IS IT ME OR ARE 2PAC AND EMINEM...

[nineteeneightysix]

The only two rappers who have a fan base with a large majority of fans who don't listen to ANY other rapper but these two...?

I have met 2Pac and Eminem fans who don't give a fcuk about rap music except 2Pac or Eminem, respectively...

But I have noticed, Biggie fans like Jay Z and many other rappers...Jay Z fans like Biggie and Fabulous and Mase and Cam'ron and Beanie Siegel and several other rapers...

Nas fans tend to like several other rappers along with Nas...

2Pac and Eminem fans are the only ones I have heard say "I don't listen to nobody other than 2Pac or Eminem" respectively...

This is a powerful observation, but what do you think it means...?

 

[Canada Goose]

I never heard of an Pac fan ONLY listening to Pac, this is news to me

 

[MiC]

2pac connected with a large sector of white America that had never experienced hip hop music before and felt they could relate to him. Yet those white PAC fans won't give any other black rapper a chance.

 

[nineteeneightysix]

I never heard of an Pac fan ONLY listening to Pac, this is news to me

hahaha...

I grew in South Africa, and I kid you not, when I tell you that most black and coloureds around 96 to 99 only listened to 2Pac...Some also sprinkled Snoop Dogg and Death Row related artists, and Bone Thugs N Harmony...

At one point, my best threw some dude's AZ "Do or Die" CD out the car, because my best friend told dude, "I only listen to 2Pac, especially in my car," but dude thought he was exaggerating...

At one point, I only listened to 2Pac...Then I gave Bone Thugs a chance because they collaborated with 2Pac...I only started accepting other rappers in 2001 when the Jay Z and Nas beef popped off...

 

[JustCKing]

No lie, I was like when I saw a Youtube comment on 2Pac's "No More Pain" that read "this is the only rap song that I like". It's one of Pac's best, but that had to be the only rap song that poster has ever heard. There's better Pac songs than that. I'm sure many would have songs on Disc 1 alone of AEOM over "No More Pain".

 

[nineteeneightysix]

2pac connected with a large sector of white America that had never experienced hip hop music before and felt they could relate to him. Yet those white PAC fans won't give any other black rapper a chance.

I am from South Africa...

All the blacks and coloureds were riding with 2Pac hard body...Kids were getting stabbed and shot in the ghetto schools for "disrespecting" 2Pac and the Westside...

That's how real it was...

The westside movement created a wave of gangster violence in South Africa...Many of the coloureds live in areas that has "west" in it, like western cape, westernberg and etc...

So, it led to a very strong connection with that gangster lifestyle...Compounded by them being marginalized in society...

I am was scared for my life...That is why I moved to Canada...I told my dad, I didn't see myself living long in South Africa...My oldest brother was already hypnotized by the fast life, I was smart enough to realize the same was happening to me, and I didn't want no parts of it...

A 13 year old should not be afraid of dying a violent death...

 

[desp]

No lie, I was like when I saw a Youtube comment on 2Pac's "No More Pain" that read "this is the only rap song that I like". It's one of Pac's best, but that had to be the only rap song that poster has ever heard. There's better Pac songs than that. I'm sure many would have songs on Disc 1 alone of AEOM over "No More Pain".

That's how that shyt always go too

It's comments like that from whites on mad rap songs

They give ONE rap song a chance and realize they like it, then turn around and say it's the only one they like because every other rap song is about money, clothes and hoes.

The ignorance never fails to amuse

 

[Depreciating Asset]

I know a woman who doesn't listen to any other rapper but Pac. She can recite Hit Em Up from start to finish. Loves Pac but doesn't f with anyone else.

I don't know any Em fans like that but it wouldn't surprise me.

 

[SunZoo]

It's like I said in the other thread the comparisons between the two, regardless of how well you personally can relate to really boil down to how much of themselves they truly put into their music. They both resonated with large groups of people and opening up that window into their hearts and minds made care about THEM as much, if not more than the music.

