West Coast Connection Forum
DUBCC - Tha Connection => West Coast Classics => Topic started by: TraceOneInfinite Flat Earther 96' on September 27, 2013, 07:09:24 AM
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It's way too confusing for me to figure out who has been handling 2pac's music since his death. The subject really deserves its own documentary. Not only 2pac albums, but you have all the albums 2pac was featured on, who got paid for that? Who got paid for "Smile" blowing up Scarface album? Whose decision was it to keep a perfectly good and origional Pac verse/song "Ghetto Star" off of Bad Ass album? How was that necessary, but yet Bone was able to get "Thug Luv" on their album?
Still, all things considered, somebody, somewhere has been doing something right. Because the first few Pac posthumous releases were all classics.
7 Day Theory - This one came out perfect, in spite of all the legal entanglements which hadn't really had time to develop at this point. I think we can credit Suge and Death Row for gettin everything done right with this album
R U Still Down - I think everyone was satisfied with this project. The remixing of the tracks only made them better in my opinion, look no further than "Wonder If Heaven's Got A Ghetto" being transformed from a boring afterthought, to a larger than life runaway hit, after they touched it up a bit. It sounded, looked, and felt like a real album, not just like a compilation of leftover tracks. I think Afeni and Amuru was responsible for this one.
Greatest Hits - Everyone complaining about Pac's tracks bein remixed needs to look no further than "Because I Had To" being remixed into the mega hit "Changes". I think the selection of songs and packaging for this album went well. They also added 3 previously recorded gems to the mix, "God Bless the Dead", "Troublesome 96'" and "Unconditional Love".
Still I Rise - Everyone was satisfied with this one as well. The remixes only made the album better, in my opinion. The Outlawz must of made a fortune off this one. I know Suge signed them at some point, I wonder if it was for the purpose of their work on this album and other Pac posthumous albums. They were already on a lot of tracks, and when you add them to other Pac tracks it makes it sound authentic since they were his crew when he was alive. I think Death Row was responsible for this one.
Until The End of Time - Again, everyone was satisfied with this album, I know I was. I couldn't believe that 4 years after his Death they were still able to compile a double album of his material that was as good or better than anything else coming out at the time. I think Johnny J deserves a lot of credit for Pac's posthumous work. Again, the remixes only made the album sound better... aside from Lil Mo', I think most everybody used on the album was someone Pac would of worked with while he was alive. They stayed true to Pac's vision, it was like a real Pac album. Not sure if Death Row or Amaru was responsible for this?
Better Dayz - This was the first indication that they were starting to run out of Pac material. It was still a solid attempt overall, and the album certainly had it's gems, "Never Call You Bitch Again" and "Better Days". This was one time where I thought the remix for "My Block" was worse than the original for the Show soundtrack, but since I already had that version for years, hearing a new remixed version was cool and I liked it as well.
Everything since Better Dayz has been mostly mishandled. But then again there wasn't much left to work with anyway. I think Em did the best he could with the album he put together for free for Afeni. But all things considered, that was a pretty good run, whoever was responsible for his music up until Better Dayz, somebody was doing something right.
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Edgar Bronfman pushed for Makaveli to be heavily promoted while Jimmy Iovine was looking at ways to break ties with Death Row. This is why they only helped back one video for the album. Edgar's son Ben was a huge 2Pac fan, much like Ted Fields daughter Danielle had liked 2Pac's music. These old men didn't have a clue about Rap music and what would sell so went on the advice of their children for this genre. A formula that worked.
Edgar was good friends and business associates with the main reason why 2Pac's music got any notable commercial awareness after 1998 and that man is Tom Whalley. Without him, 2Pac's music would have faded into a Pac's Life album but with more hurdled. Tom was able to smash down a lot of those hurdles and get 2Pac's video and music circulated a lot more than anyone else. He was the former CEO of Warner music group and had a lot of clout in the industry.
Afeni, who wanted only the "angelic" music out was wanting that type of music out for a reason. The same reason that Jimmy dropped Death Row, and the same reason Tom Whalley and Afeni agreed only to put out 2Pac's music was because there was an agenda by the majors to criminalize rap music and to use 2Pac & Biggie as prominent examples of this. Tom's promotion of Tupac Resurrection was what finally caused the industry string pullers to force him out. He refused to agree to use Time Warner money to back real estate developers who were building prison complexes and extensions around the areas where Rap music was at it's height. Afeni was smart and knew what was going on, which is why she would block songs like "Watch Ya Mouth" or anything that could promote violence.
