Recent Conversation

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.