I’ll admit right now that I don’t know a whole lot about rap*. Especially Tupac. I could name two or three songs by him at most. But the way the media just won’t let him die, it makes me wonder if he was truly some sort of revolutionary, or is he just a martyr figure good for making some posthumous cheese? Especially with the movie about him out now, I see specials on MTV with rappers commenting on how he was some sort of rap savior or that he was just so real and tru and I don’t even know what.
All of this reeks of classic media overrating to me, but I really don’t know. Can any hip-hoppers on the Boards shed some light on this? Was Tupac really that good?
*I do have several hip-hop CDs, but it’s mostly underground stuff like Aesop Rock, Non-Prophets, and El-P. But I wasn’t around during Pac’s glory days, nor am I at all familiar with his work, so I can’t say either way about him.
I’m not a big rap fan, either. My tastes kind of stop after LL’s Radio. But I do know Tupac was a huge talent, often imitated, never duplicated. He didn’t invent gangsta rap, but he sure helped it get as big as it did.
I was around for Tupac, and, to tell you the truth, I never thought much of him. He was a “sensitive” rapper, people loved him cause he was a bit different from the rest, but I’m thinking much of the respect he gets can be attributed to dying young.
Even before his death he was recognized as a good actor, with a lot of potential. I think that, if he lived, he’d probably be one of the more famous black actors now, and might be producing music in a new genre by now, if he was still doing music at all.
He was also a very good rapper, though not the best in my opinion.
I’m no rap expert, but Tupac was probably one of the best rappers to ever live. He was like the Beatles or Metallica of rap, and although a lot of people on these boards are quick to point out they’re “above” this kind of music, he was a revolutionary in his own right, even if you choose to ignore his influence.
ProjectOmega, I challenge you to change my mind and tell me exactly what was so great and revolutionary about Tupac. I’m going to say right away that it was not his poetic ability or his flow, and you can dispute that, but please show some examples.
I’m not really a fan, but he had a pretty good flow, and was an excellent lyricist at times. It’s a shame he was weighed down by the bland production - those sensitive soul samples didn’t serve him at all well.
Definitely overrated, imo. I think it’s more that his life followed a James Dean-like dramatic arc that catapulted him into legend status. I think Biggies was a much more talented and influential rapper
Okay. If you don’t like rap, I’m not sure there’s much we can do. It’s like someone trying to explain the virtues of insert influential country music star here to me. Whether Tupac is “overrated” or not is probably mostly a matter of opinion. I agree that some of the hoopla is probably due to the live-fast die-young thing that both he and Biggie fell into.
On the other hand, a lot of people like his voice and his lyrics. He was definitely a charismatic performer. A lot of his stuff went beyond the shallowness of most commercial rap, and it connected with a wide audience.
So like him, don’t like him, whatever–it all comes down to taste, anyway.
And don’t knock Humpty! Digital Underground was the bomb.
I really don’t think he was overrated. I love his music (yes! I called rap music!) and I think he had a certain je ne sais quoi that I don’t see in other rappers.
I listen to a lot of rap, and Tupac was, in my mind, one of the greatest.
2-Pac was from the east coast. Respect your Baltimore roots, my brother!
Anyway, 2-Pac was okay. But the really overrated one was Biggie. That man had no flow and was a total monotone.