It was after that, this 2Pac's music got less promotion, less airplay and TV spots because they didn't have the power and influence of Tom, Edgar, and other old school music heads.
2Pac was for most part - A fluke. They made the quick buck from him, and eliminated him because he knew what was going on in the Rap genre, and is the reason why he had so many on-record enemies to try and expose the rappers who promoted the agenda.
This sounds like "conspiracy" nonsense, but it's very much real.
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Still I Rise - Everyone was satisfied with this one as well. The remixes only made the album better, in my opinion. The Outlawz must of made a fortune off this one. I know Suge signed them at some point, I wonder if it was for the purpose of their work on this album and other Pac posthumous albums. They were already on a lot of tracks, and when you add them to other Pac tracks it makes it sound authentic since they were his crew when he was alive. I think Death Row was responsible for this one.
Until The End of Time - Again, everyone was satisfied with this album, I know I was. I couldn't believe that 4 years after his Death they were still able to compile a double album of his material that was as good or better than anything else coming out at the time. I think Johnny J deserves a lot of credit for Pac's posthumous work. Again, the remixes only made the album sound better... aside from Lil Mo', I think most everybody used on the album was someone Pac would of worked with while he was alive. They stayed true to Pac's vision, it was like a real Pac album. Not sure if Death Row or Amaru was responsible for this?
Death Row manage and market this projects. Still I Rise contains Death Row remixes and some songs arranged/remixed by the late Johnny J. Suge got the rights of every songs while The Outlawz were signed on Death Row when the project was made. But Interscope released it without the Death Row imprint. Then, Afeni Shakur wanted Cold 187Um as supervisor for Until The End Of Time, that's why a lot of tracks where produced by Death Row staff (Damon Thomas, Cold 187Um, Darren Vages, Jim Gettum, Crooked I) while Cold 187Um, Death Row VP, mixed 50% of the album. It wasn't the same thang with "Better Dayz" handled by Amaru, without any Tha Row remixes (then Tha Row Hitters worked on Greatest Hits: Nu Mixes For The Streets, released as Nu-Mixx Klazzics)
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Whoever decided to remix all his music post "R U still down" needs to to be Rick james'd five fingers to the face.
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Extensions flying everywhere
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infinite living revisionest history here
until the end of time was NOT something everyone was satisfied with...that was when the pop remixes started and NOBODY wanted to hear Lil Moo rape 2pac songs.
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NOBODY wanted to hear Lil Moo rape 2pac songs.
That was one of the worst remixes ever made for a Tupac song - can't believe QD3 took the OG beat and put this trash instead ???
The version from "Too Gangsta For Radio" was perfect beat-wise, but they should left Val Young on that hook 8)
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I didn't like any of Pac's stuff being remixed, however, i thought they did a decent job on everything up to and including "Still I Rise". I was mad when "Secretz of War" came out remixed on that album though. Their formula used to be to remix a few songs and touch up the rest, leaving them close to OG.
As soon as UNTIL THE END OF TIME came out, that's when everything went south, beginning with the title track with the sampled "Broken Wings" beat in which Pac's voice was horribly offbeat, it all went downhill after that. From that album on, it was "remix everything, maybe leave one or two songs close to OG" instead of the other way around.
As much as i liked "Changes" I do think it was detrimental in that Afeni felt everything needed to be remixed because she found success ONE TIME remixing a song like this. It worked once, all the other remixes since then were worse for the most part.
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I didn't like any of Pac's stuff being remixed, however, i thought they did a decent job on everything up to and including "Still I Rise". I was mad when "Secretz of War" came out remixed on that album though. Their formula used to be to remix a few songs and touch up the rest, leaving them close to OG.
As soon as UNTIL THE END OF TIME came out, that's when everything went south, beginning with the title track with the sampled "Broken Wings" beat in which Pac's voice was horribly offbeat, it all went downhill after that. From that album on, it was "remix everything, maybe leave one or two songs close to OG" instead of the other way around.
As much as i liked "Changes" I do think it was detrimental in that Afeni felt everything needed to be remixed because she found success ONE TIME remixing a song like this. It worked once, all the other remixes since then were worse for the most part.
Still I Rise remixes were all acceptable EXCEPT Tattoo Tears and Secretz of War. Where this album was butchered was Hussein Fatal being removed from every song he was on (5 of them) and being replaced by inferior Outlawz.
