LL Cool J: "2Pac Had To Put On A Gangsta Image For The Dudes To Like Him"

[Gyasi85]

 

[old pig]

And LL just mad that people laughed at 14 shots to the dome or don’t even remember that version of LL

yo it was UGLY...I’m not exaggerating in the least when I say that album almost finished him...dude was looking “crazy” cuz that image was a far cry from who he was or better yet who we “knew” him to be musically

 

[old pig]

i think alot of cats dont realize that LL in his prime was droppin alot of the hardest cuts at the time.

dropping the “hardest cuts” and making straight up hardcore street raps are saying two different things...dude was rapping about shooting ppl lol...that just wasn’t his style so @ the time ppl weren’t ready to accept that from him

 

[Wild self]

he definitely speaking for himself @ the least

I remember when he dropped ‘14 shots to the dome’

almost finished his career

then he went back to making music that was more suited to him

I imagine tupac like everyone else was just adjusting to the times

'92-93 there was a MAJOR shift toward “gangster” rap for lack of a better expression

hardcore street rap existed before that of course but during this time a lot of rappers steered toward that style of music

After the Malcolm X movie came out, and Public Enemy and Ice Cube making pro black songs in their albums and on movie soundtracks during the end of their hot streaks in late 92, the labels got pissed off and was scared of a pro black wave. Another Black rights movement, even.

Then they pushed Onyx on the east coast, released Menace II Society in hood theaters, and pushed that super thug shyt on the West to greater heights, so that any hope of a black awakening was extinguished. It forced cats like 2 Pac to be hard edged and thuggish instead of being Black Panther-ish, and pushed out P.E. out the spotlight.

It was genius in the sense that it forced young black men to go to jail at record rates, forced those same black men to give up intellectual stimulation for insteant gratification to appeal to broads, and made black women disrespect anything positive from black men. Nearly 30 years later, we have this fukkery ad the norm in mumble music.

 

[Biscayne]

He saw it as an opportunity


Same way Lil Wayne took the fall for his homies for that gun charge


Your name is fake news you definitely a CAC

Y'all take simple truths and exaggerate them times 1000.

 

[Biscayne]

Mobb Deep was in Ballet when they was young
Jay Z was in Hawaiian shirts as a backup crew for Daddy Kane and Jaz O
Biggie was a nerd when he was in school
Method Man played Lacrosse before the rap game and a fortune teller
Eminem was washing dishes at a diner while his baby momma was fukking other dudes
Rick Ross was a security guard

What's the big that dude was a dancer back in the 80's? This was around the time New Jack Swing was popular.

This. You can literally pick and choose any phase in any rappers life and point and laugh and say they were phonies based off your own biases.

 

[Biscayne]

Obviously your research wasn't all that extensive.Pac was from a family of radical black militants who lived in poverty all his life

with a mother addicted to crack.That twinkle toes shyt was from a small moment in his life where he attended the Baltimore School

For The Arts for 11 months.Ballet was part of the curriculum.It was a core class you had to take.When you're going to school for acting,

you have to learn body expression.They believe ballet's good for that.It's a legit technique.Even athletes dip in that to work on their balance.

During his time at that school, Pac was acharity case.His fellow students used to donate him clothes because he only owned two pair of

pants, and a beat up muscle shirt.Jada Pinkett said Afeni was so gone on crack at that time, there was never any lights or food in the house.

Pac was surviving off sunflower seeds.The rare times they had electricity, it was boiled eggs.After that, it was off to Marin City.A place known as

"Black Bottom".I don't understand this narrative of Pac going from Carlton Banks to thug.he actually lived a harder life than most rappers.Probably

the worse thanks to his family connections & the COINTEL PRO.The alphabet gangs made sure Afeni was never able to get a job.Some even believe

that "Legs"(Pac's step day while in Baltimore) was a government asset sent to get her strung out on drugs.He was the dude who introduced Afeni to

crack.If you wanna know the real about his time in Baltimore, check out this book by Darrin Keith Bastfield.

