With ‘Still I Rise’ we have Pac’s first official group album after 94’s ‘Thug Life Volume 1’. As it is always the case with such albums we have more than one lyrcial protagonist. 2Pac, E.D.I., Napolean, Kastro, Kadafi, Young Noble are the six main-protagonists on this disc but they are accompanied by the same rappers they originally recorded the songs with in 1996, namely Big Syke and Storm. Fatal Hussein , as a matter of fact, also belongs to the main men of the album’s recordings but he has unfortunately been left out. Despite of that the album does not contain any big guest appearances – it simply concentrates on these few rappers who did their own thing in ‘96 with these recordings which three years later finally ended up being on a real album, even though having been remastered and slightly changed (but as even the harshest critics will admit - in a positive way!)
What kind of remarkable stuff do we find in the lyrics this time?
The album’s start is a direct and impressive address to the US system, to its politics, literally to the government! In ‘Letter 2 The President’ Pac states “I guess it’s cause we black that we targets” while E.D.I. is warning the Pres. by saying “Wanna ban rap ? Stand back, before you get hurt” with which he points out the government’s opposition against rap music and its impact. And also Kastro makes clear that Blacks will not accept the hard life conditions and the lack of respect for their folk from the government. “Til y’all show us you care, it’s gon be mayhem out here”. And also in this context we find the again-and-again repeated statement from Pac ‘”But we can’t find peace til my niggaz on the streets get a piece”, and also in ‘Tatto Tears’ Pac again says “How can we find some piece and niggaz aint get a piece”. Shortly, ‘Letter 2 The President’ is full of meaningful stuff, every verse is directed against the USA and depicts how life is like in the ghetto; just look at the original verses: “How you really aint know how this ghetto life go” (Kastro); “More niggaz in jail than baptized, for centuries, minority families had to stay lackin’ homeless shelters” (Mussolini); “Ask the Lord to put somebody in your seat that cares” and “Look what you made, lil kids getting sprayed” (both Mussolini); “We tired of being scapegoats for this capitalistic drug dealin” (Makaveli) and again Kastro “You got the C.I.A and we got our A.K.”. All those hints show the anger of those who suffer and their readiness to resist, to fight this system – Tupac and the Outlawz simply personify and represent what many go through in the ghetto. Thus, of course, this is something many people can relate to.
The follow-up to this astounding, powerful intro song is much more poetic but therefore non less impressive. In ‘Still I Rise’ we get a beautiful peace of rap muisc as far as the production is concerned but also its lyrics shine. Although barely someone would argue with the thesis that Fatal’s and Yak’s verses in the OG ’96 Big Body Sittin On Chrome’ belong to some of the greatest ever in rap (ryhme skills comparable with Big L’s and Talib Kweli’s) and although this proves that Tupac Shakur (despite of all the critics which the group ‘OUTLAWZ’ got over the last years) had indeed a nice taste for choosing ultra-talented rappers as his entourage and studio partners, there, nevertheless, have been put new verses into the song for the album ‘Still I Rise’. One of them is from Young Noble who spits “I used to hustle with my moms til the sun came” to explain how he started to get where he is today. The same does Tupac himself: He underlines in this song one of his greatest sites which is the ability of narration. After the intro-talking by Kastro which shall indicate that life is hard for ‘us’, Tupac steps in with a long-ass verse in which he plays the narrator about his life right from the start. He actually begins with picturing a sexual scene which implies to be the one he came to earth from (“I started as the seed the semon, swimmin upstream, planted in the womb while screamin, on the top was my pops, my momma screamin stop, from a single drop, this is what they got”…). He narrates about his adolescence “hope I get some money ‘fore I’m gone, I’m only 19, I’m tryin to hustle on my own” and then in the end there comes a beautiful sum-up, a self-reflecting analysis by himself , “I was born not to make it, but I did it, the tribulations of a ghetto kid, still I rise”. Here, one sees that he realized that he had been doomed and at the same time blessed already before his birth, and that he overcame life’s obstacles to be where he was in ’96 - namely “on top of the world” (see E.D.I. in Novakane’s ‘Our Life’).