Fatal was buzzing as a solo artist at that time (underground hit single with Tame 1, collabos with DMX, Ja Rule and 3-6 mafia, signed to Rap-a-lot etc) but fatal fucked his career over by going to jail those 2-3 years. Ja tried to help him out by putting him all over that Blood In My Eye cd but Ja himself was about to be blackballed by 50 when that cd dropped.
now as for UTEOT this had some unforgivable butchers on it:
1-this ain't livin (wack beat, removed lyrics)
2-lil homies (horrible beat, removed outro)
3-when thugs cry (that hook is just fucking awful...beat isn't that bad)
4-my closest road dawg (way to ruin those unleaked pac verses putting them over that wackass remix beat)
5-the previously mentioned Lil moo track
6-words to my first born...hate to say it but the DJ Quik remix took away the soul from the original of the track.
7-worldwide mob figgaz (too cheap to pay for the movie samples? young noble's horrible hook...)
and i'll just stop there but i could pick on a few other tracks too....
oh and on a personal note I hate how they took off Kadafi's verse from All Out.
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until the end of time was NOT something everyone was satisfied with...that was when the pop remixes started and NOBODY wanted to hear Lil Moo rape 2pac songs.
Pretty much. I remember there being a lot of tracks on "Until The End" that I was not pleased with. I actually think "Better Dayz" had better tracks. And I think the whole trying to figure out which label was responsible is a moot point without actual research involving facts. Most fans are going to give Death Row credit when it's good and Amaru blame when it is bad. I don't think Suge or Afeni was so specifically hands-on in a lot of these projects. Without knowing the key decision-makers, it's all hearsay.
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i think "better dayz" and "until the end of time" shoulda been made into 1 disc each...i mean, they were good, but they coulda been great or even classic.
i think they shoulda had a rule where they could only remix 2-3 tracks tops...a whole album worth of remixes kinda starts messin with the aspect of artist creativity
like u said, tho, just the fact that we had so much material comin out years after pac's death, and not only material, but material shittin on most the game, that in itself deserved major props.
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now as for UTEOT this had some unforgivable butchers on it:
1-this ain't livin (wack beat, removed lyrics)
Whoa, no disrespect my dude, but that beat is so much better than the original. I understand the part about removed lyrics, but it was meant as a reference track for Snoop rather than a 2Pac track.
One of best remixed track after 'Pac died. (If anyone doesn't agree, let's hear some better candidates.)
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I think the posthumous problems were inevitable as everyone has their own opinions and ways of remembering Pac. We were never going to get "classic" albums because there wasn't a cohesive artistic mind behind it. If Pac were alive in 2001-02, he wouldn't be putting out albums full of random songs he recorded in 1994-96, his subject matter would have evolved to him addressing newer things. He did have a great deal of gems in the vault but they were never going to equal "albums". They would be "collections".
I THINK "Until The End of Time" was the first time I can recall just being disappointed with the process because having been privy to the bootlegged material that they ended up remixing for the album, some of them songs just sounded terrible and still do. I actually remember making my own solo disc of songs I liked off that project, just so I didn't have to sit through listening to what they did to songs like "When We Ride on Our Enemies".
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I didn't like any of Pac's stuff being remixed, however, i thought they did a decent job on everything up to and including "Still I Rise". I was mad when "Secretz of War" came out remixed on that album though. Their formula used to be to remix a few songs and touch up the rest, leaving them close to OG.
As soon as UNTIL THE END OF TIME came out, that's when everything went south, beginning with the title track with the sampled "Broken Wings" beat in which Pac's voice was horribly offbeat, it all went downhill after that. From that album on, it was "remix everything, maybe leave one or two songs close to OG" instead of the other way around.
As much as i liked "Changes" I do think it was detrimental in that Afeni felt everything needed to be remixed because she found success ONE TIME remixing a song like this. It worked once, all the other remixes since then were worse for the most part.
Still I Rise remixes were all acceptable EXCEPT Tattoo Tears and Secretz of War. Where this album was butchered was Hussein Fatal being removed from every song he was on (5 of them) and being replaced by inferior Outlawz.
