Pac's Life final album cover

[antfirex]

Why can't they keep the original 2Pac font! That font is like his signature, it shouldn't be changed. Thats the one thing that bugged me about the Loyal To The Game cover.

 

[DeeezNuuuts83]

Why can't they keep the original 2Pac font! That font is like his signature, it shouldn't be changed. Thats the one thing that bugged me about the Loyal To The Game cover.

Um... the original 2Pac logo is NOTHING like his signature, much less anybody's handwriting. But yes, they should've kept it beyond RUSD... all the following albums that didn't use it would've looked better with it, plus it serves a purpose, much like brand recognition... the same reason why Nas always uses his "NaS" logo, why Bone Thugs uses their logo in their variation of the Beckett font, why Wu-Tang always uses the W, etc. Clearly whoever works for Amaru Records wasn't paying attention in their marketing or advertising classes, granted they went to school beyond 8th grade.

 

[antfirex]

Um... the original 2Pac logo is NOTHING like his signature, much less anybody's handwriting. But yes, they should've kept it beyond RUSD... all the following albums that didn't use it would've looked better with it, plus it serves a purpose, much like brand recognition... the same reason why Nas always uses his "NaS" logo, why Bone Thugs uses their logo in their variation of the Beckett font, why Wu-Tang always uses the W, etc. Clearly whoever works for Amaru Records wasn't paying attention in their marketing or advertising classes, granted they went to school beyond 8th grade.

You misunderstood me, I meant it is like a signature, you know, like when you see it, you know it's pac. Exactly what you said, like a brand. I didn't mean his actual signature looks like that.

I think the cover would look much better if it used the original font:

 

[THA_DAN]

Clearly whoever works for Amaru Records wasn't paying attention in their marketing or advertising classes, granted they went to school beyond 8th grade.

lol, true.

but at the same time, makaveli had a totally different concept than the other 2pac albums, and albums before MATW were also a different concept. not like if it was meant to be eternal. i'm not too much against it, and i think this cover is dope. of course it's white again, but i think it fits well with the idea of this album.

 

[antfirex]

lol, true.
of course it's white again, but i think it fits well with the idea of this album.

And thats another thing, its to much like the Loyal To The Game cover, they need a whole new approach.

 

[DeeezNuuuts83]

You misunderstood me, I meant it is like a signature, you know, like when you see it, you know it's pac. Exactly what you said, like a brand. I didn't mean his actual signature looks like that.

Ah, I see. Nice album cover rendering.

but at the same time, makaveli had a totally different concept than the other 2pac albums, and albums before MATW were also a different concept. not like if it was meant to be eternal. i'm not too much against it, and i think this cover is dope. of course it's white again, but i think it fits well with the idea of this album.

I see what you mean, but the Makaveli album itself wasn't supposed to follow hip-hop's trends or Pac's own trends either. Remember, the albm concept overall (not just musically) was supposed to be more underground, hence the very simple layout (painting over a cardboard-looking background with just a folded insert as the CD booklet without any pictures) which actually turned out to be quite artistic in the end. It wasn't an indication of where Pac's artistic direction was heading toward conclusively; I prefer to think of it as an extention of his creativity, testing the waters of territory he had never visited as an artist.

Yes, the album covers before Me Against the World were different concepts, but the covers after it were as well. It's not the fact that Amaru Records is using different concepts; it's just that the concepts they choose to use lack creativity and style, with the exception of the Until the End of Time cover, which I thought was very tasteful. It's difficult to subjectively judge a lot of those pre-Me Against the World album covers, seeing how those were created almost 15 years ago, at a time when computers weren't in every household, so those who had resources to make album covers were far lower in numbers, and those who could do it didn't have stuff like Photoshop and Illustrator, hence the simple covers of albums like 2Pacalypse Now.

I do think the album sort of fits the album title as you said, in the sense that it looks like Pac is in a more contemplative mode. The problem is that it's just so unprofessional. I figure that Afeni and whoever else come up with the album title, pick a picture, then say "Make the cover look anything except thugged out," and those are her only guidelines to her "art directors."

 

[THA_DAN]

^i agree they should come with another drawing next time. uteot was tight.

 

[KO]

Back in the day, we actually had semi-decent stuff coming out. While most OGs were better than the remixed songs, only a few of them were actually horrible and complete trash.

Out of the Amaru-released Pac songs:
Unconditional Love is basically the best quality OG that Amaru could attain
Troublesome '96 is pretty fucking close to the OG
Letter to the President is pretty fucking close to the OG (minus different Outlawz verses)
Teardrops and Closed Caskets is pretty fucking close to the OG (minus the "...in this world" line removed from the chorus)
Good Life is pretty fucking close to the OG (minus different E.D.I. verse)
Fuckin wit the Wrong Nigga is basically the OG
Runnin on E is pretty close to the OG

Releases in OG format (or at least close enough to where it's still basically the same thing) HAVE happened, though less frequently in recent years.

People were praising Eminem's beats? I don't remember that. I'm sure there might've been a few people who liked Ghost, but I don't believe that the majority was happy with the overall Eminem vibe of the Resurrection soundtrack songs. And Pac fans have every right to complain, whether or not it's Eminem. I understand your argument about beats, but the difference with E.D.I. producing (even though he was very close to Pac) was that he never really produced anything for Pac while he was alive... at least not many songs, if any at all. E.D.I. doing beats is far different from Daz, Johnny "J", QDIII or even Dre doing remixes, all of whom supplied music for Pac in the studio in the past.