I want to repeat that it is now very obvious that the group ‘Outlaw Immortalz’ was infact on quite a good level back in the day (1996): Verses like those from Fatal and Kadafi prove how lyrically marvelous they were – when, however, in this constellation of the group. Consider that all these recordings were done before any of the shocking losses for the group (Pac killed, Kadafi killed, Fatal terrified and locked up, Storm gone)…it makes you wonder: ‘Damn, they really were that great at that time, though these peops were merely adult at that point in history (Kadafi 19, Napoleon still a juvenile, Fatal ….etc). What I want to say is, this group really had potential, be it because of Pac or not, they definitely shined in Death Row’s studios. And then it is, at least for me, beautiful to hear Pac sayin in the intro: “Nigga Johnny J, studio full of motherfuckers” apealing to all the young dudes who rolled with him and who could ‘makin it happen’ in rap – together with him. This is a straight flashback in time – 1996’s Death Row’s raw roster – really untouchable. And I’m 100% sure, anyone of today’s rappers who deny to work with the Outlawz or all the Outlawz-critics in general – if they could listen to what the Outlawz sounded like 7 years ago - their judgement and evaluation on them would be of a different kind. Respect and amazement would replace prejudices and criticism, I guess. At least Fatal’s replaced verses as well as Kadafi’s apperances on tracks such as ‘Still I Rise’, ‘As The World Turns’, ‘U Can Be Touched’ assure that.
That Tupac was able to express such a strong determination in his lyrics can also be seen by his expressions like “I live the life of a thug nigga, and die for it” (‘Secretz Of War’) or “Down to die for everything I represent, meant every word in my letter to the President”. It shows that he really stood for something, that he took pretty much everything serious what he was talking about in his rap. It made him so credible and authentic.
Powerful meaning and impressive descriptions can also be found in most of Young Noble’s lyrcis on ‘Still I Rise’. “Freedom is ours, though we trapped on a firm block” (‘Still I Rise’) and “we already doin’ life on the streetz” (‘Secretz Of War’) are only two of the many parts where he got credit and respect for by the fans. These lyrics mainly contributed to the album’s success and to the respect and success which the Outlawz had gained from the fans through that it, “There is a war going on, and the President is in too” (‘As The World Turns’), “Outlawz we got our own race, culture, religion, Rebellin against the system, commence to lynchin, The President aint even listenin to the pain of the youth , We make music for eternity, forever the truth” (‘Black Jesuz’) – such lyrics brought the Outlawz credibility and great approval which are things some people claim the Outlawz have meanwhile lost.
Anyway, there are so many serious and grave topics adressed on ‘Still I Rise’ by the Outlawz and Tupac. In the religious ‘Black Jesus’ Yaki asks inquisitively “wonder how shit like the Qu’ran and the Bible was written, what is religion” whereas Kastro explains how hard it is for people in the ghetto to discover God when they are “trapped, black, scarred and barred, searching for truth where it is hard to find God” , when they are “so used to hard times and casualties” and when they “are hurt deep to have to sleep on the streets and haven’t eaten in weeks”. Again, absolutely stuff many people can relate to, especially in Black America.
Putting oneself in someone’s position is also what Tupac (and the Outlawz) do in the beautiful ‘Baby Don’t Cry’. Like in ‘Brenda’s Got A Baby’ Tupac describes the tragedy of a young black ‘ebony queen’ who had been raped and left with three kids on her own. Here, ‘Pac tries to describe her struggling and pain and tries to put himself in the girl’s position but he, himself, admits he “couldn’t answer such a horrible pain to live through”….I couldn’t picture three crazed niggaz grabbin me..” which shows that he even can not imagine bearing such a pain which the girl goes through and which shows how seriously he suffers with her and that he honestly feels pity for her (“even though it wasn’t me, I could feel the grief”). But then , and that’s what is so typical of Tupac, there comes his strong trait of characater which tells him NOT to give up, and so he encourages the girl to resist and adapt and NOT to quit (“Thinkin with your brains blown that would make the pain go – NO! You got to find a way to survive cause they win when your soul dies”. Now that’s Tupac the motivator, Tupac the inspirator. Women can feel that.
On the whole, this song again underlines Tupac’s sympathy for females, he sprays the same message here as he does in ‘Keep Ya Head Up’ which means to fight and not to give up no matter how hard life is. That is why the song which ended up as a single (since Amaru always tries to present primarily the positive sites from Pac to the public) has been named Baby Don’t Cry (Keep Ya Head Up II).
