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Better Dayz Tupac Shakur4/29/2021
Still, once you make Shakurs shitlist, you make it in a BIG way (pun intended).With its debut on November 26, 2002 the thug idol to millions has had at least as much (if not more) of his material released since his death over six years ago than he did while alive.Its safe to say that during his living days, Shakur was justifiably paranoid about his own demise.
This alone could account for the prolific amount of material he recorded, though its equally possible he was recording as much material as possible to fulfill his contract and get out from under Suge Knights thumb. While here he was undoubtedly underrated as a lyricist; often not taken seriously simply because his critics believed he sold records because of the controversy that followed him everywhere. He is also overrated post-mortem, as many legions of fans (some who only discovered him after the fact) worship his every word like religious prophecy and claim he could even forsee the untold future like Nostradamus. Shakur was a troubled man, who used his pain as both inspiration for brilliance and justification for his debauchery. We saw an artist who swung between these wild extremes the same man who could both touch the hearts of women everywhere with Keep Ya Head Up and yet dismiss them as Skandalouz in the flick of an eye. He could straight up pursue carnal lusts on I Get Around but then turn and question the meaning of life on So Many Tears. The intense friction generated between Shakurs own internal desires to be both devil and angel was what made him so intensely interesting both back then and still today. R U Still Down was an excellent compendium of unreleased songs from his early career. Greatest Hits was a tease, featuring only a few new songs and mostly remastered material. Still I Rise was a somewhat dissapointing album overly dominated by the Outlawz, but last years Until the End of Time redeemed the concept of releasing new Shakur material as a whole. The double album Better Dayz has made a claim of 20 never before released songs in the press, but there is a small amount of rehash here. My Block originally appeared on The Show soundtrack, Late Night and Who Do U Believe In were both on Death Row compilations, and two tracks each feature two versions: Thugz Mansion with both original and acoustic mixes, and Fair Xchange featuring Jazze Pha on Disc One and Mya on Disc Two. While Better Dayz still clocks in with the promised twenty songs overall, one has to wonder if the material wasnt stretched a little for this album. Either theres not as much in the vaults as were lead to believe, or the labels involved are trying to save his recorded material for the NEXT posthumous LP. A lot of Shakurs unreleased raps have been floating around for a while now thanks to bootlegging and the internet. That said, its worthwhile to check out mastered copies of this material whether youve heard the originals or not; and in some cases the high gloss finish almost makes things TOO vivid. ![]() In his waning days Shakur saw enemies lurking in every shadow, but those who got the worst of his wrath were the few who made the mistake of even breathing his name. Besides his brash voice which got him notice even in his Same Song days with Digital Underground, he has the ability to evoke the scene he wants you to see by both his well-crafted words and powerful delivery. On the albums title track, he paints the canvas with the story of a hard luck brother who feels the pull of doing bad to get ahead and struggles to walk the right path. Not many of these songs saw release while he was alive, but the fact he recorded them speaks volumes about the way he felt. In his heart Shakur obviously believed he had been set up by Notorious B.I.G.
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