Canada Goose
Pooping on your head :umad:
Redman and MC Lyte are probably FAR better rappity rappers than Pac, Ice Cube, or Chuck D were. Sometimes talent is all you need.
We heard everyone's effort, besides Nas, and it was not a clean sweep. You even said it was on par with what Pac was doing, but in the same breath you say he can't beat rappers in a battle?
Styles was killing those Hev E Components mixtapes, I can't think of anything memorable from Kiss and Sheek before '99. Lox would have been a non factor, and these guys were getting served by Beans if I remember correctly. Beans was battling 3 crews at once with no breather.
What made Hit em Up so great is how brutally disrespectful it was, Pac's energy, etc, not because it was some technical masterpiece.
As for against all odds, the backstory, being that Pac called out real street dudes and it was more than a rap battle, plus the production/dark mood of the song is what made Against all odds so great.
Against all odds had the listener feeling like Pac was really ready for war

I will admit, that first verse on Against all odds was dope from a battle rap perspective, but still, I just can't see Pac being able to hold his own in a battle with damn near the entire NYC Hip Hop scene at the time, espically as they all rapped better than him.