What is another interesting topic in the lyrics is how the Outlawz as a group describe their strap and bond with ‘Pac. While Napolean (who in my opinion serves the most simple verses and weakest rhymes of all on that album) claims “I ride or die for Makabeli the legendary war thug nigga” (‘As The World Turns’), Young Noble appeals to Pac’s much praised loyalty, “Makaveli The Don get a call y’all, turnin these streets into Vietnam” (‘Homeboyz’) which means that they really were there for one another and lived a la “You ain’t shit without your homeboyz” (see Pac in ‘All About U’ ‘never put a bitch before my friends’ – he really loved his true friends and loyalty is what was of paramount importance to him), “My homeboyz, the only thing a nigga got left, I love my niggaz to death”.
When talking about the arguably weakest-produced track on the disc (though produced by non other than Daz) I have to mention also this part of Pac’s verse: “Money made me evil, court cases got me stressed”. I find this quite self-reflecting and self-analysing from him and it makes you think that he did sense the trouble and stress he lived through in ‘95 and ’96. Furthermore, in ‘Hell 4 A Hustler’ he asks “am I sellin my soul” as well as “I live a trouble life”. Here, too, one can see that Pac was thinking a lot, also about himself and his persona. He was reflecting on his life which may be contradictory to what certain people mean when they say Pac didn’t realize how great he was. In ‘Killuminati’ he appeals to the media and the public’s bothering and labelling him a ‘gangster etc.’ and here again he is drawing conclusions from his life, “I’m certified crazy, so sick the world made me”. Words like these speak volumes about the Tupac's self-reflection in 1996.
In ‘Hell 4 A Hustler’ you can find the famously-used explanation by thugs in order to express their criminal mentality: in the chorus it says “It ain’t me, I was raised this way” which tries to excuse one’s own bad behaviour by pushing the real fault on their upbringing and environment. Pac and his posse must have felt the same somehow, at least as so far as to make an own track about it.
When considering ‘Still I Rise’ as one of the rap albums with the most impressive and highest content value, one is obliged to mention ‘The Good Die Young,’ too. This song is like the penacle to everything before. Praising the ‘Only God Can Judge Me’ lifestyle Pac raps “who are we to say who lives and die, breathes and stops , All this judgement on other lives needs to stop” – once again blaming and attacking the US system with laws like the death penalty. In this song every single verse is powerful – powerful because revealing. Napoleon takes us back to the first years of his life where he lost his family (“I was raised in a rush without my moms and my father”) (and so he does in ‘U can be touched’ (“needed my parents, but they were never there for me”), Kastro and E.D.I. encourage society to change (as Tupac does in ‘Changes’) with “It’s time something is done, for our young kids, they growin’ homeless, that aint the way to live”, “put your hustle down my young dealers…It’s time to plan, plot and strategize, capitolize, mobilize, we in the war y’all”. It is a song with a real message. E.D.I.’s appeal to society goes even so far as to remind people on their responsibility for the next generations: ”it’s plain to see, the seeds from you and me, Gon’ be the ones to lead us towards unity, That’s if we treat them right, man, teach them right, Raise your kids better than you was and see what it does”. ‘The Good Die Young’ reminds one on that one interview Pac did where he talked about all the great men in history who all tried to change something for the better and who all ended up being killed (= died young).
The song ends with a OG-Pac style of outro in which he says his dedications to “all the fallen soldiers” and where he once again is keeping it real.
The same is done at the end of ‘Teardrops and Closed Caskets’ which shines as a ballad. It is a narration of a triple-love relationship: Lil Mo & Lil Trigga used to be closest homeboys but when it comes to the same girl (Precious) they end up killing each other. This story is supposed to depict yet another tragedy in the ghetto. Just take a look at this metaphorical song title and you quickly recognize that it was Tupac who named the record that way.
What else do we got in the rest of the album ? In ‘Tattoo Tearz’ Pac makes a short appeal to the ‘One Nation’ camp when mentioning “Makaveli The Don, Greg Nice” in the intro. What is pretty interesting is the part where he raps “my military mind make me hustle all the time, go out for cash makin”. Reading this you recognize how true that is. He always said how he suffered from poverty and how he liked to ‘get paid’ (in order to avoid such poverty) and I think now where he had the chance and opportunity to make records, to ‘sell words’ he tried everything to use that as much as he could. He was so to speak motivated by it cause he knew how painful it is to be poor, he knew it by first hand. So that way it is explainable why he adapted that military attitude – because he represented discipline and strength to achive one’s goal. He became a work-a-holic.
