Whatever He Was Rapping About, It Was Urgent:" Eminem on the Genius of Tupac

[CORREA]

The first time I ever heard Tupac was his verse on "I Get Around" with Digital Underground. I was 18 or 19 years old and I remember thinking, "Who is this?" He stood out so much. Once I heard that, I got his first album, 2Pacalypse Now. I saw the video for "Brenda's Got a Baby" and I remember thinking, "Holy shit." By the time he got to Me Against the World, it was him at his pinnacle. He's off and running. He knows what he wants, and he's figured out how he wants to be and how he wants to sound -- everything. I would probably put that up against anything as far as a classic hip-hop album goes.

He was taking things further than a lot of rappers at the time -- pushing it to the next level as far as giving feeling to his words and his music. A lot of people say, "You feel Pac," and it's absolutely true. The way he chose which words to say with which beat was genius; it's like he knew what part of the beat and what chord change was the right place to hit these certain words... to make them jump off the track and make you feel what he was saying. Like, listen to "If I Die 2Nite." Whatever he was rapping about, it was urgent. If it was a sad song, it'd make you cry. But there were a lot of different sides to him: fed-up, angry, militant, having a good time. His spirit spoke to me because it was like you knew everything that he was going through, especially when he made Me Against the World. You just felt every aspect of his pain, every emotion: when he was happy, when he was sad. His ability to touch people's lives like that was incredible.

The school I come from growing up, we spent a lot of time studying rappers, everyone from N.W.A. to Public Enemy to Big Daddy Kane to Kool G Rap to Rakim to Special Ed, taking all these bits and piece from each one. Tupac was the first one to really help me learn how to make songs that felt like something.

He was so versatile -- if you weren't in the mood for what he was doing on this song here, he's got something for you over here. He covered such a broad perspective and there were so many different sides to him, but the best part about him overall was that he was a human being. He would let you see that. I used to be fascinated with his interviews like, "Yo, what he's saying is so true." He would also be able to trump people who were interviewing him when they would hit him with hard questions -- it was incredible. He was a superstar in every aspect of the word. You just wanted to know that guy. Like man, I wanna hang out with Pac.



I don't know if he was talking to Arsenio [Hall] but I remember him saying something to the effect of "[it's like] people standing outside watching through the window at a bunch of motherfuckers throwing food around and having a party and everybody's hungry outside and they're seeing through the window and after a minute, you got people out here singing, 'We're hungry, we're hungry. Let us in, let us in.' And the next minute when no one's listening, it's like 'Alright, we're kicking the door down, coming through, picking the lock, blasting.'" When he was giving those analogies, they were incredible. It was almost like he was writing songs when he was doing interviews.

When his mother, Afeni (Shakur), let me produce one of Tupac's albums -- the Loyal to the Game album -- I wrote her a letter thanking her for letting me do it. You wouldn't be able to tell the 18/19-year-old Marshall that he would ever be able to get his hands on some Tupac vocals and have that opportunity. It was such a significant piece of history for me and so much fun. I'm like a kid in a candy store; going nuts with the fact that I'm putting beats under his rhymes. Regardless of how good a rapper someone is, it's easy for things to eventually get dated. But when you make songs like Tupac did, songs that feel like something, that feeling never goes away. I can put "If I Die 2Nite" in and want to fight somebody the second it comes on. That's the kind of emotion he sparked. I could put "Dear Mama" in and damn near be in tears. He was just so good at evoking emotions through songs and I picked up so much from that. Biggie had that as well. It was that same kind of thing... he was so good at putting the right words and music together. I would have a hard time believing that they didn't know what they were doing when they were putting certain words on certain chords of the beat. I would have a hard time believing that it was all accidental. It was true genius.

[TidyKris]

Its hard to imagine that somebody who says he had that much love and knowledge for 2Pac and his work
could fuck one of his albums up so much.

"Loyal 2 The Game" is the worst 2Pac album ever released and "Pacs Life" was not too far behind it

[Sccit]

ITS CRAZY THO, CUZ I REMEMBER EMINEM WAS ON FIRE IN TEMRS OF PRODUCTION AROUND 02......THEN HE DID THE PAC ALBUM, AND HIS PRODUCTION VALUE PLUMMETED. I GUESS HIS STYLE JUS DIDNT FIT W/ PAC.

[Remedy360]

Its hard to imagine that somebody who says he had that much love and knowledge for 2Pac and his work
could fuck one of his albums up so much.

"Loyal 2 The Game" is the worst 2Pac album ever released and "Pacs Life" was not too far behind it

Yep, I honestly didn't even think about that until I read that part of the interview. Sad shit.

[CORREA]

em is just putting check marks on boxes just like every other artist who claim they have love for pac
this indeed has turned into a cliche same with eazy and big

[Sccit]

em is just putting check marks on boxes just like every other artist who claim they have love for pac
this indeed has turned into a cliche same with eazy and big

naah em truly appreciates pac...he even tries to mimic his aggressive cadence at times.

[GangstaBoogy]

ITS CRAZY THO, CUZ I REMEMBER EMINEM WAS ON FIRE IN TEMRS OF PRODUCTION AROUND 02......THEN HE DID THE PAC ALBUM, AND HIS PRODUCTION VALUE PLUMMETED. I GUESS HIS STYLE JUS DIDNT FIT W/ PAC.

True. He had done dope production for Jay-Z, Xzibit, Nas, D12, 50, etc. "Dying 2 Live" was incredible then he did "Loyal 2 the Game" and gave us garbage after garbage. That album deserves a do-over.

[Sccit]

ITS CRAZY THO, CUZ I REMEMBER EMINEM WAS ON FIRE IN TEMRS OF PRODUCTION AROUND 02......THEN HE DID THE PAC ALBUM, AND HIS PRODUCTION VALUE PLUMMETED. I GUESS HIS STYLE JUS DIDNT FIT W/ PAC.

True. He had done dope production for Jay-Z, Xzibit, Nas, D12, 50, etc. "Dying 2 Live" was incredible then he did "Loyal 2 the Game" and gave us garbage after garbage. That album deserves a do-over.

I THINK THE RECEPTION KILLED HIS CONFIDENCE BEHIND THE BOARDS.....THEY SHOULDA GAVE IT TO QUIK.

[TraceOneInfinite Flat Earther 96']

Loyal 2 the Game was a disappointment—especially compared to previous Pac posthumous releases.  But then again, Eminem only had scraps to work with.  All the good leftover material had been used.

[TidyKris]

Loyal 2 the Game was a disappointment—especially compared to previous Pac posthumous releases.  But then again, Eminem only had scraps to work with.  All the good leftover material had been used.

It was the beats that was the main problem so that was 100% down to Em.

I would love to know what was going through his mind when he was making that album...how a Pac fan could fuck it up that
much is beyond me. Its almost as if he had never heard a Pac album in his life.

Id love to know what was going through his head when he made "Ghetto Gospel"...why the fuck would you pitch him up that much, he sounds like a 12 year old?
I swear Em must have been smoking crack in the studio that day

[Calilove661]

Loyal 2 the Game was a disappointment—especially compared to previous Pac posthumous releases.  But then again, Eminem only had scraps to work with.  All the good leftover material had been used.

The researcher has weighed in, the thread is now rubber stamped.