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

[King Poetic]

Yeah that 1993 was the start of the end of black intellectuals in hip hop and even in R&B

It’s crazy seeing RUN Dmc go from my adidas and walk this way to all of a sudden wearing hoodies and timbs and being down with the kings

MC lyte went from lyte as a rock and poor georgie to needing a ruff neck

Even hammer who already had more money than almost all these rappers doing his thing wanted to put on that death row image

Ice Cube switched up to wearing bandannas and throwing up watts west side

Even more funnier was R&B where jodeci whole look change

To

 

[Sauce and Footwork]

One of the most charismatic entertainers the world has ever seen. People gravitated to PAC whether it was Me against the world or aeom era or watching his movies. Don’t nobody give a fukk about LL like that. He just hating.

 

[jwonder]

Yeah that 1993 was the start of the end of black intellectuals in hip hop and even in R&B

It’s crazy seeing RUN Dmc go from my adidas and walk this way to all of a sudden wearing hoodies and timbs and being down with the kings

MC lyte went from lyte as a rock and poor georgie to needing a ruff neck

Even hammer who already had more money than almost all these rappers doing his thing wanted to put on that death row image

Ice Cube switched up to wearing bandannas and throwing up watts west side

Even more funnier was R&B where jodeci whole look change

To

Look back at it. I would say rap went to shyt when it started doing the whole gangsta image. I was young and idiotic and like it. The difference was PAC's albums always dropped conscious jems even with his gangsta rap. His albums were never just all straight gangsta shyt. Which is why he was always my favorite rapper.

I remember Young MC was told by execs that he need to switch up. He said no, he was about partying and having a good vibe. That was it for him.


LL Cool J was always against gangsta rap and talking about the the streets. I respect where he was coming from now. I saw a documentary with LL when he was 16 and first came out. The reporter asked about him how come he doesn't rap like Grandmaster Flash. He said " No no no. That's not what the kids want to hear. They wanna here LL Cool J is hard as hell" "They want to have a good time". They want to hear happy things, not what they see everyday. growing up. He's a coward and a bytch for talking about Pac when he is gone though. He wasn't talking that shyt when he was alive.

So true. No matter what region you are from rap went from having a good time to really negative and not up lifting like back in the day. Being from Miami. I grew up listening to Disco Rick, 2 Live Crew, DJ Magic Mike, Anquette, etc. We went from that to Poison Clan, Splack Pack, Trick Daddy, Rick Ross, etc.

 

[jwonder]

Nikkaz talk alot of shyt but that's after I'm gone....

Now that's one thing I don't agree with. I get LL wasn't into the gangsta shyt and I respect. But he was QUIET AF when the East/West Coast beef was going on. I mean why not say this when Pac was alive? That's some coward shyt right there.

 

[Wild self]

Yeah...

Don't forget the music too. There's reason they stopped supporting Paris and PE while DR got a push.

My Dad even told me that u couldn't be smart and that u have to mean mug folks. He said all that while getting a college degree.

A lot of Super Thugs will tell someone not to go to college but will go get a degree themselves.


Even Queen Latifah and LL Cool J had to take the thug route.

DRS came out with a quasi rape song.



Did u buy the Souls of Mischief CD

That was very real back then. Once that Kid n Play era was over, you gotta be some super aggressive ONYX member and mean mug 24/7 not to be picked on. Couldn't even be regular behaving in social functions; everyone was hyping their street cred like their life depended on it. Even I had to go to therapy and correct my default facial expression in the mid 00s when a large part of the Superthug ara was over. Before that, it was practically the Wild, Wild, West in everyday life because there was always SOMEONE willing to go 12 rounds of scrapping and turning a fight into a lifelong beef. Getting an education was espexially hard back then because studying or anything intellectual was going to make you look 'soft' and being 'soft' meant that you are an eternal target.

I never copped that Souls of Mischief CD but I did borrowed it and indeed it was classic.