In ‘U Can Be Touched’ Pac warns all the youngsters who “think they can make their pay ”too in a rush” and tells them to “better slow down cause they can be touched”. What ‘touched’ can mean is then explained solely by the Outlawz who do the verses while Pac only does the refrain. And it is Noble who puts it straight at the end when he says “Look and learn, next it could be your turn’ – as a matter of fact this song, too has the next BIG meessage, namely that no body is safe from painful strokes of fate.
In the final track called ‘Y’all Don’t Know Us’ the Outlawz (without Pac) have all new verses in an all new song which is not from the ‘96 era. The song is an attempt to extinguish certain rumours and prejudices towards the Outlawz, “I heard this and heard that, about them O-u-t-l-a-w-z, some of them soldiers got shot, some of them soldiers fell off” (Noble). Well, if you think you see it was quite a clever move from the group to add this song to the album because since they get a wide audience they use this opportunity in order to put certain things straight. There is an interesting part in E.D.I.’s verse where he raps “Remember what Pac said, Watch the fuckin signs, But we wasn’t listening, Too busy trippin off his shine’ – did they mean their long-lasting, Sept-13th-followed ‘incarceration’ on Death Row Records? I think one can barely doubt it.
To sum up, the Outlawz and whoever else was involved in selecting which tracks to be put on that album, in fact, did a great job when you go for lyrical content, powerful and impressive lyrics, messages and appeals – they choosed handsomely. In other words, they grabbed out the right songs from the wide bottle of their unreleased recordings with Pac to create a CD and album which to this day is seen as a masterpiece and definitely ahead of all other Outlaw albums so far.
I believe that despite all the first-class production handled by Johnny J, QD3 and others, especially the LYRICS play an huge and important role when talking about the greatness of the album. The strong lyrics with all its messages and appeals, with all its direct reality-descriptions are definitely part of the explanation why this album got so much success and positive resonance among Pac’s fans and also rap fans in general.
As I used to do it, I let Pac speak for the very end again. As far as the searching after alive-clues is concerned all alive theorists might have shininge yes when they first read the lyric to ‘Killuminati’ or just listened to that song. Tupac literally: “Hard to kill nigga, cause I’m comin back like Jesus” – as for this 1999 album he certainly did because that ‘Still I Rise’ is, was and ever will be a diamond.
‘Still He Rises’
What kind of remarkable stuff do we find in the lyrics this time?
The album’s start is a direct and impressive address to the US system, to its politics, literally to the government! In ‘Letter 2 The President’ Pac states “I guess it’s cause we black that we targets” while E.D.I. is warning the Pres. by saying “Wanna ban rap ? Stand back, before you get hurt” with which he points out the government’s opposition against rap music and its impact. And also Kastro makes clear that Blacks will not accept the hard life conditions and the lack of respect for their folk from the government. “Til y’all show us you care, it’s gon be mayhem out here”. And also in this context we find the again-and-again repeated statement from Pac ‘”But we can’t find peace til my niggaz on the streets get a piece”, and also in ‘Tatto Tears’ Pac again says “How can we find some piece and niggaz aint get a piece”. Shortly, ‘Letter 2 The President’ is full of meaningful stuff, every verse is directed against the USA and depicts how life is like in the ghetto; just look at the original verses: “How you really aint know how this ghetto life go” (Kastro); “More niggaz in jail than baptized, for centuries, minority families had to stay lackin’ homeless shelters” (Mussolini); “Ask the Lord to put somebody in your seat that cares” and “Look what you made, lil kids getting sprayed” (both Mussolini); “We tired of being scapegoats for this capitalistic drug dealin” (Makaveli) and again Kastro “You got the C.I.A and we got our A.K.”. All those hints show the anger of those who suffer and their readiness to resist, to fight this system – Tupac and the Outlawz simply personify and represent what many go through in the ghetto. Thus, of course, this is something many people can relate to.
