In 1998, the 2Pac case was on Unsolved Mysteries and Americas Most Wanted. They want to find his killer but they just don't realize that he is still alive. Snoop is playing along, with that plan that he 2Pac dead, but he knows that 2Pac is still alive. To play along with this plan he has cancelled his tour of America, because it is unsafe for him to be going into EastCoast Teritory, because there is the chance that he might get killed in another Notorios BIG (Bad Boy sponsored) drive By. Ice T says,"This is the first time that I ever felt unsafe." He must not realize that 2Pac is still alive and that there isn't any reason to be afraid. The only reason he has to being afaid is because of the killing of Biggie.
Love him or hate him, the fact is claer: the Hip-Hop Nation lost one of its most imporatant voices when Tupac Shakur passed away on September 13,1996 from gunshot wounds suffered a week earlier on a Las Vegas strip. An engaging vocalist with a haunting, baritone lilt, Tupac will be remembered for his tumultuous, highly successful and tragically brief career.
With his five albums (including his recent Makaveli release), many soundtrack appearences, and a number of acclaimed guest appearences on the recordings of others, Tupac compiled an enduring body of work that spanned a range of emotional complexity, from the heartwarming sentiment of "Dear Mama" to the venomous "Hit Em Up." But despite their particular emotive quality, Pac's work consistenly provoked throught and created controversy.
From the beginnig, Pac's material incited reaction and caught the attention of outside forces. In 1992, his debut, 2Pacalypse Now, came under fire from former American Vice President Dan Quayle when a Texas state tropper was allegedly gunned down by a teenager who was listening to the record at the time. While it's completly outrageous to blame one man's actions on the music he listens to, this incident is symbolic of the main reason why Pac's work will be revered by many for years to come: good, bad, confused or crystal clear, Pac's work generated an impact like few others.
Rap is about communication and no ome was able to grab your attention with words better than Tupac Shakur. It was impossible to turn a deaf ear to this man's voice. For better or worse, he gave it his all in each and every record session. Passion, confusion, anger-he conveyed all these emotions, sometimes all at once. Pac's music and its sheer emotive bombardment on the senses.
Pac was no angel, but he was no devil, either. There was good and bad in him, a balance present in each and every one of us. He was brutally honest and as imperfect as any human being. Although he sometimes appeared to contradict himself, you knew that his emotions were always genuine at the time of the recording.
While he probably will be remembered by many for his role in rap's coastal conflicts, Tupac Shakur never really hated East Coast. Take a listen to "Old School," a track from Me Against The World which revealed his respect for this music's founing fathers, as evidence that he was honered to be a part of this culture ans movement that began in the '70's in the Bronx, NY.
1995 saw the passing of Eazy E from AIDS, and gunfire took Tupac in 1996. Let's hope that in 1997 we do not lose one of our soldiers. Live in Peace.
Taken from the Source: Jan. 1997, by Elliot Wilson
Still I Rise
2 Pac Shakur Lyrics & Links
2 Pac Lyrics
Death Row Records
