2pac wasnt bad but he was never anything special… anyone heard of a rapper called benefit ??? hes not bad.
What do you like?
louise says “2pac wasnt bad but he was never anything special…”
Thats why he is argueably the “Best rapper ever” … next to Notorious BIG. and im not all about him just cause he was mainstream, his lyrics are very powerful and moving
“he was never anything special…” wow what an understatement.
Youngman18: ok, the above post was my little brother. i will be having words.
in answer to j0n4th4n, i really like all sorts of music. i’ve hated enya ever since i used to work in a garden centre and all they would play was back to back enya. i really can’t stand her. i don’t have a favourite band, favourite song, or favourite album, and it would be hard to just suggest a few genres which i mainly listen to, but if it helps today i was listening to ryan adams, rhcp and dj shadow. like i said, it varies.
the 2pac comment was mine, i didnt realise that it was logged in under my sister …
I’d rather listen to my own post-curry rectal gurglings than Enya. I also abhor, fully ABHOR AND DETEST, Kula Shaker … fuck me, I hate that band. Who do I like? Eva Cassidy, cliched but true … a lot of cheesy ballads, a lot of cheesy garage, and then a bit of people like Vertical Horizon. I LOVE Vertical Horizon.
incubus anyone???
they have there moments
Incubus have a great riffmaker in Mike Einziger, but they don’t seem to realise that they are at their best on the introspective riff-rock songs like Drive and Stellar and Just a Phase etc. They lean too far towards a type of music that doesn’t suit them (ie the “heavy” stuff), and that limits their ability to record great albums. But if you are looking at individual Incubus songs, there are some moments of genius in there (and I speak as someone who hates nu-metal with a passion).
Natsilicous. I don’t really 
you. In fact you are my favourite person that I will never meet.
Back to the issue of Mr Pac. You said maybe I can’t relate to his ghetto tales etc, and you’re right, but not being able to relate to it doesn’t mean you can’t appreciate it. How many people who buy hip hop come from the ghetto? A lot less than those who come from suburban middle class families.
The reason I ain’t feelin’his rhymes is not because they are about ghettos, but because of the way he deals with the realities of that lifestyle. I think there is too much of a focus on an arrogant affirmation of his lifestyle as THE lifestyle (though it’s true that not all his songs are like that). Now if you look at Nas’ first album, “Illmatic”, (I know he’s gone pop etc now, but there was a time when he was real) he deals with ghetto life in a different way, and a way which has much more of an impact on me. He paints a picture with his words and you can’t deny the gritty, atmospheric musicality of his beats (produced by people like DJ Premier, Q-Tip etc). He just says it in a way that makes you think; whilst Pac eventually became nothing more than a self-proclaimed defender of the G’s.
Don’t get me wrong, I love hip hop, but there’s another level of hip hop free of gangsterisms and rap cliches that makes you think and at the same time is funky like James Brown (like a sex machine, baby)! People like The Roots, Common, Mos Def - people who know about the legacy of black American music and try to further what the old bluesmen and jazzmen were all about, they are the people who make real hip hop. Now the Blackalicious debate - their first album (Nia) is truly back-breakingly heavy; but I am v. disappointed with most of the new one, and I was disappointed when I saw them live a month ago. Was it the new one (Blazing Arrow) that you had, Nats? Probably was. So I take back the insults…I am sorry to say Blackalicious have let us all down, so you were right! 
“whilst Pac eventually became nothing more than a self-proclaimed defender of the G’s.”
HAHAHA 
He has a lot of great songs that do not refrence THUG LIFE in a bad way.
I love Blackalicious. If you want to listen to a good crossover band go for Ozomatli though, they’re crazy.
Ozomatli, yes! Jurassic 5 connect with Cuba and make the happiest music in the world! Even the most miserable git ever can’t fail to smile when Ozomatli hit their groove. By the way Jane, as a Blackalicious fan, what do you think of the new album compared to Nia?
