In 2008, You're Allowed to Call 2Pac Overrated


TupacIs 2Pac overrated? Blender seems to think so and kudos to them! Whether you agree with them or not, more publications should be willing to voice opinions like this instead of regurgitating the party line. Many of you may see it as controversy and a grab for attention, but there are actually a number of people that feel this way. They just need to come out of the closet.

He had insane rock-star charisma. He admirably conceived of a gangsta rapper as a principled rebel. His booming baritone gave bass­lines competition for the most-trunk-rattling part of a hip-hop song. Hell, even Juice hasn't aged nearly as badly as you'd expect. But while Tupac's musical highs were epic--the pro-feminist "Keep Ya Head Up," the terrifying "Hail Mary," the boisterous "California Love"--that still leaves 15,837 other songs. He was a good rapper, not a great one: The guy larded records with self-mythologizing, mediocre filler that wouldn't have made Biggie's "give to Lil' Cease" file. Maybe someone in his retinue could've stepped in during one of those legendary 96-hour recording binges and said, "Pac, instead of laying down this 14-minute rant about how Sun Tzu taught you how to take down the East Coast, how about some Yahtzee?" The man: awesome. The music: somewhat less than awesome.

Ouch! Hamilton Nolan over at Gawker offers this

You know what his legacy has been, ultimately? White kids shouting "Thug Life!" out of their SUV windows. Which is what has led to the slow decline of hip hop music in general. Which was the most important new form of music America has seen in the last 30 years. Tupac was okay. The mythology of Tupac is ridiculous. And the aftermath of Tupac has done more to hurt the music he loved than MC Hammer ever did. Many other people in music have sucked more than Tupac; but nobody else in recent memory has had such a detrimental legacy.

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We perhaps need more folks (paging Hip Hip media) that are willing to go there. Music, like most entertainment, is subjective and the figures that are popular to deify should not be above reproach. But if you enjoy Hip Hop being a monolith then it's probably best to keep quiet.

 

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