Thierry Henry said:
He was 25 mel, I thought you of all people would know that ;-)
:lol: Typo, was a
tiny bit pissed when I got home last night ;-) June 16th, 1971
Thierry Henry said:
I think a lot of rappers have had heart, soul, feeling etc. I also think you can't deny that 2pac released a fair bit of straight out gangsta/tough guy sh*t, which was hardly revolutionary. I have no beef with that stuff as a rule, I'm just sayin that it rather suggests he wasn't entirely unique or different, and he was after $$ and commercial success as much as the next guy. But I don't hate him or nuthin.
Again, I agree with you to a point here. For me, Hit Em Up was the most dissapointing song he ever released. His music was certainly full of contradictions, Strictly had
Keep Ya Head Up whilst at the same time
I Get Around, MATW had
Can U Get Away &
Temptations.
If you look purely at the music, then yes you are 100% right. However, I believe if you delve into the man behind the music, then you find something alot more than just another "Gangsta Rapper" (This term always pisses me off, Tupac
never put out Gangsta Rap - Snoop, Tha Dogg Pound is Gangsta Rap, they claimed affiliations, Tupac didn't).
What I mean when I talk about his ability to make you feel the music - There is certainly plenty of artists out there who put out heartfelt music, Brook will argue TR from Nine Inch Nails has the exact same ability and I am sure that is true, Neil Finn from Crowded House could certainly make you feel what he was signing but from a rap perspective I don't think there was ever anyone before he died or since who had the ability to make you feel his words as much as Tupac could. Of course, there are plenty of people around who listen to alot of East Coast music and obviously, if that's what your looking for - Truely correct structure of rap songs, using metaphors and so forth - Then you are not going to like Tupac's music that much, theres no denying that.
Outkast probably could have been at that level, until they decided to start putting out purely mainstream music & there is no denying them, the boys have done amazingly well. Even if what they put out now will not come close to topping Players Ball, Crumblin Erb, Atliens and so forth from their early albums they still get full respect from me, they are by far and away the best pairing Rap has seen in many many years, it's just a shame Andre wants to split the group. Although I do laugh sometimes remembering them being slagged from all corners when Southernplayalisticadillacmusik was released for their "Sexist" lyrics and now looking at how huge Roses is lol
