R.I.P. Tupac Amaru Shakur

He was shot on Sept. 7. He died on Sept. 13.

 

My all-time favorite Pac song is California Love (not the crappy, slowed down album remix version). It's not his best work, lyrically, but his verse on that song really captures the emotion and passion Pac rapped with.
It's also a personal favorite because it brings back all kinds of memories form college. When that song comes on and I'm with my best friends (all 30-something, middle class white dudes), we lose our fucking minds. We did some serious partying with that song as part of the soundtrack.

Terd's other fave's (in no order):
Me & My Girlfriend (a clever ode to his gun, but didn't he kind of rip off Nas on that one?)
Hit 'Em Up
To Live & Die In L.A.
2 of Amerikaz Most Wanted
I Ain't Mad At Cha
Ghetto Gospel
How Do U Want It
Dear Mama
Keep Ya Head Up
Troublesome
Death Around The Corner
Wonder Why They Call You Bitch*
*side note: I met C. Delores Tucker, one of Pac and rap's harshest critics, and debated the merits of rap music for about 30 minutes one afternoon 10 or so years ago. She wanted me to send her a college paper I'd written defending rap music, but, truth is, I didn't have the sac to do it.
Anyway...

 

Delores Tucker, you's a motherfucker....


Anyway, I'm with farmerj. How Do You Want It is my runaway favorite.

My friend Michelle and I would walk through campus doing our own version of the intro to "Ambitionz as a Ridah" One of us would do the four low bass beats, then the other would do the high pitched notes afterward. Then we'd throw in the beat. It passed time walking to our job calling people for donations to scholarships.

 

Yo, he's not lying. I've seen the dude. He looks JUST like Pac.

 

How could I forget Life Goes On?

My all-time favorite verse. Any genre. Period.
Can't explain how hard it hits me. Or why. Don't ask.

Bury me smiling'
with g's in my pocket
have a party at my funeral
let every rapper rock it
let the hos that I use to know from way before
kiss me from from my head to my toe
give me a paper and a pen
so I can write about my life of sin
a couple bottles of gin
In case I don't get in..
tell all my people I'm a ridah

 

Two whole pages and no love for Pac's best song, It Ain't Easy?

Uhhh, it ain't easy, that's my motto, drinking Tanqueray straight out tha bottle,
Everybody wanna know if I'm insane, baby momma got a mind full of silly games,
And all the drama, got me stressin cuz I'm hopeless, I can't cope,
Me and the homies smoking roaches, cuz we broke...
Late night hangin' out till the sunrise, gettin high, watchin' the cops roll by,

You know it ain't easy..

Edit: Terd -- that' probably my favorite Pac verse, too. But I like the beat on It Ain't Easy better.

Nobody cries when we die, we outlaws, let me ride,

 

i hate what rap music has become and pac had a lot to do with sending it that direction....

but i can't deny the guy was a rap genius, the illest of the ill....

gangsta party...
troublesome...
heartz of men....
picture me rollin'....

are just a few of his classics..

it's stupid to even mention biggie in the same sentence with pac.... having said that, biggie had his moments...

going back to cali...
they pray for my downfall....

both of these wannabe gangsters got what they asked for... it's too bad they were too filled with anger and stupidity to use their talents in a more productive manner.

 

One of my favorite verses:


Tell me is it cool to fuck?
Did you think I come to talk, am I a fool or what? (which I always thought was "your mouth full or what?)
Positions on the floor it's like ironic, erotic
cause I'm somewhat psychotic
I'm hittin switches on bitches like I been fixed with hydraulics
Up and down like a roller coaster, I'm up inside ya
I ain't quittin til the show is over, cause I'ma rider
In and out just like a robbery, I'll probably be a freak
and let you get on top of me, get up off your knees.

 

Life Goes On is great, but not even the best verse on that disc of that album:

I hear the doctor standing over me
screamin I can make it
Got a body full of bullet holes layin here naked
Still I, can't breathe, somethings evil in my IV
Cause everytime I breathe, I think they killin me
I'm having nightmares, homicidal fantansies
I wake up stranglin, danglin my bed sheets
I call the nurse cause it hurts, to reminisce
How did it come to this? I wish they didn't miss
Somebody help me, tell me where to go from here
Cause even Thugs cry, but do the Lord care?
Try to remember, but it hurts
I'm walkin through the cemetary talkin to the, dirt
I'd rather die like a man, than live like a coward
There's a ghetto up in Heaven and it's ours, Black Power
is what we scream as we dream in a paranoid state
And our fate, is a lifetime of hate
Dear Mama, can you save me? And fuck peace
Cause the streets got our babies, we gotta eat
No more hesitation each and every black male's trapped
And they wonder why we suicidal runnin round strapped
Mista, Po-lice, please try to see that it's
a million motherfuckers stressin just like me
Only God can judge me

- Only God Can Judge Me

 

You obviously never really listened to his music? Going Back to Cali is just some stupid radio song.

Machine Gun Funk
Gimme the Loot
Who Shot Ya?
Kick in the Door
10 Crack Commandments

 

wow. these lyrics y'all postin' got me headed for my ipod.... just think if these dudes would rap about stuff uplifting...