about meeting KPIs.

8. “The seed must grow regardless of the fact that it’s planted in stone”

The Rose that Grew from Concrete

Tupac emerged from a difficult upbringing through the Digital Underground – an American alternative hip-hop outfit from Oakland, California – and, like this line, much of his oeuvre relates to making something from nothing.

Also good for convincing the intern to take on a project you know has no way of succeeding.

9. “Please don’t cry, dry your eyes, never let up / Forgive, but don’t forget, girl, keep ya head up”

Keep Ya Head Up

Tupac went through several tumultuous chapters in his personal life; prison, gun violence (obviously) and that time a teenage Rashida Jones dissed him in an open letter published in the Source. Through it all, though, his lyrics never wavered on calling out social injustices and reframing them as life lessons for other black youth.

This line, in which he exhorts his audience to persist through dark times, is also useful when awkwardly encountering a colleague crying in the stairwell.

10. “They’ve got money for war but can’t feed the poor”

Keep Ya Head Up

Extremely deep. Perfect for Christmas parties.