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Originally Posted by Sonic Youth 37
I wasn't judging Pac. I won't deny his talent. It just has always seemed to me that the Thug Life philosophy he touted wasn't really what he represented, but how he wanted himself to feel/be seen. If that makes any sense. Maybe it's just be preference for East Coast/NYC rap manifesting in trying to downplay Pac/NWA/Dre/Snoop etc
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thats only partially correct..
while of course, much of 2pac's art represents a kind of idealism, he
really went out in the streets, whether in the East, or here in the West, and worked with gangsters to create a kind of diplomacy.
"Thug life" originally was a kind of code of conduct, 2pac was trying to be a kind of diplomat for hood culture, to create kind of unity through the common ghetto experience. This is straight from the Black Panthers roots (from his mother and her family)..
further, whether in his youth, or especially here in the west from 88-96, 2pac ran with nothing but motherfuckers doin dirt, and that is how he got smoked in the end, by those same folks, cuz its as e-40 said, "cuz misery loves company, and company loves misery, and money causes jealousy and envy.."
My entire point is that you misjudge the image of Tupac, and are not looking at the biography. Tupac lived in the hood, rolled with hood folkz, and did what the hood does, and the fact that he was also artistic and moderately successful before gangster rap should not somehow discredit his "street" credentials. That is just not fair to doubt a person's experiences, simply to compare them to another person.. and further, it is silly and naive to compare the "gangsterism" of gangsters..