I just want to talk about Pacs music and how it changed in style over the years he was alive. I felt like i had to post this after listening to R U Still Down last night.
In my opinion R U Still Down is the third greatest album after Me Against The World and Makaveli. It is by far the best post humous release in my opinon. But why? Thats what i asked myself lastnight.
Now, I am not going to go into a massive debate over production - it has been done too many times. Instead i am going to talk about the actual songs and their content. I believe this is somthing many fans forget to discuss. For the majority, 2pac is the greatest and as a result fans just presume every single thing he said was of a great standard. I disagree - However, I am not disregarding relevance of what he says.
Last night I listened to R U Still Down, in full - now people may disagree, but to me it is the freshest post humous release. It is a consistant album with great production, great songs and concepts, great performances by 2pac, great social & political reflections. Last night I noticed one of the key reasons why i like the album so much...2pac's ad libs and layers.
Go get the CD & listen too Thug Style, I mean turn it up and listen to it. No do more than that; blast it the fuck out of your stereo. To the 'fans' that only have it on their hard-drive - don't bother.
What i noticed is that 2pac is alive for the moment, i mean he is right there, enjoying himslef 200%. He rides over this track in arguably, one of his best performances in my opinion. The layers & ad-libs bring a massive smile to my face every time:
"..you can holla if you want to, Pleeeeease, i ain't runnin from with no punk crew, bleeeeed"
"..My fake freinds say the love me but i know they liiiieeee"
""...My momma cried when they took me off to jail *not jail argh!"*
and so on - i mean you can imagine pac in the studio having a total blast.
Also, because in most cases the production on the songs have only been tweaked from the originals, it lends more authenticity to the album, and doesn't diverge your attention solely too the production (like i find myself doing with other posthumous albums too see if pac is on beat, etc)
Now its not only pacs delivery on this album, its his rhyming style and his concepts. As i mentioned earlier this album is full of social and political content, but unlike his first two albums which dealt with the same topics - in my opinion it is more listenable as you can hear 2pac has matured slightly and his flow is better. When thinking about this - another idea of why this album is so fresh and great came to my attention:
Lets briefly skim over his body of work. His first two albums are politically driven. Pac discusses important political and social issues on these two albums in the only way he knew - true and as he seen it, sure it caused controversy. After these two albums however, it is a straight jump to Thug Life which is more of a progression into a thug mentality (obviosuly) and the concept of the tracks begin to change in nature when compared to hsi previous outings. Political and social issues are often replaced on Thug Life by songs detailing the Thug mentality - im not saying anything is wrong with this, just trying to get to my point.
What im gettin at is this; after Thug Life - his next album is Me Against The World - Which is a personal album detailing his life. Now as far as i know, the songs featured on R U Still down were recorded before Me Againt The World (somebody correct me if im mistaken). I beleive it is a shame the album (in whatever shape it may have taken) was not released somwhere after Strictly For My Niggaz but before Me Against The World- it would have proved to be a nice crossover from his political style to a personal style - the album features nice songs detailing both subjects and would have fitted nicely in his discogrpahy at that time.
I think this is the main reason i like this album so much - you can just imagine it being released while he was alive - and it coincides with his other work. Its kind of like a 'missing album' that was released after his death. As opposed to a 'bunch of tracks thrown together' to make a double disc.
i think this is one of the main problems with the releases today - they don't feel like they 'belong' anywhere. It does not have the same effect as they would do if they were released at the time of them being recorded.
Do i like the new releases? yes i like them for what they are.
Am i proud of them as a 2pac fan? No, and i dont think Pac would be either.
But i like Pacs Stuff released when he was alive dont i!? Of course i do - they had his blessing.
So, this writing is neither here or there - it doenst come to any conclusion it is just a collection of my thoughts and opinions as i sit and listen to 2pac.
It is also an attempt to bring good threads back to this board.
If you read this far - thanks.
peace - kris AKA Twirlzy.
In my opinion R U Still Down is the third greatest album after Me Against The World and Makaveli. It is by far the best post humous release in my opinon. But why? Thats what i asked myself lastnight.
Now, I am not going to go into a massive debate over production - it has been done too many times. Instead i am going to talk about the actual songs and their content. I believe this is somthing many fans forget to discuss. For the majority, 2pac is the greatest and as a result fans just presume every single thing he said was of a great standard. I disagree - However, I am not disregarding relevance of what he says.
Last night I listened to R U Still Down, in full - now people may disagree, but to me it is the freshest post humous release. It is a consistant album with great production, great songs and concepts, great performances by 2pac, great social & political reflections. Last night I noticed one of the key reasons why i like the album so much...2pac's ad libs and layers.
Go get the CD & listen too Thug Style, I mean turn it up and listen to it. No do more than that; blast it the fuck out of your stereo. To the 'fans' that only have it on their hard-drive - don't bother.
What i noticed is that 2pac is alive for the moment, i mean he is right there, enjoying himslef 200%. He rides over this track in arguably, one of his best performances in my opinion. The layers & ad-libs bring a massive smile to my face every time:
"..you can holla if you want to, Pleeeeease, i ain't runnin from with no punk crew, bleeeeed"
"..My fake freinds say the love me but i know they liiiieeee"
""...My momma cried when they took me off to jail *not jail argh!"*
and so on - i mean you can imagine pac in the studio having a total blast.
Also, because in most cases the production on the songs have only been tweaked from the originals, it lends more authenticity to the album, and doesn't diverge your attention solely too the production (like i find myself doing with other posthumous albums too see if pac is on beat, etc)
Now its not only pacs delivery on this album, its his rhyming style and his concepts. As i mentioned earlier this album is full of social and political content, but unlike his first two albums which dealt with the same topics - in my opinion it is more listenable as you can hear 2pac has matured slightly and his flow is better. When thinking about this - another idea of why this album is so fresh and great came to my attention:
Lets briefly skim over his body of work. His first two albums are politically driven. Pac discusses important political and social issues on these two albums in the only way he knew - true and as he seen it, sure it caused controversy. After these two albums however, it is a straight jump to Thug Life which is more of a progression into a thug mentality (obviosuly) and the concept of the tracks begin to change in nature when compared to hsi previous outings. Political and social issues are often replaced on Thug Life by songs detailing the Thug mentality - im not saying anything is wrong with this, just trying to get to my point.
What im gettin at is this; after Thug Life - his next album is Me Against The World - Which is a personal album detailing his life. Now as far as i know, the songs featured on R U Still down were recorded before Me Againt The World (somebody correct me if im mistaken). I beleive it is a shame the album (in whatever shape it may have taken) was not released somwhere after Strictly For My Niggaz but before Me Against The World- it would have proved to be a nice crossover from his political style to a personal style - the album features nice songs detailing both subjects and would have fitted nicely in his discogrpahy at that time.
I think this is the main reason i like this album so much - you can just imagine it being released while he was alive - and it coincides with his other work. Its kind of like a 'missing album' that was released after his death. As opposed to a 'bunch of tracks thrown together' to make a double disc.
i think this is one of the main problems with the releases today - they don't feel like they 'belong' anywhere. It does not have the same effect as they would do if they were released at the time of them being recorded.
Do i like the new releases? yes i like them for what they are.
Am i proud of them as a 2pac fan? No, and i dont think Pac would be either.
But i like Pacs Stuff released when he was alive dont i!? Of course i do - they had his blessing.
So, this writing is neither here or there - it doenst come to any conclusion it is just a collection of my thoughts and opinions as i sit and listen to 2pac.
It is also an attempt to bring good threads back to this board.
If you read this far - thanks.
peace - kris AKA Twirlzy.
