That's right, a nerdy white guy is going to talk about rap music!
Oh, calm down, I know what I'm talking about...sort of. Ok, honestly, I never really got into Tupac. I was more partial to Biggie myself. While it's certainly tragic that he died so young and for the reasons that he did, I never really held him as a reverent figure as some do.
Still, I like this song. It's what the fly homies refer to as a phat beat.
Never. Say that. Again.
Yeah, I didn't think I'd be able to pull it off, worth a shot though.
This song came out back when rap was at its peak. It really succeeds on all levels. As mentioned before it's got a good beat, the rapping is well done, and it's just a fun song to listen to. I think Dre's presence helps give the song a nice boost. He produced it and it shows as it is similar to the "Chronic" type hip hop that he was making after he left NWA. While NWA may've had the larger political impact, I have to admit I like his post NWA stuff better.
Not only did he produce it, but he guest stars, again boosting the quality of the song that much further. I kind of like his parts better than Tupac's. Your mileage may vary and you could make the argument that him stealing the show isn't a good thing, but that's just my take on it.
Even the music video is well done. Now, I know, some of you youngsters may not know what a music video is, but back in my day, MTV would actually play music. The songs were accompanied by video that the artists were involved in. Sometimes it was just the band singing, but usually they tried to come up with some sort of story that was relevant to the lyrics.
With this video, they were going for a post apocalyptic, "Mad Max" look. Does it ultimately go anywhere? Not really, but it does give the video a visual flair. I also have to admit, Dr. Dre looks like a BAMF with that eye patch. This video is also notable for the Chris Tucker appearance and for coining the phrase "can you dig iiiit!!?" before The Rock made it his own.
The video also features a "cliff hanger" with a "to be continued" tag. I guess Limp Bizkit wasn't the only one to try this. The latter attempt didn't work so well. I'm not sure if Tupac ever did make the "conclusion" to this. From what I can tell, he didn't, but I may be wrong. Either way, I'm not crazy about it. It's one thing to have a story within the video, but to come up with an "arc"? I don't think it works the way the artists hope it would. This is especially true as in this case, the cliffhanger is Tupac waking up, revealing it's all a dream (spoilers!). At least with the Limp Bizkit example, there was some sort of cliffhanger as the group was sucked into some parallel dimension or something.
My only qualm with the song itself is their claim that the West Coast is the best coast. I know that was the thing back in the day, but being raised in the Maryland/Virginia area, I have to respectfully disagree.
While the video may have its flaws, the song itself is a blast and it is a song that holds up well over time. It's still as enjoyable to listen to now as it was over 15 years ago.
You can read my reviewstream article on the song here.
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