 

[King Poetic]

Now that's one thing I don't agree with. I get LL wasn't into the gangsta shyt and I respect. But he was QUIET AF when the East/West Coast beef was going on. I mean why not say this when Pac was alive? That's some coward shyt right there.

Agree

I wouldn’t have a problem if L was close to pac and they had a cool relationship like ICE T who told pac to his face he need to cut a lot of that gangster shyt out and that LA street shyt isn’t for him..

But i say LL tried to switch up on 14 shots to the dome, but that fail and he switched

 

[Unbothered]

Pac is one of my favorites and same with Cool J.

I think there's some truth to his comment.

Listening to 2Pac's music you can clearly sense the stylistic switch up after Strictly...gone was the pro-black conscious Chuck D, Ice Cube, and political Ice T influence and enter cartoonish overly emotional “Thug” persona. Thug Life album (the start of the new 2Pac era) was supposed to be much bigger but the label thought the songs along with his issues at the time was too much to handle

I'm aware of LL's brief change in style but his level of hardness never reached comical levels he was still the ladies man for the most part which was evident on Mr. Smith.

I mean one of the biggest music writers literally said Pac was portraying at times a laughable cardboard cutout Thug on All Eyez on Me and furthered rewarded it 3/5 stars.

Obviously Pac was playing into West Coast gangsta rap stereotypes, not sure if that was a personal decision or the label push but it became too apparent when you listen to his debut all the way to 7 Day Theory that he changed overnight.

 

[Black Hans]

LL said this?!

I agree with him, but I guess that Kidada Jones fiasco with 2pac still in his memory like that.

 

[Mac Ten]

That was very real back then. Once that Kid n Play era was over, you gotta be some super aggressive ONYX member and mean mug 24/7 not to be picked on. Couldn't even be regular behaving in social functions; everyone was hyping their street cred like their life depended on it. Even I had to go to therapy and correct my default facial expression in the mid 00s when a large part of the Superthug ara was over. Before that, it was practically the Wild, Wild, West in everyday life because there was always SOMEONE willing to go 12 rounds of scrapping and turning a fight into a lifelong beef. Getting an education was espexially hard back then because studying or anything intellectual was going to make you look 'soft' and being 'soft' meant that you are an eternal target.

I never copped that Souls of Mischief CD but I did borrowed it and indeed it was classic.

Wow...


U couldn't even get a college degree without someone teasing you?

What kind of ignorant shyte is dat?


Now I see why Kanye, Talib, Lupe and The Cool Kids were a breath of fresh air.

 

[Wild self]

Wow...


U couldn't even get a college degree without someone teasing you?

What kind of ignorant shyte is dat?


Now I see why Kanye, Talib, Lupe and The Cool Kids were a breath of fresh air.

It was really that ignorant, back then. Listen to the oldheads when they speak about the old paradigm of being a cold hearted, emotionless mean mugging statistic so that the could fit in. Some brehs even gotten murked for looking like a nerd back then. Check the statistics on WHEN black folks started to go go college en masse.

 

[UncleTomFord15]

Alot of black men embrace criminality and degeneracy so they aren't looked upon as lame and square. Tupac was no different. A large portion of rappers to begin with overexaggerate their "street cred" because they know that deep down alot of black people (including those who aren't even in the "streets") look upto and admire that lifestyle.

 

[Xyrax]

He’s not wrong. Men love that image he portrayed more than women. “He’s a real man ,not like this soft fakkit generation of men” - a grown ass man who claims he’s straight

This shyt more true than nikkas will admit

 

[Still Benefited]

probably so, but he was an artistic twinkle toes before he got into rap

Never got it, never will get it.


Any man who will change who is for the sake of other people Cant fukk with it.

Lost a lot of respect for Pac when I learned more about his back story when I was a yougin

Didnt you go from MAGA to Democrat diehard in less than 4 years


Talking like your so grounded,and im guessing your twice the age Pac was