The follow-up to this astounding, powerful intro song is much more poetic but therefore non less impressive. In ‘Still I Rise’ we get a beautiful peace of rap muisc as far as the production is concerned but also its lyrics shine. Although barely someone would argue with the thesis that Fatal’s and Yak’s verses in the OG ’96 Big Body Sittin On Chrome’ belong to some of the greatest ever in rap (ryhme skills comparable with Big L’s and Talib Kweli’s) and although this proves that Tupac Shakur (despite of all the critics which the group ‘OUTLAWZ’ got over the last years) had indeed a nice taste for choosing ultra-talented rappers as his entourage and studio partners, there, nevertheless, have been put new verses into the song for the album ‘Still I Rise’. One of them is from Young Noble who spits “I used to hustle with my moms til the sun came” to explain how he started to get where he is today. The same does Tupac himself: He underlines in this song one of his greatest sites which is the ability of narration. After the intro-talking by Kastro which shall indicate that life is hard for ‘us’, Tupac steps in with a long-ass verse in which he plays the narrator about his life right from the start. He actually begins with picturing a sexual scene which implies to be the one he came to earth from (“I started as the seed the semon, swimmin upstream, planted in the womb while screamin, on the top was my pops, my momma screamin stop, from a single drop, this is what they got”…). He narrates about his adolescence “hope I get some money ‘fore I’m gone, I’m only 19, I’m tryin to hustle on my own” and then in the end there comes a beautiful sum-up, a self-reflecting analysis by himself , “I was born not to make it, but I did it, the tribulations of a ghetto kid, still I rise”. Here, one sees that he realized that he had been doomed and at the same time blessed already before his birth, and that he overcame life’s obstacles to be where he was in ’96 - namely “on top of the world” (see E.D.I. in Novakane’s ‘Our Life’).
I want to repeat that it is now very obvious that the group ‘Outlaw Immortalz’ was infact on quite a good level back in the day (1996): Verses like those from Fatal and Kadafi prove how lyrically marvelous they were – when, however, in this constellation of the group. Consider that all these recordings were done before any of the shocking losses for the group (Pac killed, Kadafi killed, Fatal terrified and locked up, Storm gone)…it makes you wonder: ‘Damn, they really were that great at that time, though these peops were merely adult at that point in history (Kadafi 19, Napoleon still a juvenile, Fatal ….etc). What I want to say is, this group really had potential, be it because of Pac or not, they definitely shined in Death Row’s studios. And then it is, at least for me, beautiful to hear Pac sayin in the intro: “Nigga Johnny J, studio full of motherfuckers” apealing to all the young dudes who rolled with him and who could ‘makin it happen’ in rap – together with him. This is a straight flashback in time – 1996’s Death Row’s raw roster – really untouchable. And I’m 100% sure, anyone of today’s rappers who deny to work with the Outlawz or all the Outlawz-critics in general – if they could listen to what the Outlawz sounded like 7 years ago - their judgement and evaluation on them would be of a different kind. Respect and amazement would replace prejudices and criticism, I guess. At least Fatal’s replaced verses as well as Kadafi’s apperances on tracks such as ‘Still I Rise’, ‘As The World Turns’, ‘U Can Be Touched’ assure that.
That Tupac was able to express such a strong determination in his lyrics can also be seen by his expressions like “I live the life of a thug nigga, and die for it” (‘Secretz Of War’) or “Down to die for everything I represent, meant every word in my letter to the President”. It shows that he really stood for something, that he took pretty much everything serious what he was talking about in his rap. It made him so credible and authentic.
Powerful meaning and impressive descriptions can also be found in most of Young Noble’s lyrcis on ‘Still I Rise’. “Freedom is ours, though we trapped on a firm block” (‘Still I Rise’) and “we already doin’ life on the streetz” (‘Secretz Of War’) are only two of the many parts where he got credit and respect for by the fans. These lyrics mainly contributed to the album’s success and to the respect and success which the Outlawz had gained from the fans through that it, “There is a war going on, and the President is in too” (‘As The World Turns’), “Outlawz we got our own race, culture, religion, Rebellin against the system, commence to lynchin, The President aint even listenin to the pain of the youth , We make music for eternity, forever the truth” (‘Black Jesuz’) – such lyrics brought the Outlawz credibility and great approval which are things some people claim the Outlawz have meanwhile lost.
