Strictly 4 My N.I.G.G.A.
Today marks the tenth anniversary of the death of Tupac Shakur, who passed away six days after being shot in the chest and head after a fracas at a boxing match.
Wife and I chose a 2Pac song to play us out as we left the town hall after getting married: "Life Goes On", from his All Eyez On Me album.
Unfortunately the posthumous release of a lot of substandard material has, I fear, done more harm to Shakur's reputation than good. He truly was a poet of the people -- black or white.
And N.I.G.G.A., in case you were wondering, stands for (if memory serves) Never Ignorant, Getting Goals Achieved.
permalink posted by * (asterisk) at 5:27 PM
15 Comments:
Tupac had real talent, both as a writer/singer and as an actor. Sad to think that so much potential was left untapped... Who knows what he would have achieved had he not been killed at 25?
It's true, it's hard to think that I was in 6th grade when that happened.
His book (something about Concrete in the title I think...) was very good if I remember rightly.
It's good that we still get an album a year. Maybe he'll tour again soon...
I know loads of people like him but I cant listen to Rap..
Damned if he wasn't hot too.
WV: bzinu
He was a contradiction.
He was intelligent, and well spoken...but couldn't break away from his own weaknesses.
He died young...so we didn't get to see him destroy himself.
And yeah, he was hot too.
don't get rap. dont get any of it. especially the fact that you get "one" artist, backed up by twenty others whose sole purpose is to gi "ugh" every so often.
but each to there own. dare say that you wouldn't like a lot of what i listen to!
king kurt, the meteors anyone?
2pac is popular around our place too...although I must say, I'm impressed to hear him being played at a wedding, my goodness! I can't believe it's been ten years and time is going by so fast.
On a lighter note...have you heard Chris Rock talk about how to get away with murder? Kill someone in daylight in Vegas and put a demo tape in their pocket. No will look for the killer. Hmmm...
That is too sexy a chest to shoot! Will download that "Life goes on" song.
Red: He did. He totally outshone both Tim Roth and that Thandie Newton woman in Gridlock'd, both well-respect'd actors. His presence on screen was magnetic.
Adam: I was 26.
Shep: Yeah, I bought a first printing of it in NYC back in 2000. Hardback, rought-cut pages. Really nice. Better than the UK version to look at. But the work within is good too, albeit not as fully rounded as some of his later lyrics. Shame the new albums are increasingly bad... I've had to give up buying them.
RD: I think a key thing is to differentiate between rap and hip hop. The latter tends to be much more melodic. That said, I like artists in both genres. But just like any musical movement, the bad artists soon take over and make people think that it's all that way. Just look at the second wave of punk, for example.
Lee: Of course I'm not gay (not that there's anything wrong with that), but he was hot, girl! It's those long eyelashes that do it.
Radmila: That's exactly right, he was a contradiction. He was way more intelligent than most people think any "pop music" artist to be. , especially an artist who sings about guns and street violence. I really think he could have been a huge force for good had he lived.
Cappy: I know you're a man who likes words, since you love Weller and Bragg, so check out some of 2Pac's lyrics. This link is for "Life Goes On". Not all the lyrics are quite right, but it doesn't detract to much from the whole.
Candy: It's good to hear we can get some 2Pac on down in the Windy City, baby! Cool wedding song, huh (albeit about funerals)? That's a good gag. I like Chris Rock, I must say, and even more so now that he's upset Jude Law so badly!
Ramo: Everyone's diggin' the 'Pac's look, eh? Enjoy the song.
I agree with you, but I don't think he would have done a lot of good.
I think he would have made great music, but he would have destroyed himself eventually.
What happened to him was inevitable, it's just that it happened sooner rather than later. Now, he can go down as a Hip Hop legend.
i agree about the lyrics, it's the method used to put them accross that i don't connect with.
i was once shown an album inner sleeve fron a napalm death LP, and boy, they were some deep shit going on in his mind. not that you would know it when the songs lasted 60 seconds on a good day and consisted of grunts!
saying that, i would never dream of putting anyone down over their music choice! diverity is a wonderful word! i mentioned elswhere about a colleagues reaction to me downloading some iron maiden, you would have thought it was kiddy porn!! pretty sad if someone is that blinkered. have tried rap, not for me! cheers.
*diversity* even!
Cappy, I bought Iron Maiden's The Number of the Beast album the other day. I used to have it on vinyl when I was a kid and I loved. Even so, at some point I remember selling it for about 50p. Figured it was time to rectify that mistake!
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