People love Nas and Jay as well but they don't really care about them as people to the extent that they do Pac or Em. Between Nas being somewhat aloof and Jay being so disconnected from the everyday mindset of most of his fans, there isn't much to hold on to after the track cuts off, they don't grip you like that regardless of how talented they are.

Hearing/seeing these people be so...HUMAN in the public eye was therapeutic to a lot of people. And I won't go as far as to say Pac started it, but he really pioneered "emo rap" in the sense that I don't remember too many rappers that self analyzed like that, I don't remember so much introspection. Cube and LL cool J were my two favorite emcees before I became a 2pac fan and it almost seemed like when rappers of their ilk told stories they were more so observational. Pac took what cube was doing and added a dimension to it, and it really upped the immersion factor. When pac died, Eminem picked up that torch.

Knowing what I know about LL now...Imagine if he had been comfortable with talking about his abuse on wax in the 80's. Imagine what it would have done to EMCEEING and hip hop in general if he had the security and the space to be honest instead of just being COOL, imagine the amount of people who could have been heard via his words...it would have changed the game even sooner, but all things in due time.

 

[Ziggiy]

I don't personally know anybody who only exclusively listens to Pac but this doesn't sound too far fetched. When I was in Afghanistan we use to listen to play our music while working sometimes and the only songs the locals knew even a little were Michael Jackson and 2pac joints, no lie.

As for Cacinem it's been said previously that he's the Elvis of Hip Hop. A white boy with some true talent who provided a gateway for Cac America to finally feel "included" in the culture in a mainstream way ( In a manner that wasn't outright embarrassing like Vanilla Ice) I know plenty of Cacs who only listen to Eminem. shyt is funny to me in an almost revoltingly ironic way

 

[intilectual recipricol]

at least from the Pac POV its like havin a Maybach... why would you drive a fukkin ford escort?

 

[Ziggiy]

It's like I said in the other thread the comparisons between the two, regardless of how well you personally can relate to really boil down to how much of themselves they truly put into their music. They both resonated with large groups of people and opening up that window into their hearts and minds made care about THEM as much, if not more than the music.

People love Nas and Jay as well but they don't really care about them as people to the extent that they do Pac or Em. Between Nas being somewhat aloof and Jay being so disconnected from the everyday mindset of most of his fans, there isn't much to hold on to after the track cuts off, they don't grip you like that regardless of how talented they are.

Hearing/seeing these people be so...HUMAN in the public eye was therapeutic to a lot of people. And I won't go as far as to say Pac started it, but he really pioneered "emo rap" in the sense that I don't remember too many rappers that self analyzed like that, I don't remember so much introspection. Cube and LL cool J were my two favorite emcees before I became a 2pac fan and it almost seemed like when rappers of their ilk told stories they were more so observational. Pac took what cube was doing and added a dimension to it, and it really upped the immersion factor.

Knowing what I know about LL now...Imagine if he had been comfortable with talking about his abuse on wax in the 80's. Imagine what it would have done to EMCEEING and hip hop in general if he had the security and the space to be honest instead of just being COOL, imagine the amount of people who could have been heard via his words...it would have changed the game even sooner, but all things in due time.

I feel where your coming from, but also you have to take into effect the psychological issues stemming from that form of self reflection. LL in the 80's really rapping about that traumatic period of his early life was damn near impossible for that particular era of rap. I doubt he even considered it, and it would've taken ALOT of bravery for him to even still. I feel like Pac, Nas, Jay-Z, Wu-Tang, and even Biggie really catapulted the idea of bringing a piece of themselves and their everyday struggles and insecurities into their rhymes. Nas on Life's A bytch and One Love, Jay on Can I Live and Regrets, Ghostface on All That I Got Is You, etc. What set Pac apart was the fact that he could literally make you FEEL his perspective through raw emotion whereas with the rest is comes across as a verbal painting of a picture.

 

[SunZoo]

I never heard of an Pac fan ONLY listening to Pac, this is news to me

I was working at Best Buy when Resurrection came out. One of the guys that worked there with me was a real country ass, squeaky clean white boy name John. Dude was well manered, seemed like he had a real close knit family, he would reduce foul language to words like "freak" instead of fukk, real proper like.