Anyway, there are so many serious and grave topics adressed on ‘Still I Rise’ by the Outlawz and Tupac. In the religious ‘Black Jesus’ Yaki asks inquisitively “wonder how shit like the Qu’ran and the Bible was written, what is religion” whereas Kastro explains how hard it is for people in the ghetto to discover God when they are “trapped, black, scarred and barred, searching for truth where it is hard to find God” , when they are “so used to hard times and casualties” and when they “are hurt deep to have to sleep on the streets and haven’t eaten in weeks”. Again, absolutely stuff many people can relate to, especially in Black America.
Putting oneself in someone’s position is also what Tupac (and the Outlawz) do in the beautiful ‘Baby Don’t Cry’. Like in ‘Brenda’s Got A Baby’ Tupac describes the tragedy of a young black ‘ebony queen’ who had been raped and left with three kids on her own. Here, ‘Pac tries to describe her struggling and pain and tries to put himself in the girl’s position but he, himself, admits he “couldn’t answer such a horrible pain to live through”….I couldn’t picture three crazed niggaz grabbin me..” which shows that he even can not imagine bearing such a pain which the girl goes through and which shows how seriously he suffers with her and that he honestly feels pity for her (“even though it wasn’t me, I could feel the grief”). But then , and that’s what is so typical of Tupac, there comes his strong trait of characater which tells him NOT to give up, and so he encourages the girl to resist and adapt and NOT to quit (“Thinkin with your brains blown that would make the pain go – NO! You got to find a way to survive cause they win when your soul dies”. Now that’s Tupac the motivator, Tupac the inspirator. Women can feel that.
On the whole, this song again underlines Tupac’s sympathy for females, he sprays the same message here as he does in ‘Keep Ya Head Up’ which means to fight and not to give up no matter how hard life is. That is why the song which ended up as a single (since Amaru always tries to present primarily the positive sites from Pac to the public) has been named Baby Don’t Cry (Keep Ya Head Up II).
What is another interesting topic in the lyrics is how the Outlawz as a group describe their strap and bond with ‘Pac. While Napolean (who in my opinion serves the most simple verses and weakest rhymes of all on that album) claims “I ride or die for Makabeli the legendary war thug nigga” (‘As The World Turns’), Young Noble appeals to Pac’s much praised loyalty, “Makaveli The Don get a call y’all, turnin these streets into Vietnam” (‘Homeboyz’) which means that they really were there for one another and lived a la “You ain’t shit without your homeboyz” (see Pac in ‘All About U’ ‘never put a bitch before my friends’ – he really loved his true friends and loyalty is what was of paramount importance to him), “My homeboyz, the only thing a nigga got left, I love my niggaz to death”.
When talking about the arguably weakest-produced track on the disc (though produced by non other than Daz) I have to mention also this part of Pac’s verse: “Money made me evil, court cases got me stressed”. I find this quite self-reflecting and self-analysing from him and it makes you think that he did sense the trouble and stress he lived through in ‘95 and ’96. Furthermore, in ‘Hell 4 A Hustler’ he asks “am I sellin my soul” as well as “I live a trouble life”. Here, too, one can see that Pac was thinking a lot, also about himself and his persona. He was reflecting on his life which may be contradictory to what certain people mean when they say Pac didn’t realize how great he was. In ‘Killuminati’ he appeals to the media and the public’s bothering and labelling him a ‘gangster etc.’ and here again he is drawing conclusions from his life, “I’m certified crazy, so sick the world made me”. Words like these speak volumes about the Tupac's self-reflection in 1996.
In ‘Hell 4 A Hustler’ you can find the famously-used explanation by thugs in order to express their criminal mentality: in the chorus it says “It ain’t me, I was raised this way” which tries to excuse one’s own bad behaviour by pushing the real fault on their upbringing and environment. Pac and his posse must have felt the same somehow, at least as so far as to make an own track about it.
