2Pac – Pac’s Life
Amaru/Interscope (release date: 11/21/2006)
Rap
This is the 16th Tupac album since his commercial career began in 1991.
OK, maybe it’s more like 14th, since no one really counts those two pretentious poetry albums. Then, again, 1994’s Thug Life and 1999’s Still I Rise aren’t really Tupac solo albums, either. And, while we’re at it, his Greatest Hits double disc and the soundtrack to Shakur’s Resurrection movie contain mostly previously released material.
So, like I was saying, this is the 11th Tupac album, etc.
That’s still an impressive catalog for a rapper who’s been dead for 10 years, even if said rapper’s ultimate legacy is as the most overrated pop culture persona of this generation.
Make no mistake, Tupac Shakur could be entertaining as hell as a rapper. Sometimes funny and sometimes furious. His lyrics easily leapt from “message music” to misogyny quicker than the thump from a bass line. But, his shortcomings on the mic have been gradually exposed in the decade since his death, while his inexplicable deification seems to know no end.
Like the majority of Tupac’s posthumous albums, Pac’s Life leans heavily on the once-mountainous amount of material from Shakur’s days on Death Row Records. At the time, Pac was going 100 mph after the Notorious B.I.G. and serving as the primary sh*t-stirrer in the embarrassing East-West beef. At the same time, he was trying to get his Outlawz group off the ground, fighting legal drama, making movies, trying to start his own label”¦
Well, you get the idea. Consequently, a good deal of his music that never saw the light of day when Shakur was alive now sounds unfocused, rushed and repetitive.
Credit the album’s executive exploiting producer, Afeni Shakur (or, more likely, those “friends” of real hip hop at Interscope Records) for acknowledging this by loading up large on guest spots and random padding.
The Swizz Beatz remix of “Untouchable” works in this regard. Sure, it doesn’t come close to capturing the spontaneity of the bootlegged original, but it’s not entirely offensive, either. There’s good energy from all involved, including Bone Thugs-N-Harmony who sound just like they did when anyone still cared about them.
Surprisingly, there are several other highlights and, predictably, few of them come from the supposed star of the album.
Hussein Fatal and Papoose absolutely kill their verses on “Dumpin”, which was originally a track featuring Daz Dillinger and off of the ill-fated Don’t Go 2 Sleep EP. Speaking of which, “Sleep”, parts of which were lifted from the same EP, might serve as a minor miracle, by itself. Noted no-talents Young Buck and Chamillionaire drop some of the best bars of their lives.
And, as with 2004’s Loyal to the Game, almost anything the Outlawz are on is immediately improved. I’m still not sure when they became one of the most underrated acts out there, though.
As you might expect, this is still an uneven ride. “Pac’s Life” is pop-driven dreck built atop an Ashanti hook and T.I.’s trademarked mediocrity. This version of “Whatz Next” sounds a little like a really bad crunk version of Biggie’s “What’s Beef”. The Crunk-Pac continues on “International” and it doesn’t go well.
For those of you who might be “buying blind”, know that there are 13 tracks total, but several of them are remixes of songs already on the album. Snoop adds nothing to the “remix” of “Pac’s Life” save for letting us know that he and Shakur were friends (aww). There are separate “male” and “female” versions of “Playa Cardz Right”.
The man song features Ludacris on a decent verse, then awkwardly (and I mean awkwardly) chatting with Pac at the end. The bitch song features Keyshia Cole and acts all soft and sweet”¦ right before Tupac rapes sexually abuses her.
Oh, I’m kidding.
In the end, this one probably shouldn’t be counted as a Tupac album, either. On it, Shakur is often resurrected for just one verse, before turning the mic over to flavor-of-the-month MCs (T.I.), virtual unknowns who work cheap (Nipsey Hussle”¦ sigh) or legitimate lyricists (Papoose).
Additionally, there’s nothing here that validates the vacuous claim that Tupac is/was the “voice of a generation”. He’s killing his enemies, he’s f*cking your girl, he’s counting his money and he’s still dead.
Rating:
