I am in the process of storing my CDs in my real player. I listen to Tupac's greatest hits in the process, and realized once again how far and above he is of any rappers before or since.
Have any of you ever heard "Brendas got a Baby". What brilliant social commentary, and how true of so many young inner city girls that I had met. I could my own face from my youth group to "Brenda" and it haunts me.
"Changes" is also a wonderful piece of work. No other work of popular music describes racial inequity quite as coherently.
And what about "Dear Momma"? A well-written ode to his mom, which shares how "love overcomes a multitude of sins" (Bible).
And "California Love" is just a fun song. Everytime I drive with a youth group and enter California, the first song in the stereo is "California Love".
Yet Tupac gets labeled as just being a "gangsta rapper". Compare his work with the shallowness of 50 cent or Missy Elliot. Tupac gets a bad rap. And it is a sad thing, because he has a lot to say.
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2 comments:
Hmmm...I'll have to reconsider the bad rap of Tupac. I've been trying to outrun the imagined divinity of Tupac Shakur since his death, and haven't listened to much of his actual rap because I'm getting a little sick of people talking about him. But after I saw last night that there's another Tupac movie, and after reading this post, I may have to actually listen to more of his rap so I can form a more intelligent opinion. This is a good list to start with. Thanks!
I have the edited version of his greatest hits
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