was pac lyrical?

[MoodMuzik]

When you guys think of pac, do you think of him as one of the best lyricists?

[OG Hack Wilson]

yes

go relisten to Me Against the World (the whole album, not just the title song which is also a great showcase of his better lyrical ability)


Pac was also a great story teller, something many rappers these days (including my boy Crooked I) struggle at

[Smackdog]

He is one of the best whatevers.......there is no need to lable anyone

[OG Hack Wilson]

He is one of the best whatevers.......there is no need to lable anyone

you mean label*

[DeeezNuuuts83]

Everyone has their own definitions of "lyrical."  Pac definitely wasn't one of the most lyrical rappers out there, but he did have his moments of being lyrical, especially when you consider his unreleased catalog.

For the most part, Pac was pretty simple purely in terms of lyrics (as opposed to his energetic delivery), mostly just rhyming one syllable, or re-using the same rhyme scheme (i.e. thug nigga/drug dealer, Hennessy/remember me, etc.) in numerous songs.  I assume it's mostly because Pac wrote so quickly and didn't like spending too much time on one song.  But when the good ideas hit him, they were pretty good.  I always used his lyrics from First 2 Bomb as an example of the lyricism that he was capable of:

Tell me, baby, what's your frequency?
I see you making proposals full of verbal indecencies when you're meeting me
Flashlight, I'm buzzed, one right, like guns
Three strikes, you got 'cause last night's for thugs
Holding my position, my competition is never ready
Ripped like a machete, my alias Makaveli
So what they tell me through the grapevine?
Niggas ain't trying to see me paid, they'd rather take mine, retaliation takes time
Create rhymes that's so ferocious that the bassline
Runs from my vocals every time a nigga say his rhymes
Spending a busting, you thought tough but you wasn't
Prepared, niggas is scared, I'm eternally thugging
Like kamikazes on a suicide mission, I'm spitting
Multiple gunshots, burning, turning rappers to victims
I kick 'em all day, and my motto, make Biggie Smalls pay
I make it rough enough, you and Puffy crawl away

First to bomb, quick to unload, expose my foes for being bitches
Keeping niggas suspicious
Two Glocks is full of ammo
My army fatigues, ready for battle, lyrical commando
Let's get it on, tell me, nigga, how much you can handle?
Banging on wax, I turn this track into a Roman Candle... boom!
My attention, specifically, thugged out, no sympathy
Pictures of closed caskets, soon as bastards get with me
I'm first to bomb, first is the calm, then the panic
Soon as my niggas break, we earthquake the whole planet
Adversaries can't understand it
The way my niggas strategize, don't nobody die unless we planned it
Life-long committed, I write songs and spit it
No matter how hard mothafuckas try, they can't get it
It's Death Row, West Side, Outlawz till we die
Thug Life mothafucka on the rise

Pac was going more multi-syllabic while straying from the simple rhymes that he usually used, plus he was being a bit more visual and introducing random things used in metaphors and similes that he usually didn't use, like the references to kamikazes, Roman Candles, etc., as most of his idioms in the past were more generic.

I think Pac's lyricism was most consistent in his songs about women (at least the good ones), since he was being more lyrically effective, like in Too Late Playa:

Looking delicious, blushes while I give you kisses
While I'm granting wishes, make your boyfriend suspicious
Vicious while doing dishes in your Daisy Dukes
Handle my business in the evenings, spend my days with you
If it's true that you really take it, that bond's broke
So when your man get the shit mistaken, then let him know
You might be his girl, but see, you'll always be my woman
Close your eyes, think of me and keep coming
Niggas be swearing that they savvy, claiming their game's cavi
Bitches be hitting switches, calling 2Pac daddy
It ain't my fault that she's sprung on me
And ain't it fun, make her come, put her tongue on me
That's on the real, homie, this is how it is when you play for keeps
And if your game ain't straight, your bitch will lay with me
And after me, she'll probably fuck the next nigga too
I give a fuck who's number two... as long as I get mine

Also, his verses from Are U Still Down flowed really well:

Tell 'em all, call me a fool 'cause I'm stuck
It's a love thang, plus I"m overheating from the rush, our tongues touch
Kissing, feeling fireworks, watch the sky
I make you smile, but you'd rather have what makes you cry
Say goodbye, and I'll leave now
With my heart on my sleeve, memories now
What I found is you still care, you had feelings and they're still there
Baby girl, keep it real here, are you still down?

Only once in my lifetime, touch my soul
Go slow, baby boo, don't rush the flow
Got me all weak, baby, but I'm strong in parts
With more bounce to the ounce with the longest sparks
Getting mine, like fine wine measured in time
Maybe some other brothers loved you, but the pleasure was mine
Mama taught me how to love a woman, properly sprung
We committed, so I hit it and it's properly done

[Snoopy Mack]

I think Pac was great sure some fellas might not say he was but hey it doesn't really matter on your word play, just on what your trying to say.lol.

Pac did definitely say something,one of my favorites lol,I think he was lyrical,that's me though.

[darqawa]

My Block shows Pac's lyrical ability.

lyr·i·cal/ˈlirikəl/Adjective
1. (of literature, art, or music) Expressing the writer's emotions in an imaginative and beautiful way:

As a simple definition, PAC personified this.

[Mietek23]

yes

go relisten to Me Against the World (the whole album, not just the title song which is also a great showcase of his better lyrical ability)


Pac was also a great story teller, something many rappers these days (including my boy Crooked I) struggle at

Plus he was telling stories about some real life shit instead of rapping the "I got money in my bank account, fucking bitchez left and right, shake my ass in the club all night" bullshit in every song..

[Fraxxx]

'Being lyrical' is not about having the most complicated multis.

[K.Dub]

Yes I'd say so.

[Get It Off Ya Chest]

yes

go relisten to Me Against the World (the whole album, not just the title song which is also a great showcase of his better lyrical ability)


Pac was also a great story teller, something many rappers these days (including my boy Crooked I) struggle at

definitely. that album was incredible from that viewpoint imo (actually i think it was incredible overall). plus what a couple other people said, it wasn't just random lyrics, it was talking on some real issues

[The Flying Dutchman]

'Being lyrical' is not about having the most complicated multis.

exactly,

and YES, pac was lyrical, anybody who says otherwise never listened to the man

[DeeezNuuuts83]

'Being lyrical' is not about having the most complicated multis.

True, but it depends on who you ask, because having complicated multis like Crooked I or Eminem do in much of their lyrics makes them lyrical, so it obviously contributes to being lyrical.  "Lyrical" in the hip-hop realm doesn't always coincide with the exact dictionary definition of conveying emotion, which Pac did more through his delivery and energy than he did through his actual words.

Look at it this way.  Do you guys think Realest was lyrical?  He jocked Pac's style and even his lyrics.  Or did you think Ja Rule was lyrical in his last verse of So Much Pain?  That was Pac's verse.  Or did you think Napolean was lyrical on U Can Be Touched?  That was Pac's verse.  A lot of why we enjoy Pac's lyrics lies in his captivating delivery, more often than the actual words.  Not that the words aren't dope, it's just that a lot of the value is in the overall package, where the sum is greater than its parts.

Again, I'm as big of a Pac fan as anyone else here, if not more, so don't get it twisted.

[Dre-Day]

well?

[2euce 7even]

if not pac, who then?