Fatal was buzzing as a solo artist at that time (underground hit single with Tame 1, collabos with DMX, Ja Rule and 3-6 mafia, signed to Rap-a-lot etc) but fatal fucked his career over by going to jail those 2-3 years. Ja tried to help him out by putting him all over that Blood In My Eye cd but Ja himself was about to be blackballed by 50 when that cd dropped.
now as for UTEOT this had some unforgivable butchers on it:
1-this ain't livin (wack beat, removed lyrics)
2-lil homies (horrible beat, removed outro)
3-when thugs cry (that hook is just fucking awful...beat isn't that bad)
4-my closest road dawg (way to ruin those unleaked pac verses putting them over that wackass remix beat)
5-the previously mentioned Lil moo track
6-words to my first born...hate to say it but the DJ Quik remix took away the soul from the original of the track.
7-worldwide mob figgaz (too cheap to pay for the movie samples? young noble's horrible hook...)
and i'll just stop there but i could pick on a few other tracks too....
oh and on a personal note I hate how they took off Kadafi's verse from All Out.
this sums it up pretty good, i agree on every point
Until The End Of Tim and Words To My First Born original versions are classic songs why remix them?
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Edgar Bronfman pushed for Makaveli to be heavily promoted while Jimmy Iovine was looking at ways to break ties with Death Row. This is why they only helped back one video for the album. Edgar's son Ben was a huge 2Pac fan, much like Ted Fields daughter Danielle had liked 2Pac's music. These old men didn't have a clue about Rap music and what would sell so went on the advice of their children for this genre. A formula that worked.
Edgar was good friends and business associates with the main reason why 2Pac's music got any notable commercial awareness after 1998 and that man is Tom Whalley. Without him, 2Pac's music would have faded into a Pac's Life album but with more hurdled. Tom was able to smash down a lot of those hurdles and get 2Pac's video and music circulated a lot more than anyone else. He was the former CEO of Warner music group and had a lot of clout in the industry.
Afeni, who wanted only the "angelic" music out was wanting that type of music out for a reason. The same reason that Jimmy dropped Death Row, and the same reason Tom Whalley and Afeni agreed only to put out 2Pac's music was because there was an agenda by the majors to criminalize rap music and to use 2Pac & Biggie as prominent examples of this. Tom's promotion of Tupac Resurrection was what finally caused the industry string pullers to force him out. He refused to agree to use Time Warner money to back real estate developers who were building prison complexes and extensions around the areas where Rap music was at it's height. Afeni was smart and knew what was going on, which is why she would block songs like "Watch Ya Mouth" or anything that could promote violence.
It was after that, this 2Pac's music got less promotion, less airplay and TV spots because they didn't have the power and influence of Tom, Edgar, and other old school music heads.
2Pac was for most part - A fluke. They made the quick buck from him, and eliminated him because he knew what was going on in the Rap genre, and is the reason why he had so many on-record enemies to try and expose the rappers who promoted the agenda.
This sounds like "conspiracy" nonsense, but it's very much real.
interesting info... good work.. will respond later
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Still I Rise - Everyone was satisfied with this one as well. The remixes only made the album better, in my opinion. The Outlawz must of made a fortune off this one. I know Suge signed them at some point, I wonder if it was for the purpose of their work on this album and other Pac posthumous albums. They were already on a lot of tracks, and when you add them to other Pac tracks it makes it sound authentic since they were his crew when he was alive. I think Death Row was responsible for this one.
Until The End of Time - Again, everyone was satisfied with this album, I know I was. I couldn't believe that 4 years after his Death they were still able to compile a double album of his material that was as good or better than anything else coming out at the time. I think Johnny J deserves a lot of credit for Pac's posthumous work. Again, the remixes only made the album sound better... aside from Lil Mo', I think most everybody used on the album was someone Pac would of worked with while he was alive. They stayed true to Pac's vision, it was like a real Pac album. Not sure if Death Row or Amaru was responsible for this?
Death Row manage and market this projects. Still I Rise contains Death Row remixes and some songs arranged/remixed by the late Johnny J. Suge got the rights of every songs while The Outlawz were signed on Death Row when the project was made. But Interscope recorded it without the Death Row imprint. Then, Afeni Shakur wanted Cold 187Um as supervisor for Until The End Of Time, that's why a lot of tracks where produced by Death Row staff (Damon Thomas, Cold 187Um, Darren Vages, Jim Gettum, Crooked I) while Cold 187Um, Death Row VP, mixed 50% of the album. It wasn't the same thang with "Better Dayz" handled by Amaru, without any Tha Row remixes (then Tha Row Hitters worked on Greatest Hits: Nu Mixes For The Streets, released as Nu-Mixx Klazzics)
More interesting info... I wasn't aware that Cold 187um was such a player in all this?
