Shelley Park's Song 'Dear Mama'

Shelley Park critiques the biological bond between a mother and child as a romanticized “circular logic” that proves the idea that women are naturally nurturing. This romanticisation exemplifies that the bond between biological mother and child is stronger than any other bond. We see this in “Dear Mama” a song recorded by the late rapper, Tupac Shakur. His example not only serves as an example of a queer mono-maternalism but also ties in with Park’s biological essentialism hypothesis. Which states that the human nature of giving birth is a innate and natural essence. In other words, women were put on this Earth to give birth and that’s it.

Effects of Romanticisation
One of the main arguments that Park discusses is the effect that this romanticism
In the song, Tupac exclaims, “ And even as a crack fiend, mama
You always was a black queen, mama.” Even as he identifies his mother as a fiend, Tupac still values her love and even praises her. This may be in part to the fact that he came from a single parent household. In America, there is a relatively high percentage of black households headed by single moms. Carrying the baby in the womb, the biological relation, and the physical resemblance the single mother plays in their kid's life are what ultimately leads to them achieving a status of an eternal and unconditional symbol of love and nurture. Tupac also fits this mold, we see this as we analyze one of his interviews about the making of Dear Mama “ "Why do you think I wrote 'Dear Mama'? I wrote it for my mama because I love her and I felt I owed her something deep” He did not think twice about whether she should write a song in her honor which shows that his love for his mom was naturally occurring and was something that went deeper than bad