I’ve been on a rap documentary watching spree recently, it started off with me watching All Eyez On Me – a biopic about 2Pac’s life. It led me down a Googling spree, looking for more information about the unsolved murders of 2Pac and Notorious B.I.G. I then watched Biggie and Tupac (2002) and Who Shot Biggie and Tupac? (2017). It’s amazing how these murders have remained officially unsolved since they were both huge celebrities and were involved in high-profile killings.
Both rappers also had huge entourages, so there were bound to be witnesses or people who know what really went on. However, according to the documentaries, nobody wants to come forward because nobody wants to be a snitch. Fair enough, since snitches get stitches but it also seems so childish at the same time. If you can rap about shooting up cats and doing drugs, why not come forward with information?
Maybe everybody involved has been paid off – or maybe nobody really knows what happened. If someone was to come forward with proof and information about the murderers today, would they really be killed? I’m sure I’m just talking out of my ass since I’ve never been involved with gangs and that whole thug life (I’m too much of a pussy to do gangster things).
Some interesting things I learned – Notorious B.I.G. was supposedly one of the nicest people ever – nobody had anything bad to say about him. Even his mother admitted that they never had a tough life. He never had to live on the streets while growing up – B.I.G. was just a good storyteller and rap music was his medium.
2Pac was also supposedly a well-liked student back in school, taking part in poetry, acting, jazz, and ballet classes. Later in his life, 2Pac was associating with drug dealers like Haitian Jack due to the credibility it would bring him.
I’m not sure how real the stories are but it makes you think about rappers – how many of them are really telling the truth, and how many of them are just storytellers? I mean, if most rappers were involved in criminal activities, you’d think that most of them wouldn’t be alive to tell the tale. Unless they were really good at shooting, surviving and rapping at the same time. So they’d be like superheroes, except that instead of saving people they were running the streets.
If 2Pac and Biggie were alive today, they’d be in their 40s. I wonder if they would still be making the same type of music. Would they still be relevant? Would have they been able to keep up with the times? Maybe hiphop/gangsta rap wouldn’t sound like how it sounds like today. Or maybe they’d evolve and rap over electronic beats and dubstep. Would they find success in today’s world? I guess we’ll never know (unless you believe the stories of 2Pac being alive and well).
Then again, we don’t know how many ‘unreleased’ songs these guys have lying around. With today’s technology I wouldn’t be surprised if there were programs that synthesized the vocals and style of a rapper – all you need to do is feed in some lyrics and put a beat under it.
In the meantime, here are some of my favorite 2Pac and Biggie songs:
2Pac – 2 Of Amerikaz Most Wanted
2Pac – Me Against The World
2Pac – Hit ‘Em Up
2Pac – Troublesome 96′
Bone Thugs ‘n’ Harmony – Thug Luv featuring 2Pac
2Pac – Changes
2Pac – Until the End of Time
Notorious B.I.G. – Juicy
Notorious B.I.G. – Notorious B.I.G.
Notorious B.I.G. – Hypnotize
Notorious B.I.G. – Warning