origianlly posted August 28-ish. only right I repost. RIP Tupac…

Tupac seems to be dropping quite a few songs this year. This month. In fact, on Friday’s edition of Leakin’, I had 2 slappers ready to go for y’all, although I wasn’t sure how old they were, because I’m not the biggest Tupac fan, but that’s beside the point. The point is that Tupac is dead, & has been for years. Enough years to where a kid who’s old enough to get ‘tang has probably never heard a Pac song outside of Dear Momma. Really though, plenty of pups & kitties I know consider the late, great Tupac Shakur just another wack rapper, & while I don’t wholeheartedly disagree, I don’t think they’re giving him a fair assessment.

If the only Pac you hear is at the club, or in the car on the way home from church, on a Sunday afternoon, then you haven’t heard Tupac. You heard 2pac, the nigga who would shoot first, & ask questions later. The cat who was awaiting trial for (allegedly) cruising some young lady’s hershey highway, when he was murdered in Vegas, after force feeding some bum gangbanger his $1000 alligator shoes. Indeed, there was much more to Pac than what the vampires & leeches would lead you to believe. In fact, if YOU don’t know much about Tupac, the rapper, good. Acquaint yourself with Tupac, the man. His life, struggle, & subsequent assassination is an interesting & inspiring story for anyone. Unfortunately, that dude died when 2pac did.

See, never being a blind follower of his afforded me the luxury of enjoying his non-rap shit without scrutiny, like the time he was on ‘A Different World,’ back on the day. Because, you know, life is bigger than rap music & what not, the same way talent is bigger than success, if you smell my cologne. Few people ever truly tap their primordial self, & harness their God-given talents for self betterment. Even fewer earn a decent living from it. To achieve both, like Tupac obviously seemed to do, & pigeonhole yourself would be insane. I refuse to believe his legacy would’ve ended with a stinky spit-stopper & some “Greatest Hits” joint collecting dust on iTunes. After all, everybody can’t be Jay-Z. For illustrative purposes, Tupac’s worst movie was better than Will Smith’s last three. Just saying.

I’d feel different if I really thought that his music is being put out with some sort of empathy or otherwise well-meaning intention. No dice, though. Cash rules everything around me.

Bullshit aside & respect due, but Pac is dead. Pac is also deeper than those same 3 songs they play on the radio. Fact. Nonetheless however, feel free to continue to think that he’s dialing in verses to niggas’ collective studios from some underground lair, while fat cats get more obese (& his mother stays losing) off of his ghost. & in the process, further chip away at the integrity he, more or less, died for. The more we clamor, the more “they” find ways to milk a dead cow, & I’ve yet to saw a public display of gratitude for mom. Not that she deserves it, because I don’t know her personally, but it’s going somewhere, no?

&, to show how forward-thinking I am about his forward-thinking, post-murder, I think had he survived that, it would’ve been a wrap for rap music. He seemed smart enough to get out while he was ahead, which is kind of what he did, just not the exact he would’ve chosen, I assume.