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I think the posthumous problems were inevitable as everyone has their own opinions and ways of remembering Pac. We were never going to get "classic" albums because there wasn't a cohesive artistic mind behind it. If Pac were alive in 2001-02, he wouldn't be putting out albums full of random songs he recorded in 1994-96, his subject matter would have evolved to him addressing newer things. He did have a great deal of gems in the vault but they were never going to equal "albums". They would be "collections".
I THINK "Until The End of Time" was the first time I can recall just being disappointed with the process because having been privy to the bootlegged material that they ended up remixing for the album, some of them songs just sounded terrible and still do. I actually remember making my own solo disc of songs I liked off that project, just so I didn't have to sit through listening to what they did to songs like "When We Ride on Our Enemies".
Yes i agree, Until The End Of Time was the first time i remember being disappointed too, there was some good stuff on there but a lot of ruined tracks....although i do remember being disappointed when hearing that they had remixed "Black Jesus" on Still I Rise. I know a lot of people liked that one but i much preferred
the OG beat
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Until The End of Time could have been reduced to one disc, much like Better Dayz. I'm sure we all have our preferences as to which tracks could fit one disc, but the problem was that there were too many tracks, meaning that there was a greater room for quality error.
No question that R U Still Down was the best because it "sounded" like a real 2Pac album, was kept close to OG, and enhanced. Still I Rise is where it went down hill. Verses chopped, new vocals, entirely different beats that sounded NOTHING like the original, and a very weak outro song from the Outlawz. Some remixes were nice (Still I Rise, Killuminati, U Can Be Touched) but it was from there it was a "remix" collection, it just so happened to have "less" tracks, so therefore there were "less" mess on this album, which is why it's regarded as one of the better of the posthumous albums.
Had Still I Rise been a DOUBLE album, we'd be thinking of it as an entirely weak album
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i wonder why they released all his posthumous work as double discs? imagine, they coulda split all those into 2 releases instead of 1, which woulda seemed even more impressive.
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This is a really great discussion. I like the way everyone has stayed on point. Very rare these days.
Being an insanely huge Pac fan growing up (and still am), I remember how excited I got at these releases. I remember getting R U Still Down and initially being a disappointed 14 year old as it had no disses to Biggie or Bad Boy (No joke). I obviously still bumped it and I would say it is one of my favourite albums of all time now. I skip maybe 1 or 2 tracks over both discs at most.
I remember calling my friend and discussing the RIP Biggie Smalls quote on God Bless The Dead when Greatest Hits dropped (and the hideous Top Dogg verse!). Troublesome, while awesome, I had already heard on the Trapp bootleg.
Still I Rise to me was OK. I always thought Outlawz polluted Pac tracks a bit and I preferred his solo efforts, but the album still sold like 5 mil and had some great tracks as mentioned. Teardrops and Closed Caskets, Killuminati and Baby Dont Cry were all classic and made the album. I didn't like that Napolean took Pac's verse from U Can be Touched (something I didn't realise until the OG leaked a while later).
Until the End of Time was the album though. I remember listening to this so much in my discman that the CD eventually scratched. Take away Lil Mo track and the horribly offbeat Everything they Owe and I thought it was remarkeable. Probably because it had so many unleaked tracks. Ballad, Last Ones Left, MOB etc
The same for Better Dayz. For me, just hearing Mama's just a Little Girl, Better Dayz and Fame was enough to certify this a classic. It didn't leave my car for months and months.
Loyal to The game I actually bumped quite a lot. I thought there was some classics on it. Quik's remix was fire. Dont you Trust me was amazing. The OG is corny in comparison. Obviously a lot of tracks were butchered but I just took the positives, I would prefer some tracks than none being released.
Pac's life I don't listen to much at all. That was for me, where it ended. Nothing from Pac released since (yes due to Label politics as mentioned above) but probably because these days record sales count for nothing. Live shows is where money is made. A tour could pull an artist like Drake around $30-40m, that would require 10 million album sales. Not even Bieber does those numbers.
That is why we won't see any more Pac albums. No money to be made. If you think it is, or was ever to get Pac's message out, you're kidding yourself.
I would love to hear one more album with Road to Glory, Watch Yo Mouth and others in original form, but it is really unlikely. I can't believe it has been 6 years since Pac's life! wow.
