I regret ever being a part of the 2Pac world

[Preach]

I would've called it the "2Pac scene" but I decided that word just fucking annoys me after having heard talks about how the scene is so messed up. 2Pac scene this and 2Pac scene that. It's such a fucking corny world. I go to Tupac forums now and every single post in every single thread is making me think "jesus christ". I honestly regret ever being a part of it.

I still love Tupac's music, and I still go to forums frequently to see if there's new stuff that came out. Seems in the later years, people have been able to figure out the dates on which songs were recorded. So there's like lists of songs in chronological order based on when they were recorded. So I still go to forums for stuff like that.

But jesus christ. Have anyone been to a 2Pac forum (other than this one) lately? Whenever someone say something like "Pac wouldn't snitch, don't run to the police when you get your azz whooped like a bitch!!" I just know that it's some loser who would never say that shit. It's so saddening to go to those forums. And the whole war between websites. Now it's two big forums that are basically splitting the scene, some people are praising one and others are praising the other. So you'll see shit like "fuck <website name>, i'm staying true to this website cause they've been hooking up exclusive shit since day one, fuck the haters, fuck the phonies, <website name> IS THE REALEST 2PAC WEBSITE OUT THERE"

I've been so mad lately.

 

[Chronic]

No I haven't, thank God.

"So there's like lists of songs in chronological order based on when they were recorded"

Care to share, carebear?

 

[masta247]

That's also what's been happening 5, 10 years ago. We were just too young to notice. And do you remember Tupacboard's beef with MrMakaveli? Everyone was about beef because 2pac was. So there were a lot of "fuck x, y is the shit and i'm staying real to it". Everything was that childish, and only some people were kind of serious.

 

[Ristol]

It's fun to watch us get old. Preach you are my secret spiritual boyfriend and I love you. Homo.

 

[S O F I]

Any news regarding Henning?

Chronie? Yes, with an e, for endearment.

 

[Pittsey]

That's also what's been happening 5, 10 years ago. We were just too young to notice. And do you remember Tupacboard's beef with MrMakaveli? Everyone was about beef because 2pac was. So there were a lot of "fuck x, y is the shit and i'm staying real to it". Everything was that childish, and only some people were kind of serious.

I don't remember being like that myself. Although I may have forgotten.

I also don't remember there being any cross forum issues from here. I was a member on both boards. Although, by that point, I had lost the love for it.

I think the fans are part of the reason I rarely talk about 2pac or his music any longer.

 

[Da_Funk]

We were all stupid teenagers once Preach. Embrace it, don't hate yourself for it.

 

[Ristol]

I also don't remember there being any cross forum issues from here. I was a member on both boards. Although, by that point, I had lost the love for it.

Makes sense that you'd lose interest before us. You're quite a bit older

 

[masta247]

I don't remember being like that myself. Although I may have forgotten.

I also don't remember there being any cross forum issues from here. I was a member on both boards. Although, by that point, I had lost the love for it.

I think the fans are part of the reason I rarely talk about 2pac or his music any longer.

I remember that "Beef". People from here would hate on Mr.Makaveli and the other way around. I think there were also some other beefs.
People used to "diss" other members back in the days. "Ill blast yo azz" was a popular e-diss that I recall seeing a number of times.

I remember being a silly teenager myself. Not super lame on the internet but kind of lame indeed, believing that hating Biggie is the awesome thing to do, and that Westside was the best. I didn't participate in any e-beefs though but I do remember them taking place here.

 

[Rukas]

The 2Pac online community died with HitEmUp.com, or rather, when a bunch of kids, or people that acted like kids, took over running things and the maturity level completely disappeared.

Certain people killed it too, by charging as much as they did for unreleased music they had no rights to, and only to a select few, creating an "us and them" society between those who could afford it and the kids who couldnt, resulting in one group feeling superior over the other, which then had to get back at them somehow, causing "beefs."

That was the final nail in the coffin for the "community." It tore it apart.

Bad politics.

Luckily I removed myself from it and only participated in the "golden years," so to speak.

 

[Kobe]

What was the pricing for an 'unreleased' track back then? How were people getting the actual songs in the first place?

 

[Pittsey]

What was the pricing for an 'unreleased' track back then? How were people getting the actual songs in the first place?

People were contacting those that had the music direct. Then arranging a price, and splitting it among buying groups, or out of one persons pocket. At least that was how it was supposed to work.

