Tupac, Would You Still Be On Top Today?
Thanks to AV Concepts and Dr. Dre’s idea, many had the chance to experience life in a music world, pre-1996. A day later and people are still speaking about Tupac’s return to the stage via hologram. With such advanced CGI and a good distance between the audience and stage you cannot tell us Tupac Shakur was not still alive. All of this got us to thinking just what would music be like if in fact Tupac was still alive today.
The first thing to look at is Tupac’s death itself. Had Tupac not been been shot on September 3, 1996, The Notorious B.I.G. probably would still be alive. Either that or Tupac would not have been the first to go. With that in mind, some fifteen plus years later, would the actual state of Hip-Hop be the same?
As Eminem states in Syllables, “It’s not about lyrics anymore, it’s about a hot beat and a catchy hook.” Hip-Hop has moved away from gangster to a move towards superficial and glamour. Then of course the wave of hipster rappers within the last few years is nothing like Hip-Hop of the 90′s. Whilst conscious rappers are the closest thing to the Hip-Hop of yesterday they are more about peace than violence.
Also, would we be looking at Jay-Z, Lil Wayne, Kanye West, etc… as the industry’s crème de la crème. Even that in its own analyzation would be a tough one. Especially when half of these men grew up in areas unrelated to Tupac.
We can play around with “what if Tupac…” all day but let’s become real with this all. All icons left this world suddenly: an unexpected death. Bob Marley left the world whilst on a pinnacle and everyone remembers the greatest parts of him. Aaliyah passed so suddenly and at such a young age and everyone believes she would be right up there with the elites of Pop. There’s no way of proving that because who knows how each individual deals with the shift of time and how the shift of time deals with the individual. One thing is for sure, for those few minutes it felt great to feel like one of the music industry’s greats were here with us again.
#TupacBACK.
Chet – CSPerspective
