Bloggystyle -- The Greatest

Pac has been my favorite rapper since I started listening heavily to rap music as I came up. With him being dead, it's a rarity to hear new stuff out of the god. Obviously I'm not the only one who feels that way: a few posthumous Pac albums have debuted at #1, Pac's sold about 20 million records since September 13, 1996, and name recognition alone still places his albums among the highest selling in rap for the year that it drops.

I'm not the only one who understands this. Neither are you. Neither is Afeni Shakur. Neither is T.I. and the other pitiful scrubs that have found their way onto Pac's album in place of Spice 1, Big Stretch, Hussein Fatal and other people Pac was close with. And now neither is Marshall.

The sad fact of the matter is that Pac's name and music is still a multi million dollar business with plenty of people still mining for gold. Well it finally appears with this album as though the gold has run out, and only rocks are left. But that didn't stop Marshall from hitting the bottom and continue digging.

Soldier Like Me

It's one thing for Marshall to be one of the worst people in the studio behind the boards. After listening to Until the End of Time, it's not like the production on Pac's posthumous stuff was being done by DJ Premiere or The Alchemist. But Marshall has this unbelievably terrible habit of switching Pac's flow, chopping his verses and inserting words elsewhere.

How good was this track back when it was made? Probably a lot better than this. And then Marshall's whiny voice does the hook. Good god.

Uppercut

This track's beat reminds me of the first one, but for some reason this one's almost listenable. Go figure: Marshall makes one of his better beats for what sounds like some of the worst lyrics Pac ever spit. Of course, this isn't Pac's flow so maybe this actually sounded acceptable back in the day. I certainly trust Pac's opinion over Marshall's or his mother's.

Out On Bail

Let's get this straight. This track is almost 11 years old. And yet in the beginning, Marshall chops his words so that he says "Drop that shit, Em." So not only does Marshall chop his verses and slow down his flow, but he creates new Pac lyrics. What a genius.

There used to be a small clip of Pac doing this track live that people fiended over. Well at least Marshall didn't mess with Pac's flow this time. I don't know what the hell is going on with this beat: it sounds like Marshall suffered a seizure.

Pac even shouts out Em in the outro in what can only be one of the weirdest lines ever: "It's my motherfuckin nigga Em behind the boards on this shit." Yes, that's Tupac freakin Shakur calling the ghost's body double in that Casper movie his nigga. Pac would probably be pointing the gun at himself by this point.

Ghetto Gospel

This was easily one of the best unreleased tracks Pac left us. It certainly needed a new beat, but lyrically and flow wise this is one of the best tracks Pac recorded in the 91-94 period before Me Against The World. The way Pac gets into the hood tales was his trademark before 1995.

So what happens? I had already been induced to Marshall slowing Pac's flow down before this track or I would have flipped out immediately. But then I immediately hear the crooning of the only individual whiter than Marshall on this album.

ELTON FUCKING JOHN. On a Tupac Shakur CD. I may never come to grips with this. So we have Marshall, one of the biggest gay baiters in rap music, producing a track for Tupac Shakur, creator of such lines as "check your sexuality, as fruity as this alize" and "gay ass Dre," with the runner up in the Queer Eye casting competition serenading his gayness on one of my favorite rap tracks.

Black Cotton

Have I mentioned that the Outlawz suck? The three best Outlawz, Fatal/Kadafi/Syke, all left the group or died after Pac's death in 96. In fact, only big Pac heads, like myself, can even tell you which Outlaw is which on a track. They almost always range somewhere between terrible and horrible. For those interested, the first one is Kastro, whose career hit its highpoint on Hail Mary off the Makaveli album. Ditto for Young Noble, the second Outlaw on this track.

Pac's lyrics are tight on this track. Leave it to Marshall and that grating obnoxious voice to do the hook.

Intermission

No, this isn't a track on the album. I had to take a slight break and listen to some real Pac tracks to make sure he actually was tight. Sure enough, he was.

Moving on...

Loyal To The Game

Marshall actually speeds Pac's verse up on this track. He slows them down when they need to be fast and then he speeds up Pac's vocals on one of his ultimate chill songs.