Youngman18, I’m glad my post made you laugh, but you ought to have noted that I actually said that a number of 2Pac songs were seperate from the gangsta stuff that pisses me off. Still, people who call him a poet etc are misguided - if you want a ‘street’ poet look to Saul Williams - he’s the man.
sorry about what i am going to say, but i am in the middle of a very anti-objective mood phase.
What makes you think these people “are” misguided? Who is to say that you “are” right? Why do people always air their opinions as if it’s concrete fact?
HVD…
You raise a good point at an apposite moment; catching me doing something I probably shouldn’t. BUT…If you read my posts on serious threads you will notice that I am very aware of the fragility and individual nature of opinion - this is a lighthearted thread and I treated this more like a conversation than a debate.
When you talk to your friends, do you often say - “I believe Pantera are really good, though I am aware that this is just my opinion and that you might not necessarily agree with it and that my opinion may cause you offence and I sincerelyhopeitdoesnotsorry”??? In conversation we are prone to making throwaway remarks which are sweeping, unknowingly centred on egotistical notions of objective truth, and basically, ill-considered.
However, if you were to think carefully about about the potential implications and possible ways of qualifying every single thing you say, you would be a very dull, boring person (for the record, HVD aka Hiren is a very funny guy). Opinions make life interesting; they make conversation worthwhile, and are harmless when you are talking about issues like the merits of Tupac Shakur.
Imagine if I had written this - In my humble opinion Tupac was perhaps not as profound and educative as some of his followers suggest, and as such, in my potentially fallible estimation, ought not to be classified as a poet. Rather, I, your servant, suggest humbly that our attentions may be better rewarded by the poetry of one Saul Williams, a writer who my (potentially misguided and incomplete) knowledge of literature commends as talented.
Should we have disclaimers after everything we write or say!? Do you not believe in the right to free speech? Or are you someone who thinks that speech should be free, but not that free? I know you are not.
Come on Hiren; relax. All that’s important is that we realise no one has a monopoly on truth, and express this when relevant, and not when it is understood implicity, or is unnecessary - is that fair?
I know jawaad, im just pissed off with someone right now because of their inability to conced that their opinion abotu something may not be the absolute, objective truth (will post about it later, once im calm)
One thing i have noticed about myself recently. I have just started a series of meditative exercises and they seem to be having an effect. I have started using the verb to be a hell of a lot less nowadays.
For example, I used to say: “Zero 7 are shiity and are inteded only for pretentious tossers” (joke 
)
Nowdays i find myself saying (almost unconsciously) “I think Zero 7 are shitty and intended only for pretentious tossers”
But I’ll leave this for now, Im almost embarressed. You are, of course, right. This is a fun thread and not a formal, pangloss-style argument about the effects of camus’ existentialist beliefs on modern architecture.
Sorry, just venting real-life onto ilp.com, something which i have been doing far too often recently.
jawaad you made me laugh again 
being a true adolescent, i share most musical tastes with my friends (see louise, nicola, etc) - eva cassidy, RHCP, incubus, vertical horizon… -with some obscure ones like steely dan (so good) and timi yuro thrown in for good measure. however, i don’t understand anything jane is talking about, so that taste obviously didn’t quite rub off.
i don’t like trance.
the new rhcp album is hot sex. it’s my favourite album since ‘is this it?’, which was also hot and sexy. as are you clarice. xx
Youngman18, I made you laugh again!!?!?
That’s great! By the way, if you’re ever looking for an entertainer, I do kids’ birthdays, housewarmings, office parties and YMCA conventions. I do a mean Tupac impression which, for some reason, kids seem to love, and my friends say I look great in a clown suit.
You’re paying for my plane ticket though.
For details, call 1800-dial-a-clown 
i bought it today along with mercury rev’s ‘‘all is dream’’ and both are excellent. of course, RHCP outdo the competition by a margin. v good album. lou, you are hot sex. xxx