“June 16, 1971/ Mama gave birth to a Hell-raisin’ heavenly son…”
On every March 9th and September 13th, people go hard with the Biggie and ‘Pac tributes, commemorating their deaths. But on their birthdays, you hardly hear shit. As one who opts to celebrate life rather than mourn death (as I’ve been doing in my own life since Friday), I’d be remiss to not acknowledge that today would be ‘Pac’s 38th birthday. This will likely not be the last mention he gets on this blog by a longshot, but there’s no better day than today to speak on the legend that is Tupac Shakur.
One reason that I’m proud to have grown up in the ’80s and ’90s is because I was there to witness so many now-iconic artists from day one. Michael Jackson, for example, is one of my absolute all-time favorites- but I’ll never be able to say I saw him grow up and become who he became. I can say that, however, about artists such as ‘Pac. The first time I saw and heard him was in Digital Underground‘s “Same Song” video, with the crazy kente cloth and beads and shit. A year later, I was more familiar with him when he starred in Juice as Bishop (and of course, I’ll be speaking on that movie in due time). But the first time I was interested in ‘Pac as a rapper was during a weekend at my father’s house in 1992. My sister and I watched The Box regularly, and this one new video stayed getting requested that whole weekend: “Brenda’s Got A Baby”.
From that point on, the name 2Pac was cemented and it was far from the last time I’d see it. Whether it was news headlines, movies, magazine covers, or the tapes in my bookbag- it was always somewhere. That, to me, is THE thing that makes him the huge icon that he is.
There’s lots of great MCs that are known and respected off the merit of their music and their music only, which is admirable… but nobody cares about shit else that they did. With ‘Pac, he was always a part of moments and happenings, in addition to the music. He was one of those artists who’d have an interview in a magazine just like anyone else did, but HIS article would be like a must-read. His VIBE cover stories in particular are classic today- from the “Is Tupac Crazy Or Just Misunderstood” cover with the straitjacket to the “Live From Death Row” one with Suge, Dre, and Snoop. I recall being a bigger fan of other artists at the time, but I’d never read their articles and come away with half the quotables that ‘Pac was always good for.
Of course, he’s been referred to as the “realest nigga” in hip-hop, and I’d have to agree to a degree. Whether they were always good decisions or not may be up for debate, but ‘Pac did things that others just rapped about. Whereas other artists were content to say “fuck the media”, he was content to spit at their cameras. Whereas others were content to threaten fuckin’ up the police who’d harrassed them, he was content to shoot two in self-defense. Again, not necessarily great achievements, but he was true to his word. He stood by his disses, he didn’t give PC answers, and he generally said and did whatever he wanted. And on the other side of that, he also said things that were honest and relevant, so it wasn’t just about wildin’ out all the time.
And then, there’s the music. Being dead-honest, and reflecting my own opinions: I always thought he coulda had better beats, his first two albums are hit-and-miss, I don’t bother with most of those posthumous made-up shits that keep coming out every year or so, and he was never my absolute favorite. I tell people all the time that I’m a fan of Tupac, but I’m not a “Tupac Fan” (two different things entirely). But ‘Pac’s best material is some of THE most timeless and memorable of the era. He’s also one of a few who continued getting better as time went on. The music he was making between ’95 and ’96 stands as his best overall, and from the sounds of the Makaveli album, he was heading into some interesting directions lyrically.
From challenging the New York rap scene to giving interviews from prison, from beating up the Hughes Brothers to getting shot at the studio, Tupac’s every move was a big deal. There’s not a lot of artists past or present that you can say that about. Even in today’s TMZ world, a lot of those things get captured and forgotten a week later. His are still being remembered today by people everywhere.
“Brenda’s Got A Baby” (1991)
“If My Homies Call” (1991)
“Papa’z Song” (1993)
“Pain” (1994)
“Cradle To The Grave” (1994)
“If I Die 2Nite” (1995)
“Ambitionz Az A Ridah” (1996)
“No More Pain” (1996)
“Against All Odds” (1996)
“Who Do You Believe In” (1996)
-D!
Posted by Danj! 
