2pac Above The Rim Songs
Rachelle Kun
This is a rather subtle point, but think about it for yourself: in a
movie, where does everything happen? Where does everything get resolved?
Towards the end, about through. Or where do you get the biggest chord
in a symphonic piece of music? At the end!
I completely disagree about Tupac being the best storyteller in rap. I'm sure we have different criteria as to what makes one a good storyteller(I just found your site a few days ago, so I haven't read any article that goes into depth on storytelling yet). I can say that as far as telling a story, Lupe Fiasco is without a doubt in my mind the best. If you haven't look into his 'The Cool Saga', there are several songs all following the same narrative through several albums with many different layers of metaphor, personification, etc. I would be really interested in your take on it.
As I said, I just found the site a few days ago and I've never seen anything like it. I've been pretty much obsessed with music theory for years and recently started playing instruments, that and I've always loved hip-hop/rap. I'm completely amazed by the site.
This was awesome and this sight is awesome in looking at rappers on an intellectual level instead pure bias opinion and emotion. I have a question I'd like answered though. How is it that the new school rap has gotten better since the 90s. There's some talent ( mainly underground) but if you look at the big names, i don't even consider it hip hop( Kendrick's delivery is impressive though). Lupe fiasco was fairly big but he still meddled with the pop crowd too much, but overall the hip hop lyricism at its best is easily in the 90s when ra first then nas brung it to a new level. Anyways, I was just wondering what you meant by tupac not on par with lyricism today. Remember Q
Hey man! If you hit me up at [email protected], I'd love to answer your questions. I'd do it here, but it's gonna involve links to images and web pages, and you can't do that in these damn comment boxes, haha ? Anyway, hope you hit me up! And thanks for your words man! Your first sentence is music to my ears, because honestly, that's originally why I started all this shit, haha.
As makaveli on 7 day theory Me and my girlfriend, 2pac uses his girlfriend as a metaphor for his gun. Not quite sure where metaphors fits in your 3 lists but seems to have some similarities to the comedian section.
Nice analysis, but is it always one song analysis, I think a lot of rappers have technically better songs than the ones you analyzed for instance 'Me against the world' vs 'Changes', maybe I'm wrong but Me against the world sounds way better than changes, another example is Biggie's 'Hypnotize' vs 'One more chance'(original version). Maybe you can do multiple analysis to get a more comprehensive view
>I think a lot of rappers have technically better songs than the ones you analyzed for instance 'Me against the world' vs 'Changes', maybe I'm wrong but Me against the world sounds way better than changes, another example is Biggie's 'Hypnotize' vs 'One more chance'(original version).
You make a good point, but honestly, this is just a case where I do know lots of other songs by these rappers besides just the ones I mention; I just didn't mention in the articles that I have 2+ albums from them already memorized, word for word and line for line. Whenever you get an article from me, you should kind of just assume that I'm giving you specific points that have been distilled from that comprehensive view:
That has little to do with rap music, and everything to do with good journalism and knowledge of how to make an argument. Besides, I do do comprehensive views on rappers sometimes; I've written 4 articles of 4000+ words on Earl so far, and he's not even my fav rapper! haha
Look, I'm not saying I'm ever wrong; one time I wrote something about Eminem's "Rap God" that I think is now so horribly wrong that I unpublished it. But on this one, 2Pac and Biggie are simply 2 of my biggest strengths, so I'm standing by what I said, although I will add this caveat: "Changes" is, like you said, one of 2Pac's weaker songs. But his rhymes are still there to serve the story, and not the other way around.
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WHO?MAG: How did you hook up with Big Syke?
Johnny J: We had been working together since like 1987, 88, before I even met 2pac. It was a beautiful thing. I was doing underground gangsta rap for a lot of people in the hood; different bloods, different crips, different dudes that was doing everything. But once me, Syke, Pac, and all of us locked in, it was just a beautiful thing because I felt good. Finally this music is going to get across through a major entity, which was at the time Interscope. Interscope was doing their thing. It worked out man and I loved it.
WHO?MAG: You told me a few days earlier you have at least 150 unreleased songs you did with 2pac in vaults?
Johnny J: Damn near 150 that we did. It has to be over 150 cuts. Over a 100 songs me and Pac definitely did together.
There are many rappers that truly capture the spirit of what Hip Hop is all about, and some who go above and beyond the essence. 2Pac would fit both of these. While the legend has been gone for over 20 years, his music and legacy seems to live on strongly and many are still being inspired by the young legend who left us far too early. One element that Pac excelled at was his ability to craft amazing songs. His songwriting skills were top notch, and one of the most important things about Pac was his knack for catchy hooks and infectious music. With that being said, today, I wanted to take a look at the 9 greatest singles of his career. Not the most popular, not the biggest single on the charts, but his BEST singles, the songs that had the best quality. Pac released 44 singles in his career, but to be fair, we will only list singles that were released before his death. Which singles crack our top 10? Read on and find out. You might be surprised.
The song that really put Pac on the forefront as a voice for the community. Sure, his debut album flirted with that idea very clearly, but it was this song that put him over the edge. Utilizing samples from Zapp and The Five Stairsteps and Dave Hollister on the hook yet again, this DJ Daryl produced track spoke out against wars, poverty, and the treatment of black women in the world. Some of his most infamous lines come from this song, and the amount of positivity within the verses really drove the message home. This might be the most soulful Pac single of them all honestly.
Wrapped in mystique following his tragic death in 1996, Tupac may well have become the face of a generation, espousing societal theories as quickly as he spits gun bars, but above everything else, 2Pac was an incredible artist.
Unlike any other rapper, Tupac was able to be at once vulnerable and armoured, at once throwing a punch while showing his scars, and the below songs all reflect this duality, the fallibility and humanity of an artist gone far too soon.
He reflects on his troubled life and addresses death directly whilst warning his potential offspring of the dangers that await. Released posthumously, the 2001 track remains one of the better post-death songs.
The song was re-released in its original incarnation in September 2019, the albums 25th anniversary and featured alternative lyrics. Unfortunately, the revamped track, although similar in composition to the album version, does not have the same lyrical impact on the listener.
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