People can complain about the album cover if they want. While I'm sure Amaru was going for a simple yet elegant cover (hence the plain white background behind Pac in a tuxedo), it looks too basic. The bootleggers from 1997 made far better covers than this. While album covers should never be the selling points of music, they could've perhaps spent another 10 minutes creating a cover. I'm very grateful about the music as well and I'll buy it no matter how bad the cover looks or who the producers are, but as a fan, I'm disappointed that the best-selling rapper of all time who was also one of the greatest overall can't get a decent album cover that utilized Photoshop or Illustrator rather than Mario Paint.

You made quite a few valid points there bro, I guess the answer is somewhere in the middle of our two opinions, people have a right to criticise, but I still believe that nowadays people criticise NO MATTER WHAT when it comes to Pac's new albums, I don't think there was an album cover in the world that coulda been posted in this thread without anyone bitching, but ya know, all this doesnt really matter, alls that matters is were getting a new Pac album and that sure as hell puts a on my face

 

[DeeezNuuuts83]

You made quite a few valid points there bro, I guess the answer is somewhere in the middle of our two opinions, people have a right to criticise, but I still believe that nowadays people criticise NO MATTER WHAT when it comes to Pac's new albums, I don't think there was an album cover in the world that coulda been posted in this thread without anyone bitching, but ya know, all this doesnt really matter, alls that matters is were getting a new Pac album and that sure as hell puts a on my face

Well, you're right as well. People will criticize no matter what, true, but I view it differently; it's just the fans pointing out pros and cons (even though recent Pac material has garnered more cons). Like when people talk about how much they hate the Swizz Remix of Untouchable, they are usually quick to also admit that the song will at least get play in the clubs. You can't really expect people to be 100% satisfied with any Pac release. I didn't even like the Makaveli album when I first listened to it (since it was far different from what I expected a Pac album to be like), but I learned to love it, and it is my favorite album of all time, and I'm sure others on this board know what I mean.

But on the contrary, there was ONE potential album that almost nobody bitched about. When Daz was claiming to drop the Makaveli & Dillinger album, everybody was raving about it. While the cover wasn't anything professional, it was still cool (and far more complex than the Pac's Life cover). And artwork aside, the songs used were dope, and the Daz remixes were ALL good, and while people wanted to hear the OGs, no one really hated on any of the Daz beats. The Intro was tight, Don't Go 2 Sleep was different from the "Halloween"-type beat but still dark, Let's Fight used a looped portion of the OG beat, First 2 Bomb used a sick ass beat, Um Dumpin still used a good beat (even though I didn't really like Young Assassins on there), They Don't Give a Fuck about Us was basically the OG, and the outro was a really sick concept of using the VIBE interview clips over that dark ass beat. I still listen to those songs on the regular in my car. Now THAT was a sick Pac album when it leaked.

 

[xxx]

i dont mind the cover at all... but i would love to see an additional cover (some artists offer 2 different covers) that is basically exactly the same, except in all BLACK and essentially the same 2pac stance (angle, standing to the side etc.) but in THUG/STEET CLOTHES.

that would be deep, since many thought Pac had 2 sides to him...

 

[21derful]

the cover doesnt bother me......

 

[ThugPound]

maybe it looks more like a single cover of LTTG
i would like 2 see pac with bandana this time

 

[ganderson]

maybe it looks more like a single cover of LTTG
i would like 2 see pac with bandana this time

Yes pacs bandana became one of his trademarks like when he is spitting wit the detroit red wings jersy on. Man I think pac must have started that bandana tied to the front I never seen nobody wear that b4 him. Hes def made to look too... MATW when that is nothing differant or new to us. I agree that some of the posthumos album covers have been really good (RUSD,SIR,UTEOT) but the last few have been very similar in colour sheme and style. I thought that mabey this time we would have had somthing diff but it seems that amaru have decided to stick with the same formula.

 

[2PacThug4Life]

After taking another look at tha cover, I saw that tha colors are xactly tha same too. I mean, come on. At least change tha damn colors.

 

[Rukas]

Horrible cover, it looks like hes on the alter about to get married.

Looks like hes on the set of I Aint Mad At Cha to me....

I like it, its the 10 year anniversary of his death, the cover is tasteful and it's what I picture Pac like in heaven.

 

[foreverballin]

that cover is wack, if i tied crayons to my dogs legs and told him to draw he cud do betta, no effort...

HaHa Classic man i burst out laughing in work.

I think the album cover looks cheap.. that's all and I get the feeling that this album will have 95 96 songs on it but the production of them is gonna be so crap that it's gona ruine everything..

 

[foreverballin]

ps: I think once again we are gonna be waiting a long long time before we see a OG cd..


all there is too do is drink until the part of the brain that creates mental pictures is dead, or for some nice people on the board to release OG's in pure original form.


-DrEd

 

[Brett]

It's ok, but too much live LTTG's cover. at least a change in colour schemes would have been good.

 

[Gambler]

the album cover is boring.... as most have said, it looks like something anyone could do in Paint Shop Pro Version 1.1 in less than 3 minutes!

don't know why the comparisons to Loyal to the Game - what because the cover has a white background? I thought the Loyal cover was actually quite decent ... this one ... terrible.