Published on Feb 3, 1999
Even though my exposure to the music of Tupac Shakur has been
limited, I truly believe that he was one of the most talented
rappers to ever grace the stage. Although his music often spoke of
the thug life he led (and which eventually claimed his life), he
always offered rays of hope to his listeners, as well as a touch of
humanity. The two albums I’ve previously reviewed by 2Pac,
Me Against The World and
All Eyez On Me, I’ve found to be nothing short of
brilliant.
So why do I feel that the first real posthumous release of
Shakur’s music,
R U Still Down? (Remember Me), is a bit of a letdown? (No,
I’m not forgetting about the side project Makavelli, but seeing
that this album was already scheduled to come out prior to Shakur’s
death, I’m choosing not to list it as a posthumous release.)
Oh, don’t get me wrong, it’s not that this two-disc set from
1997 is bad by any means. These 26 tracks often show the same
talent that I’ve heard in previous albums from Shakur. But it
almost strikes me that had Shakur lived, some of these tracks would
not have been released, because they were not up to his
standards.
Case in point: The original version of “I Wonder If Heaven Got A
Ghetto” is a decent enough rap, though I’d be hard-pressed to say
it ranked among his best works. So why the need to provide a second
version, done in a hip-hop style – a version that pales in
comparison to the original? Likewise, the first version of “When I
Get Free” is a decent enough rap – why weaken it with a
continuation of the story on “When I Get Free II”, a track that is
nowhere near as good as the first?
Another thing that strikes me as odd about
R U Still Down? (Remember Me) is I don’t ever remember
hearing Shakur sound this angry before. True, there’s always been
an undercurrent of violence in a few of Shakur’s songs, but this
time, he sounds pissed, and he sounds like he means what he’s
saying. “Hellrazor” is a great rap, but it’s sometimes difficult to
listen to, because you can hear the pain in Shakur’s voice. Same
with “I’m Losin It,” a rap that I don’t consider one of the better
tracks on the album – Shakur’s voice actually scares me here.
Even with these shortcomings, there’s a lot of great material on
this set. “Open Fire” takes a little time to get into, but after
about three listens, I found myself getting into it. Shakur
continues, even in death, to offer both slaps in the face to the
negatives in life he saw (“Fuck All Y’all”, “Fake Ass Bitches”) as
well as signs of hope to his listeners (“Hold On Be Strong,”
“Nothin But Love”).
And, of course, there’s the look at the “thug life” that Shakur
both saw first-hand and lived (“Open Fire”, “Thug Style”, “16 On
Death Row”). While some of the imagery is violent, I don’t believe
that Shakur was necessarily an advocate of that type of life.
Instead, I believe that it was what he knew, and most songwriters
talk about what they know in their lyrics. (For the record, I’m
also impressed that there is some original music on this album,
proving that one does not have to rely on samples in the world of
rap.)
R U Still Down? (Remember Me) has some good moments on it,
but it is not the perfect tribute that one would think such an
album would be to Shakur and his work. Supposedly there is still
much more material in the can; I’d still be interested in hearing
it, so long as it was consistent with Shakur’s best work.