Loyal To The Game originally appeared on the Above The Rim soundtrack, one of the most famous music soundtracks as far as rap is concerned (who can forget Regulators?). This track featured Treach and Riddler and a classic 94 G Funk beat.

Putting *G-G-G-G-UUUUNIT!* on this track is a travesty. If they were replacing the Outlawz on one of those studio scrap tracks, this would have been ok with a half decent beat (see: anybody Pac worked with in 96 on his worst day).

Thugs Get Lonely Too

This was one of those studio scrap fun tracks that I was talking about. The original version was somewhat catchy. This version just sucks. This was hardly a Pac masterpiece before Marshall slowed down the vocals beyond belief.

And why waste Nate on this track? It must be a druggie thing: maybe Afeni should stop that.

N I G G A

Jada can rap. He even spits a couple of nice tribute lines to Pac on the track.

Marshall produced this track. How did I know? Well, this is track 8, and it sounded like Track 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6 and 7. I'm actually developing a migraine.

Who Do You Love

I'm on record as saying that the original version of this track was the worst damn shit Pac ever did. I mean, it was just horrible. I might go so far as to claim the production was below Marshall's pitiful standards.

Well Murphy's Law meant that nothing about Pac's vocals would be touched on this track, hook included. And Murphy's Law held true. Taking Stretch off probably did a dead man a favor. A man associated with tracks like Pain and Holler If Ya Hear Me deserved to be disassociated with this track. So did Pac.

Intermission #2

I listened to a bit of 2pacalypse, Thug Life and Strictly. Yeah, he was tight back then. And I understand how none of this current stuff made it on there.

A Crooked Nigga

I hit play and was nearly blown away by the speakers. This sounded like Marshall hit record and then gave Pac Mia Wallace's adrenaline shot. I don't even think this track was done in CD quality. If Pac hadn't been cremated he'd be rolling in his grave right now.

At this point, maybe Suge can rehire the cat who popped Biggie to take care of Marshall. And what's with guys simply using fists on Dre at the Vibe Awards: is Suge going soft on us?

Don't You Trust Me

Marshall slowed down Pac's vocals on this soft song, making him sound like a straight pussy. And that was before Dido started singing.

I'm not sure who did the production on this one, because there's too much noise going on at once to be just Marshall. Maybe he had help from one of the Stans in the studio who was only there to blow him. Hey, everyone else was raping Pac's album, why not add someone else to the gravy train.

Hennessey

If Pac ever had a serious flaw when it came to rapping, it was that he too often reverted to rhyming shit with "hennessey" or "thug nigga." If we had a nickel for everytime Pac rhymed thug nigga with drug deala in his 8 or so years rapping, we'd all be rich.

This beat is straight stupid. But at least the chopping of Pac's verse to mish and mash with Obie Trice's verse sorta worked. How sad is it that Obie had one of the 2 best guest spots on here? Maybe I'm just giving him too much credit for mentioning Pac's glory days and shouting him out.

Thug For Life

This is one of the worst beats I have ever heard. Marshall has officially given me a migraine. Pac wasn't giving him much to work with anyway.

Po Nigga Blues

Well this beat is at least tolerable. When we're talking production, Pac is a guy who worked with individuals like DJ Quik, Dr. Dre, Stretch, Johnny J, QDIII and just about any producer he wanted to work with. Some of the all time classic beats in rap music were on All Eyez On Me and Makaveli.

I can't believe it can be so low that this is one of the best beats on a Pac album.

Hennessey Remix

Why are there 2 versions of this track on the album, you ask? That's a damn good question. I think I already wasted time discussing the first one.

This album just went from really bad to comical.

A Crooked Nigga Too

Ditto above. Maybe Marshall and Andre will do us a favor by getting in a black BMW and rolling down the Las Vegas Strip to Flamingo and Koval after a Tyson fight.

Loyal To The Game

At least this version got one of Pac's homeboys on it. No replacement for Treach or anything.

And with that, this album mercifully comes to an end. I never thought I'd reach the point where I hoped Pac music would stop coming out, but this may have sent me over the edge.

I hope this is officially the end of one of the greatest rap careers of all time.