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i wonder why they released all his posthumous work as double discs? imagine, they coulda split all those into 2 releases instead of 1, which woulda seemed even more impressive.
very true but R U Still Down was worthy of being a double disc CD. That was one of the most amazing Pac albums and I actually prefer it to Strictly 4 My Niggaz.
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i wonder why they released all his posthumous work as double discs? imagine, they coulda split all those into 2 releases instead of 1, which woulda seemed even more impressive.
Probably because it reduced their overhead costs compared to if they had just released a bunch of single-disc albums, and tended to sell more anyway, even if you didn't double the sales figures the way that they do for RIAA certifications. Amaru Records was cheap as fuck anyway, so it made sense that they'd go for the double albums with those first few releases.
very true but R U Still Down was worthy of being a double disc CD. That was one of the most amazing Pac albums and I actually prefer it to Strictly 4 My Niggaz.
I actually feel differently. It could've been a better single-disc album. I remember that even when VIBE reviewed it (and I think part of it was reprinted in the VIBE biography of Pac), they even said something similar (something about how it "would've been a better EP than LP-squared"). Not saying that UTEOT and BD were such jam-packed double-albums, but a lot of why people didn't like them wasn't because of the material as much as it was about how the material was presented in retail format... meaning that the remixes were more miss than hit, though the songs were still good, hence why most people always say that if the album had all original beats, that it would've been even better.
But one thing that always pissed me off was that Are U Still Down (which I was always a big fan of) came out on the radio around the same time as when RUSD was being released... and I assumed that the song was on the album. I remember even one of the radio stations in the Ventura County area (Q1047 or Q105, depending on what name they went by at that time) had a radio ad for the album but with Are U Still Down playing in the background, so it was confusing. I remember listening to the album straight through a few times listening for the song and being disappointed that it wasn't on there.
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darren vegas and edi have been good players
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solid thread here... I'd rank those albums this way:
Better Dayz
Still I Rise
Until The End Of Time
R U Still Down
Pac's Life
Loyal To The Game
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That is why we won't see any more Pac albums. No money to be made.
Only thing left to do is release the original versions in CDQ. That may well be the smartest move in hip hop music for the last few years as the sales would go through the roof. I can imagine a big boxset with all untouched originals selling into the millions.
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solid thread here... I'd rank those albums this way:
Better Dayz
Still I Rise
Until The End Of Time
R U Still Down
Pac's Life
Loyal To The Game
good list but pacs life was a little to short. but the songs fit well together so to say
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That is why we won't see any more Pac albums. No money to be made.
Only thing left to do is release the original versions in CDQ. That may well be the smartest move in hip hop music for the last few years as the sales would go through the roof. I can imagine a big boxset with all untouched originals selling into the millions.
or throw it up on iTunes for like $50-100 like they did with The Beatles
if it was all the original sessions mastered and not fucked with I'd probably drop the bag for it
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I didn't like any of Pac's stuff being remixed, however, i thought they did a decent job on everything up to and including "Still I Rise". I was mad when "Secretz of War" came out remixed on that album though. Their formula used to be to remix a few songs and touch up the rest, leaving them close to OG.
As soon as UNTIL THE END OF TIME came out, that's when everything went south, beginning with the title track with the sampled "Broken Wings" beat in which Pac's voice was horribly offbeat, it all went downhill after that. From that album on, it was "remix everything, maybe leave one or two songs close to OG" instead of the other way around.
As much as i liked "Changes" I do think it was detrimental in that Afeni felt everything needed to be remixed because she found success ONE TIME remixing a song like this. It worked once, all the other remixes since then were worse for the most part.
I´m rollin wit dat. I got like 300 Death Row CDs/Tapes/12"s at home but I never went to the store to buy 2pac Remix CDs. Still I Rise was decent but yea after that it went downhill with 2pacs music.
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solid thread here... I'd rank those albums this way:
Better Dayz
Still I Rise
Until The End Of Time
R U Still Down
Pac's Life
Loyal To The Game
"better dayz" and "until the end of time" over "r u still down"?
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solid thread here... I'd rank those albums this way:
Better Dayz
Still I Rise
Until The End Of Time
R U Still Down
Pac's Life
Loyal To The Game
"better dayz" and "until the end of time" over "r u still down"?
