Interesting response, I agree Pac touched on so many different emotions. I love complex lyricism and am a fan of all types of Hip Hop but some don't understand to reach people in the manner that Pac did takes skill too, you have to formulate your lyrics a certain way to do it and make them potent, sometimes only writers really understand that, to connect the way he does makes Pac an incredible lyricist in my book. Plus like the brother said below, he did things a lot of people didn't, even with delivery, the way he said things connected cause you can feel the emotion. Even the way he said pain or hopeless. You hear so much in Pac, it's art.
I think some people also miss certain subtleties of Jay, one of the reason actually being his delivery, he isn't extremely vocally expressive in his delivery, he sounds similar sometimes on joints. But I feel emotion when I hear shyt like Still Got Love For You, You Must Love Me, Soon You'll Understand and others and it's high level the way he puts his shyt together, it's very tight. But he is a more conventional MC than Pac. Pac had a very different style. Another point quickly is that Pac mastered a few styles (there's that interview where he says he did) but he REALLY did, he ain't bullshyting, I've heard shyt where he's spitting like KRS and shyt, he really had styles on lock. He CHOOSE his style to connect to more people, Jay Z says he dumbed down for dollars, Pac simplified and choose a direct style to connect to his audience more, what Pac did wasn't simple though. And this is not to discourage other MC's from being complex. Someone like K-Rino I'd class as complex yet he is extremely touching, so in a sense he's kind of a mix of both. But Pac had that very unique delivery which was different, obviously had it's inspirations but there's a certain way Pac brought it that was unique.
Tortured soul music, that's a good description. I feel that. Pac helps get me through my life, I put Pac on and I relate to a lot of the shyt he's talking about. And not only a tortured soul, but a tortured soul hoping and praying for better days, so he offers that light at the end of the tunnel. It's a deep thing for the listeners and Pac fans like myself, cause he makes you feel like shyt will get better. He talks to you on such a personal deep level, by pouring out his heart he touches yours.
Pac was very different, you look at the brothers singles and you see a different MC. Dear Mama, Keep Ya Head Up, I Ain't Mad At Cha, Brendas Got A Baby , Papa'z Song, those aren't conventional singles at all. He did take the chance to put his heart and soul in the music and it paid off for him. In regards to beats I think he worked with some very talented producers who I feel, but I agree a lot of them got more acclaim after working with Pac, they weren't necessarily the big names.
....depends on who was out of they comfort zone and who wuznt,styles make fights
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. And Jay-Z is afraid to take risks and lacks creativity. If he's not talking about himself 9/10 times the song will be average or worse.