It may still work now, but probably not, as the people who had the tracks originally got burned.

 

[Kobe]

I see.

Digging in to the source of the music, were these guys with links to Death Row, Interscope? Or is it just a matter of a guy knowing a guy who could get the unreleased tacks?

 

[masta247]

I wonder how many tracks are there that we will never hear, because they don't belong to the official vault etc.

I know that there are many songs with lost masters, that only some/one person has so getting leaks was the only way to ever hear them.

 

[Pittsey]

I see.

Digging in to the source of the music, were these guys with links to Death Row, Interscope? Or is it just a matter of a guy knowing a guy who could get the unreleased tacks?

It could be as simple as researching a track on wikipedia and then contacting someone who was involved through a social networking site. The world is a lot smaller with the internet, the people easier to reach, and unfortunately the majority of the people Tupac was involved with, have fallen on hard times. (An ex-group member wanted money from me for an interview a few years ago.)

But I think most people who consider themselves 2pac "collectors" aren't interested in paying for the music, aren't concerned with subtlety, only reputation, and don't want to put the ground work in. Amaru, obviously want to protect their investment, they don't want others profitting from their intellectual property. And who can blame them.... But... There is a demand for the music as Tupac made it. Although I have found it isn't as good as the music he released, and most of it was left off for a reason.

It's hard (impossible) to take a song that is 20 years old and giving it a modern edge. His music is only going to sound dated. We were promised an OG album from Deathrow - we didn't get it. From Koch - we didn't get it. And from whoever bought the rights from the Deathrow Auction - We haven't had it. I don't think we will, and I don't think there is money in a Tupac remox album. The music industry itself is unable to evolve, so I don't think we are going to see anything new and groundbreaking.

 

[S O F I]

The music industry is fucked in terms of timing the market and being successful. Dre is scared as fuck to release Detox because he's probably behind the curve at every moment. When I mean, behind the curve, I don't mean in terms of quality but in terms of what he thinks the market that buys CDs (which is Nicki Minaj fans) will want to listen to.

 

[Ristol]

The music industry is fucked in terms of timing the market and being successful. Dre is scared as fuck to release Detox because he's probably behind the curve at every moment. When I mean, behind the curve, I don't mean in terms of quality but in terms of what he thinks the market that buys CDs (which is Nicki Minaj fans) will want to listen to.

Doesn't he realize he has a built-in audience already?

 

[masta247]

With the music industry there's something else. Being appealing to the teenagers and making good music are 2 totally different things, often on opposing ends of the spectrum. There are few artists that can somehow combine these things. 2pac was one of them. While his music appears somehow ridiculous to me sometimes, it's still good music. When I was a teenager I liked his music for different things, but I really liked it too. I grew out of most of the music that I used to listen but I still like his. People are able to listen to it for different reasons and everyone can see something for them in it.

You take any beautiful song that you can appreciate now and teenagers will laugh at it, find boring or say that it sucks.
And teenagers is where it's at - that's how we end up with shitty music from ridiculous artists - because teenagers dig it. They are the group that has mainly watched music TV and bought popular music and wanted to be like artists they were listening to.

These days there are artists that can be appealing to teenagers AND make good music too and I believe that growing up listening to them is a good thing because that way you can also develop a liking for good music. Might seem strange but that's what Lady Gaga did, that's what Micheal Jackson did. They appeared cool to the teenagers AND their music was good at the same time.

Now my point is that most artists trying to do that fail really hard and they end up making music that teenagers don't really care much about and that really sucks. That's where most fails I can recall in hip-hop come from actually. Artists making good music usually fail hard while trying to increase their appeal with teenagers, and 'teenage gods' fail hard at making good music. In extreme cases you get things like "LOL smiley face".
I'm really afraid that it's going to happen to Dre now too.

 

[Pittsey]

Only happens in Hip-hop. People who listen to other genres of music, don't listen to it to appear cool. A Beatles or Stones track is pretty damn timeless, and would always sell. Every generation loves them.

 

[Rukas]

Only happens in Hip-hop. People who listen to other genres of music, don't listen to it to appear cool.

Pop music? You dont think teenagers flock to Lady Gaga because shes the cool thing at the moment?

The problem is commercial Hip-Hop became Pop music. Dre became a pop star, it is popular culture, and to go 10x platinum you have to be a pop star.