Jun 22, 2017 i came from nothing to BTG are 2 different artists, i do believe that tupac also came a ways from 2pacalypse both filled in to their own as artists since those projects. tupac became the best rapper alive, and thug's last project has me questioning if this is even classified as rap. even if you were to give the edge to tupac, pulling for thug isn't absurd imo the thing about thug is, i know that he's always been this good. like your review said, his projects are really just him curating a sound using music he's had as early as 2015. but that's part of developing as an artist as well.
Jun 22, 2017 f--- u i woulda rode with u if u made this same thread about drake u a hoe like jimmy butler
Jun 22, 2017 I think we also fall into a similar trap with newer rap that dustheads do with old rap, but getting caught in the present moment instead of getting caught in nostalgia. It's hard to remove Thug from the present and compare him against an older rapper in the same way it's hard to remove the nostalgia from a song that was popular when you were in college from that setting. We were too young to experience Pac as he was releasing music so we didn't watch his progression album by album, year by year. We have that context with Thug, but multiplied times 100 because of social media and the internet. We hear from Thug on a daily basis whether it be through instagram or twitter or a music video or whatever. 2Pac hasn't released any albums (that he had a direct hand in) in 20 years, and I listened to them in a random order within the span of a year when I was in high school (I think All Eyez -- Me Against the World -- Strictly -- 2Pacalypse -- Makaveli). There was also no medium for Pac to put out his I Came From Nothing so we don't have as much evidence of his beginnings. Don't get me wrong, on a list of personal favorites I would put Thug above Pac, but listen to Digital Underground-era Pac and then Makaveli.
Jun 22, 2017 Yeah I feel that 100, but you could make the same comp with Thug. All I'm saying is picking Pac isn't wrong, but neither is picking Thug (in the conversation of growth).
Jun 22, 2017 i dunno guys i doubt there's a single living person who's done more to document/canonize young thug's brilliance but he has a ways to go until we can have the pac conversation. thug's growth has been mostly on a formal level; pac was not quite the stylistic innovator thug is, but he was a great synthesizer, and the clarity and perspective in his writing improved exponentially--until he hit a level virtually no one else has touched.
Jun 22, 2017 Clarity doesn't equal higher quality writing though, I think Thug's strongsuit when it comes to his lyricism is how abstract his structuring of words and ideas is, he isn't direct or clear with it at all, which puts more on the listener to unpack and makes for a more exciting listening experience and yields more longevity. Pac was great for the type of artist he was but if we talking musical ability and overall characteristics of artistry, there are very few musicians in general who are in the same conversation as Jeff. As a fan of music and art in general, not just hip hop, it's very rare that you find someone like Thug who seemingly has no boundaries to his experimentation. Pac's catalog, while strong and consistent, is from a sonic standpoint rather continuous and to me that's just less interesting than someone like Thug or Kanye who restlessly and daringly chase new sounds and forms of expression without ever getting too comfortable with one style.
Jun 22, 2017 I cant believe OP man...fast forward after 1996 and here we are...God help us all @SHUDEYE this is all your fault
Jun 22, 2017 people say to me "oh man you don't get it, Tupac wasn't recognized for his technical ability or his flow or anything like that, he was recognized for his impact and how he was like MLK for hip hop culture!" lol ok so why is the problems he touched on 30 years ago still prominent today if he was such a big impact? lmfao coco: 278 tupac ballerinas: 0
