Tupac Shakur - Rolling Stone Entry

Every rapper who grew up in
The Nineties owes something to
2Pac people either try to emulate
Him in some way, or they go in a different
Direction because they didn't like
What he did but whatever you think of him
He definitely developed his own
Style: He didn't
Sound like anyone who came before him

My favorite 2Pac album is
The Don Killuminati it
Was recorded after he was shot and spent
Time in prison it was like a doctor
Told him he was going to die
And he was trying to get it all
Down on paper that's something the
Average rapper just could
Not do: build an entire
Album around that concept, and
Stay in that negative space everybody
Knows that they're going
To die but after you're
In a life-threatening situation
You think about it a little more

2Pac's aggressive records are my
Favorite "Hail Mary"
Is just perfect: "Picture paragraphs unloaded
Wise words being quoted" Most
Artists now just
Aren't smart enough to write that
Or honest enough to write
A line like, "I ain't a killer but don't push
Me" These days rappers will just tell you
"I'll kill you"

2Pac was like a camera
It's incredible how much
He wrote how much he documented to me
'Pac was more of a poet than a
Rapper you can always tell when you're
Hearing 2Pac verse he wrote
Those lyrics without
Any music notorious BIG was more
Melody-driven I'm sure he wrote his
Shit without a pen
And over the music but 'Pac was
Just hashing out his life the thing was
He was doing that when the public eye was
On him, and everything he was
Hashing out just expanded
And that's when things got out of control

All of us on the East Coast loved 2Pac the
Music was all that mattered that East Coast
West Coast feud was just personal beef
Now that he's not here
He's bigger than ever i can
Still listen to two or
Three 2Pac CDs straight
Sometimes I put on 2Pac's best songs
Followed by Biggie's best songs then I get
Ready to go into my next project

Laurence Fishburne told me once
That he didn't like 2Pac he told me it was
Because 2Pac was so much
Smarter than everyone
Around him he said he didn't
Like the way 2Pac behaved because he knew
That 2Pac knew better i understood what
He meant but I still gave him
A look like he was bugging