I honestly enjoy those albums more but I guess it's more of a personal thing ya dig? Better Dayz especially, that's my favorite posthumous Pac album after Makaveli
I liked R U Still Down don't get me wrong but I felt it could have been structured better and some songs did have that "leftover" feel like they were supposed to be on other albums, plus some lyrics were recycled like "Still Ballin'" with "I'm Getting Money" (which is actually the OG?)... it has classic songs on it though and of course Spice 1 is on there 8)
I wish I still had my copy of that though I do regret selling it :-X
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man, yall shoulda seen how bad "better dayz" was slammed on here when it was first released. people HATED that shit....i personally thought it was pretty good, nothing like his other work, but definitely had some nice cuts....but the only posthumous release that was worse, in my eyes, was "loyal to the game", which was average at best. i dont even count "pac's life" as a real pac album.
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Pac's Life had a few good ones on it, but Loyal To The Game should have been done totally different
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the only things i liked about Pac's Life is that they left Soon I As Get Home on there (because they didn't have the acapella) and the remix of Um Dumpin was great except for that gay chorus
only good thins about Loyal to the Game were the Loyal to the Game remix with Quik and Big Syke and a few of Eminem's beats were dope (Uppercut, Black Cotton and the Soulja song)
but the guests were horrible on both CD's for the most part. specifically Ludacris, Chamillionaire, G-Unit, Lil Scrappy T.I. and Obie Trice all rapping on songs with 2pac?? get the fuck outta here, those people had nothing to do with 2pac. and none of them were even in the same circles of rappers Pac was working with while he was alive.
I can get down with Bone Thugs, Fatal, Nuttso, the Outlawz and Snoop being added to Pac's shit. And obviously the same with DJ Quik and members of Thug Life (Syke specifically but Mopreme would be accepted too). But hearing a nobody-ass rapper like GRAVY rapping alongside with 2pac and Kadafi on the Untouchable remix is absurd. Just a coincidence that Gravy went on to play Biggie in the Notorious movie (true story)...but as a rapper I never hearda dude before that CD and never heard of him after besides that movie and him being shot a few years ago.
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That is why we won't see any more Pac albums. No money to be made.
Only thing left to do is release the original versions in CDQ. That may well be the smartest move in hip hop music for the last few years as the sales would go through the roof. I can imagine a big boxset with all untouched originals selling into the millions.
It wouldn't, plus they would never commercially release such a project because of that and because of the fact that it would cost too much to clear samples. It isn't even about money anymore for sample clearance but can be blocked by stubborn labels if your name has been blackballed in the industry.
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i wonder why they released all his posthumous work as double discs? imagine, they coulda split all those into 2 releases instead of 1, which woulda seemed even more impressive.
very true but R U Still Down was worthy of being a double disc CD. That was one of the most amazing Pac albums and I actually prefer it to Strictly 4 My Niggaz.
8)
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NOBODY wanted to hear Lil Moo rape 2pac songs.
That was one of the worst remixes ever made for a Tupac song - can't believe QD3 took the OG beat and put this trash instead ???
The version from "Too Gangsta For Radio" was perfect beat-wise, but they should left Val Young on that hook 8)
og in current rotation. 8) qd3 and tupac shoulda did an album together they were like a snoop and dre. all his unreleased shoulda been released in og form.
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That is why we won't see any more Pac albums. No money to be made.
Only thing left to do is release the original versions in CDQ. That may well be the smartest move in hip hop music for the last few years as the sales would go through the roof. I can imagine a big boxset with all untouched originals selling into the millions.
It wouldn't, plus they would never commercially release such a project because of that and because of the fact thatit would cost too much to clear samples. It isn't even about money anymore for sample clearance but can be blocked by stubborn labels if your name has been blackballed in the industry.
I used to think that too, but what would have been the most expensive + hardest sample to clear would have been Liberian Girl by Michael Jackson for 'Thug N Me' but was actually cleared for 'Letter 2 My Unborn' so that can't be the reason. What other sample would have caused problems? Only realistic one would be the Prince sample for 'Pac's Life' but again, Prince was sampled + cleared for 'Heartz Of Men'. And the originals are 18 years old, so the original samples are approximately 25 years old and I'm sure that counts for something in clearing samples as the old artists woild love to be relevant again. Give it 10 years (at most) and this will happen.
I truly believe that if an untouched CDQ album of original 2Pac album and a new Jay-Z album (supposedly the most relevant rap artist) dropped on the same day, I think that the 'Pac album would sell more if people knew about it. And that would say a lot about rap today.