When considering ‘Still I Rise’ as one of the rap albums with the most impressive and highest content value, one is obliged to mention ‘The Good Die Young,’ too. This song is like the penacle to everything before. Praising the ‘Only God Can Judge Me’ lifestyle Pac raps “who are we to say who lives and die, breathes and stops , All this judgement on other lives needs to stop” – once again blaming and attacking the US system with laws like the death penalty. In this song every single verse is powerful – powerful because revealing. Napoleon takes us back to the first years of his life where he lost his family (“I was raised in a rush without my moms and my father”) (and so he does in ‘U can be touched’ (“needed my parents, but they were never there for me”), Kastro and E.D.I. encourage society to change (as Tupac does in ‘Changes’) with “It’s time something is done, for our young kids, they growin’ homeless, that aint the way to live”, “put your hustle down my young dealers…It’s time to plan, plot and strategize, capitolize, mobilize, we in the war y’all”. It is a song with a real message. E.D.I.’s appeal to society goes even so far as to remind people on their responsibility for the next generations: ”it’s plain to see, the seeds from you and me, Gon’ be the ones to lead us towards unity, That’s if we treat them right, man, teach them right, Raise your kids better than you was and see what it does”. ‘The Good Die Young’ reminds one on that one interview Pac did where he talked about all the great men in history who all tried to change something for the better and who all ended up being killed (= died young).
The song ends with a OG-Pac style of outro in which he says his dedications to “all the fallen soldiers” and where he once again is keeping it real.
The same is done at the end of ‘Teardrops and Closed Caskets’ which shines as a ballad. It is a narration of a triple-love relationship: Lil Mo & Lil Trigga used to be closest homeboys but when it comes to the same girl (Precious) they end up killing each other. This story is supposed to depict yet another tragedy in the ghetto. Just take a look at this metaphorical song title and you quickly recognize that it was Tupac who named the record that way.
What else do we got in the rest of the album ? In ‘Tattoo Tearz’ Pac makes a short appeal to the ‘One Nation’ camp when mentioning “Makaveli The Don, Greg Nice” in the intro. What is pretty interesting is the part where he raps “my military mind make me hustle all the time, go out for cash makin”. Reading this you recognize how true that is. He always said how he suffered from poverty and how he liked to ‘get paid’ (in order to avoid such poverty) and I think now where he had the chance and opportunity to make records, to ‘sell words’ he tried everything to use that as much as he could. He was so to speak motivated by it cause he knew how painful it is to be poor, he knew it by first hand. So that way it is explainable why he adapted that military attitude – because he represented discipline and strength to achive one’s goal. He became a work-a-holic.
In ‘U Can Be Touched’ Pac warns all the youngsters who “think they can make their pay ”too in a rush” and tells them to “better slow down cause they can be touched”. What ‘touched’ can mean is then explained solely by the Outlawz who do the verses while Pac only does the refrain. And it is Noble who puts it straight at the end when he says “Look and learn, next it could be your turn’ – as a matter of fact this song, too has the next BIG meessage, namely that no body is safe from painful strokes of fate.
In the final track called ‘Y’all Don’t Know Us’ the Outlawz (without Pac) have all new verses in an all new song which is not from the ‘96 era. The song is an attempt to extinguish certain rumours and prejudices towards the Outlawz, “I heard this and heard that, about them O-u-t-l-a-w-z, some of them soldiers got shot, some of them soldiers fell off” (Noble). Well, if you think you see it was quite a clever move from the group to add this song to the album because since they get a wide audience they use this opportunity in order to put certain things straight. There is an interesting part in E.D.I.’s verse where he raps “Remember what Pac said, Watch the fuckin signs, But we wasn’t listening, Too busy trippin off his shine’ – did they mean their long-lasting, Sept-13th-followed ‘incarceration’ on Death Row Records? I think one can barely doubt it.
To sum up, the Outlawz and whoever else was involved in selecting which tracks to be put on that album, in fact, did a great job when you go for lyrical content, powerful and impressive lyrics, messages and appeals – they choosed handsomely. In other words, they grabbed out the right songs from the wide bottle of their unreleased recordings with Pac to create a CD and album which to this day is seen as a masterpiece and definitely ahead of all other Outlaw albums so far.
I believe that despite all the first-class production handled by Johnny J, QD3 and others, especially the LYRICS play an huge and important role when talking about the greatness of the album. The strong lyrics with all its messages and appeals, with all its direct reality-descriptions are definitely part of the explanation why this album got so much success and positive resonance among Pac’s fans and also rap fans in general.
As I used to do it, I let Pac speak for the very end again. As far as the searching after alive-clues is concerned all alive theorists might have shininge yes when they first read the lyric to ‘Killuminati’ or just listened to that song. Tupac literally: “Hard to kill nigga, cause I’m comin back like Jesus” – as for this 1999 album he certainly did because that ‘Still I Rise’ is, was and ever will be a diamond.
‘Still He Rises’
