I had a conversation recently about Biggie vs. Pac. I naturally (and incorrectly) assumed that Pac was widely considered to be better than seemingly more obsurce Bigge. Not so! The conversation started with this:
http://www.reuters.com/article/musicNews/idUSN0319369220080903
I have been quoted to say that Tupac was the greatest (read: most prolific) rapper of all time. Vibe, in 2004, made a similar statement. I will admit here, right now, after some thinking and research I was quite wrong.
Tupac's career was started by being a back-up dancer for these guys:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Digital_Underground
According to wikipedia, he studied acting, the arts, and ballet in high school:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tupac_Shakur
A lot of this missed me. I've never really studied Tupac, but just made the assumption that he was the best. Why do I still like him?
1. My first vinyl was Tupac's "Thugs get lonely too" for a dollar.
2. The song "can't C me" bangs so. damn. hard.
3. Tupac was the first rap I was every really into. I thought it connected on a more cerebral level to me than, say, Nelly. Which is does (compared to Nelly).
For that, I will always love Tupac. I think Blender made that statement to sell copies and not out of truth. What I DO think is that the fact that Tupac is the biggest selling rap artist of all time in ludacris (ok, pun a little bit intended there).
Three dates are important: 91, 93, 95, 96, and 96 again. He made 5 albums. Loyal to the Game, and Pac's Life (Shady's and TI's albums, more or less) are terrible. They still sold quite well. Pac's legacy lives on only to promote record sales. I mean, how many times you can sample lyrics from 5 CDs already somewhat void of content?
As a counterpoint, he does have several songs that I really enjoy (still):
1. (as noted above) "Can't C me" and "Thugs get lonely too"
2. California Love
3. To Live & Die in L.A. (such a great tribute)
4. Changes
5. Thugz Mansion
All bonified pop singles, but you really have to enjoy them.
I spent the weekend listening to some of the competition (from the same time period) Biggie and Mobb Deep. Though I don't think I truly understand the term, I think that a pragmatist could argue that Tupac's importance shouldn't be any greater than those two rappers (Biggie in particular).
I do understand the fame and importance of Tupac though in what he means to people though. He really is a symbol for a lot of people. For me though, you have to judge his music on his actucal talent. On flow alone, I think that Biggie completely owns Tupac.
Thoughts? I know this was kind of a ramble, today was exhausting.
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2 comments:
As a Pragmatist, Tupac is vastly suprerior to Biggie. Whether you like East Coast or West Coast rap, the issue here is influence, which can be measured as oppose to talent, which is something that we really can't quantify. I am willing to guess that Tupac has much higher sales than Biggie and ever since his death he has remained a topic of interest due to not only his humanitarianism, but also because of the relevancy of his lyrics. They take on much more relevant social topics in a more meaningful way and his works have also been considered poetic by Philosophers like Cornell West. You still see Tupac profiles on the other music channels while conversations of Biggie remain focused solely on his death and the East vs. West war that started it,,, not on his views of race and economic exploitation.
I think that Tupac is just better, Come,,, "How do you want it" best song ever. after these arguments are all said and done,, but I knew if I just said that Tupac was better you would say "Show me,,, homey"
That was terrible, but I did want to say that your comment on Come on Franco was worthy of a Clay Davis Sh!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!yyyy!!!!t
okay, I was thinking about it some more and I decided that I should clear up a few things about this.
#1 good music television like Palladia plays tons of 2pac and 2pac special interest stories,,,,, documentaries (the critical paper of the film language) that sort of thing. It almost never mentions Biggie, except as a turning point in the life of Puff.
Also, look at the legacy section of his Wikipedia page. My own listening has affirmed that he takes up the message of prominent African-American leaders such as Malcolm X and Martin Luther King Jr. and in fact, draws an important thread as a go-between the two, at times criticizing, affirming, and uniting the two views in the same song.
There's your "smart people say he is good" side of pragmatism.
#2 record sales and staying power. You can't argue with the numbers.
That's the other side of Pragmatic influence, pure, unadulterated hard statistics, as best we can put together.
As a Pragmatist you need concensus to make truth, and I would say that it is in.
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