That's him on the right

But I bet you don't give a fukk about none of this, huh?

Logic, facts, and data over clickbait-y hottakes.

 

[Biscayne]

It's crazy how dudes STILL throw out the line 'this guy grew up in the hood ' like everyone from that environment is a super thug or drug dealer

It's what it seems like people believe pac = from hood = was a gangsta back then

Which is false

You guys are saying things no one is saying about Pac. Making false arguments.

 

[Biscayne]

Tell me Young Thug, Uzi vert, Lil pump, Lil skies, Kodak Black, xxxtentacion and countless nikkas I can't even remember don't look like a variation of him

So Pac was influential. Yeah. Captain Obvious over here.

 

[Biscayne]

Pac took his bytch

 

[old pig]

After the Malcolm X movie came out, and Public Enemy and Ice Cube making pro black songs in their albums and on movie soundtracks during the end of their hot streaks in late 92, the labels got pissed off and was scared of a pro black wave. Another Black rights movement, even.

Then they pushed Onyx on the east coast, released Menace II Society in hood theaters, and pushed that super thug shyt on the West to greater heights, so that any hope of a black awakening was extinguished. It forced cats like 2 Pac to be hard edged and thuggish instead of being Black Panther-ish, and pushed out P.E. out the spotlight.

It was genius in the sense that it forced young black men to go to jail at record rates, forced those same black men to give up intellectual stimulation for insteant gratification to appeal to broads, and made black women disrespect anything positive from black men. Nearly 30 years later, we have this fukkery ad the norm in mumble music.

I'm about to post something in a few...you hit the head on the nail...that’s the type of music I was listening to the first half of high school...music that was hard but still lyrically conscious or artists who could drop hard tracks and then turn around and drop conscious joints too...around '92 probably my junior/senior year I asked this kid I was cool w/ to make a mixtape for me...it had all hardcore tracks cuz I think he tried to clown me about the shyt I was listening to so he made a tape of what he was rocking...I’m not gonna lie some of those tracks was depressing af when I first heard them cuz I didn’t listen to too much street rap...shyt was a complete 180 from what I listened to...even tho I grew up in a tough neighborhood...ppl still carried themselves a certain way...but those years ushered in a new wave of rap that had “everybody” trying to act tough and pretending to be a gangster when a lot of ppl weren’t about that shyt...not just musically but in the streets as well...anyway I still have the tape and the track list that he wrote out...about to post it...piece of paper is almost 28 y/o lmao

*edit*

in hindsight these songs were “tame” af...I just wasn’t used to this kind of music being promoted @ the time...back then pops was taking me to NOI meetings and shyt like that which was still somewhat prevalent in rap culture @ the time...so there was still a lot of upliftment in rap music as opposed to embracing the negative and making music about it...

 

[jwonder]

up until that run pac had in the last year & a half before he died, pac was more popular with the broads. he was acting and stayed with a radio hit.
but he aint have the tapes. the fellas liked him but generally werent on him LIKE THAT.

with that said, pac's improvement as a rapper played just as big of a role as his image.





that was moreso a case of LL being one of many elder statesman who were trying not to get lost in the shuffle.

i think alot of cats dont realize that LL in his prime was droppin alot of the hardest cuts at the time.






I SHOT YA

EDIT: fukk am I talking about. I'm thinking of Biggie version. LL's version had absolutely nothing to do with Pac, he stated many times. He was going at MC Hammer believe it or not.

 

[DON MA MA]

Your favorite rapper was different in high school and I don't even know who your favorite rapper is.

Nah, Nas.

Pac was a regular dude from the hood wit heart. But he wasn't no street guy.

 

[jwonder]

Pac took his bytch

Can't believe he blamed the garbage ass album flop on her. I thought LL was married back then.

 

[G.O.A.T Squad Spokesman]

Nah, Nas.

Pac was a regular dude from the hood wit heart. But he wasn't no street guy.

Nas wasn't a street guy neither.