R.I.P. Tupac Amaru Shakur

clubber, i listened to biggie. he was way overrated. probably doesn't even crack my top 10... too inconsistent...

when he was alive, pac never put out a song that made you want to "fast forward." that's old school for those of you who don't remember listening to music on casette tapes..... biggie would have 3 or 4 nice songs per album...

 

I think Pac is better than Biggie, too. I'm just taking issues with the songs you choose to epitomize the man's work.

That's like me saying "That Jason Whitlock sure is a medoicre columnist" and quoting your posts from SportsJournalists.com.

I was just giving you the real shit.

 

I don't know why, but one of the radio stations here has been playing "Juicy" a lot. I've heard it at least once a day for about the past two weeks. And I don't listen to the radio that much.

 

Since a lot of people have probably never heard this song:

2pac - Pain
http://www.sendspace.com/file/1uwsq0

Ignore that dude rapping in the middle. Wish I could just slice him out of there. If this song sounds familiar, it's becuase it's the song at the end of the credits of "Above the Rim." However, it was never on the CD version of the soundtrack, only the tape. So it's like an analog-era gem. Before the mp3 crazy was insanely sought after by Tupac fans.

 

No mention of Brenda's Got a Baby?

 

Nope.

 

I'm about to burn my Pac greatest hits, and I'm making a last-minute switch - removing the newer "Ghetto Gospel" with Elton John in favor of "Smoke Weed All Day." A lot of people haven't even heard of the song, but it's excellent IMHO.

I was absolutely floored at the number of Pac t-shirts I saw walking to my first class this morning. And there aren't even that many students on campus at 7:30 a.m.

 

If they had rapped about things uplifting (and at times they did with songs like "Dear Momma") all the time, they would have had a pop culture impact totaling exactly ZERO. Art imitates life more than life imitates art.

And most great poetry (or at the very least a vast amount of great poetry), which is exactly what this is, is conceived out of hurt, depression, confusion, pain and trouble dealing with life: Tupac, Edgar Allen Poe, Eminem, Walt Whitman, Shakespeare (did it all) and the list goes on. Yes, you can counter with some more uplifiting poets like Frost or Maya Angelou, and they all have their place, but pop culture and world influence in poetry and writing has been more greatly driven by words of men (and women) with tortured souls who wrote tortured words.

 

Sigh....he was thug rapper with multiple arrests who wrote mysogonist, violent lyrics. Get over it. A hero he ain't. And if you think he was anything more than an entertainer, you need to get a life. And I say this to anyone who glamorizes Lennon, Elvis, Morrison or Joplin the same way.

They weren't presidents, kings, queens, popes or saints. They were musicians who died, some by their own hand or because of their lifestyle (drugs, alcohol, etc.). If they meant something special to your youth fine. If their music touched a life or two fine. But let's not go declaring national holidays or minting quarters.

 

I've read some ridiculous posts. That might take the cake.

 

Who did that? We were quoting lyrics and talking about favorite songs. Oh, the horror.
Me think you're wound a little too tight, buddy.