The weekend that movie came out he said he took his girlfriend to see that movie and he started telling me how much he enjoyed it, dude was damn near in tears, and I know DAMN well he didn't listen to rap, but he was a 2pac fan from then on, saw him copping his CDs that same night before he clocked out.

 

[nineteeneightysix]

It's like I said in the other thread the comparisons between the two, regardless of how well you personally can relate to really boil down to how much of themselves they truly put into their music. They both resonated with large groups of people and opening up that window into their hearts and minds made care about THEM as much, if not more than the music.

People love Nas and Jay as well but they don't really care about them as people to the extent that they do Pac or Em. Between Nas being somewhat aloof and Jay being so disconnected from the everyday mindset of most of his fans, there isn't much to hold on to after the track cuts off, they don't grip you like that regardless of how talented they are.

Hearing/seeing these people be so...HUMAN in the public eye was therapeutic to a lot of people. And I won't go as far as to say Pac started it, but he really pioneered "emo rap" in the sense that I don't remember too many rappers that self analyzed like that, I don't remember so much introspection. Cube and LL cool J were my two favorite emcees before I became a 2pac fan and it almost seemed like when rappers of their ilk told stories they were more so observational. Pac took what cube was doing and added a dimension to it, and it really upped the immersion factor.

Knowing what I know about LL now...Imagine if he had been comfortable with talking about his abuse on wax in the 80's. Imagine what it would have done to EMCEEING and hip hop in general if he had the security and the space to be honest instead of just being COOL, imagine the amount of people who could have been heard via his words...it would have changed the game even sooner, but all things in due time.

(1) Your point is valid, and that's exactly what I was thinking when I made thread...These two rappers have exposed themselves in strength and weakness to their fan base...Some 2Pac and Eminem fans just feel like they can't get any better outside these two, so why even bother...

My best friend who only listens to 2Pac till this day (as far as Rap Music), tells me it is because he feels like "other rappers are just childish"...

(2) I think 2Pac was the first rapper to be 2Pac and not just a "character" through which to express ideas and emotions...Other rappers did talk about the same relevant topics, but they did it behind characters, or a third party observational perspective...

2Pac talked about real ghetto stories, in a real way, no need for fancy metaphors that take years to make sense...He wanted to have an immediate impact...And boy, was he successful...

Eminem learned well from the master...Nobody gave a rat's asss about "Infinite"...

 

[SunZoo]

I feel where your coming from, but also you have to take into effect the psychological issues stemming from that form of self reflection. LL in the 80's really rapping about that traumatic period of his early life was damn near impossible for that particular era of rap. I doubt he even considered it, and it would've taken ALOT of bravery for him to even still.

Of course that's why I said imagine if...we weren't ready for that shyt though, I doubt he even came close to considering that, he was recovering and really building himself up, becoming LL Cool J was his therapy in a sense because it gave him a lane to assert his power, it's why he rhymed like he rhymed, it's why he was so dynamic. But looking back on it now i'm just like wow...he HAD to be that cocky, he needed that strength and dominance from the character he created.

I feel like Pac, Nas, Jay-Z, Wu-Tang, and even Biggie really catapulted the idea of bringing a piece of themselves and their everyday struggles and insecurities into their rhymes. Nas on Life's A bytch and One Love, Jay on Can I Live and Regrets, Ghostface on All That I Got Is You, etc. What set Pac apart was the fact that he could literally make you FEEL his perspective through raw emotion whereas with the rest is comes across as a verbal painting of a picture.

Most def, Pac's expression was just that much more visceral, and when you factor in the specifics of his particular struggle and how much he truly embodied them, you couldn't help but pay MORE attention to him. The fatherless-ness, the feeling of disconnect of the black unity that he grew up around, this was such a generational thing, being born or growing up in the midst of the crack explosion in the aftermath of the civil rights movement, this was ALL of us, and he was really a microcosm of all that.