"Hate to sound sleazy, but tease me/ I don't want it if it's that easy"
This song and video are both indicative of why I love and respect the legacy of Tupac (2Pac) Shakur. Despite me being from New York, I always say Pac was a better artist than Biggie, and people think I'm crazy. But here's my defense: Although Biggie said things in ways no one else could say them, Pac said things no one else was saying.
Obviously, "I Get Around" isn't the perfect example of Pac's deeper side, but the fact that he could go from a song like this to "Brenda's Got a Baby" to "Hit Em Up" to "Letter 2 My Unborn" shows just how versatile an artist he was. You think Biggie could have been able to switch topics like that? Of course not. I think a big part of Pac's legacy is the fact that he remains so enigmatic; there isn't really one way you can describe or categorize what he stood for, because he was such a polarizing personality.
A few noteworthy things I noticed from this video...
1.) Peep the blatant ass slapping and grabbing from the 2:05 mark to about 2:15. You gotta love how they were able to just, do that. No way in hell the video stations would allow that to fly in 2009. It's funny; we have a black President, we have all these gay rights for the first time ever, but our music videos can't show guns or booty. And people say our society is too liberal...
2.) Check out that classic old school dance that 2Pac pulls out at the 3:12 mark, which he even has the courtesy to reprise at the 3:49 mark. How fun is that? Furthermore, just try to picture Biggie doing that dance in a video. I dare you.
3.) How ridiculous is Shock G in this video? It's almost distracting, to be honest. From the outrageous afro to the cheesy shades to the weird voice, he almost stole the show. My favorite part, though, was towards the end when he really starts to get into his vocal adlibs. See: 3:38 mark.
Great song, great video. Tupac Shakur, rest in peace.
Sidebar: This will be the last Throwback Thursday for the summer, as I have some other things to attend to. Not to mention, I'll be busy banging out new freestyles every week. I may bring it back in the fall, I may not. I guess it depends on whether or not people enjoy reading them as much as I enjoy posting them. You know what to do, hit me up and let me know.
2 comments:
Thanks for the love man. I agree with you about the dumb ass CAPS and no caps way of typing and I've seen facebook profiles full of it. "InTeReStS" Just writing that made me want to stab myself in the face.
On another note, loving the blog on Tupac and very well put about the main difference between him and Biggie. My personal favorite songs are "Starin through the world through my rearview," "Smile," "Who do you believe in," and then some gutter shit like "Ghost," "Death around the corner," "Fuck y'all," and probably my favorite of the bunch, "Hell Razor"
Whoa, why the hell did it say "Anonymous?!" It's Slav man
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