Nas & 2Pac, fake/realest?

[DrRapid]

As we all must know, lots of rappers talk and have talked a lot of bullshit on their songs. By that I mean they have invented their own life through their own songs. It is true that sometimes you do have to add fake stuff on your songs to make the whole thing interesting but what I can't stand is if you're talking about being the "realest out there" and talking about other "fake n*****". Sometimes it's harder to tell if the rapper is being "real" or not but others you have more doubts about.

The one I'd like to talk about is Nas. Now, Nas is incredible. I love his music, in fact, he's one of my favorite rappers out there. I love It Was Written, Stillmatic, God's Son & Illmatic especially but on his album It Was Written I was beginnig to doubt about some things. 2Pac is going to be related in this.

First of all, Nas met 2Pac outside the House Of Blues. There was "nutin' but love out there" and I bet that's true. 2Pac told him not to got involved with the whole East Coast/West Coast war because they all had love for him so what happened next...

On Against All Odds 2Pac says: "Lord listen to me, God don't like ugly, It Was Written, Hey Nas, Your whole damn style is bitten, You heard my melody, read about my life in the papers, All my run-ins with authorities, Felonious capers, now you want to live my life..." I wonder why he says that well on the Nas album It Was Written you can hear Nas saying more of the word "thug" around, plus in the song Black Girl Lost he says "Thug Life n*****, yo you seem hopeless". 2Pac always said he was the one representing Thug Life, he didn't like other rappers talking about it like Nas who he noticed was talking it about more often. It does look like Nas is just mentioning it, saying "I'm feelin' you people..."

^ That might not seem much but from there you can see where 2Pac is coming from. Then on Nas' Street Dreams he samples the same beat that 2Pac samples on his song All Eyez On Me. Well that could be a coincidence, plus, it's not exactly 2Pac's beat neither but Nas is also being a bit fake here. On the song Nas Is Coming he says "I'm tired of these n*****, n***** stealin beats..." He's sort of contradicting himself when he just used the same beat on Street Dreams that 2Pac used on All Eyez On Me.

On the same song Nas Is Coming at the end Dr. Dre says "Sit back and watch all these motherfuckin clowns out here, riffin and beefin about this BULLSHIT...(referring to East Coast/West Coast war earlier)" That's almost like referring to 2Pac and Biggie when Nas was supposedly no involved with the beef going on. So why would he have Dr. Dre saying that on his own record. Mind your own business Nas...

And finally what made 2Pac diss Nas was how Nas started his verse on The Message with "fake thugs" which Pac rightufully felt as if Nas was talking about him. 2Pac once said in an interview that what Nas said was wrong, that if he had a problem with him to talk about it right there where they met. That's what I mean by being the "the realest"

When 2Pac died Nas and Suge Knight said that Nas and Pac met a couple of days before 2Pac's assassination and made peace. It has never been confirmed if it happened or not. Respectfully Nas did a tribute to 2Pac on We Will Survive but on a song with Mobb Deep called It's Mine on the chorus he says "...thug, life is mine...". Come on!

I have tried to explain this the best way I could cause I've always thought about this for quite a while now. I'm not sure if you've even bothered reading this whole thing...Don't think that I'm going against Nas and I'm just supporting 2Pac (since he's on my signature) but I'm just pointing this out.

Fake or not? Real or not? Is the style bitten? Not only Nas, there are so many more rapper even including 2Pac who might be like this, but what do you think about it.

[mcZu]

Interresting topic, was wondering the same for quite a while. Especially that first Nas verse on The Message, I mean, Tupac took it as a sublimanl diss, however, Tupac might have been reaching there for something to diss Nas. I mean Tupac was the #1 rapper out there and shit, while Biggie started sharing the spotlight with Pac, Tupac felt like his glory and fame started to fade. And there, there was this kid out of Queens calles Nas, getting all this buzz and fame, while he just dropped his first album. Pac might have felt like the spotlight took a turn to the eastcoast, so he cleverly took that sentence out of context and dissed Nas ''back.''

Of course this is just a theory.

[Xray]

Nah I don't think Nas is fake, or the realest. Pac was paranoid, I mean Nas isn't the only rapper in that time to say thug besides Pac. Pac maybe made the term famous in the hip hop world, but other rappers adapted that word in there songs to, that's not being fake. However if Nas went around saying Outlaw and shit like that, than thats a clear image of fakeness. But it didn't go like that. Pac was just lookin for the slightest excuse to diss an eastcoast rapper just to watch that money pile up for him and Suge. That whole eastcoast westcoast was Suge's idea of selling records.Nas and Dre didn't like the whole idea of that war between the two coasts so they spoke about it on the song you mentioned and also on this song "Group Therapy East Coast - West Coast Killas".

[James R.]

Tupac didn't even lead a "thug life" until after he was famous and started hangin wit real thugs. I'm pretty sure he said himself that he rapped about shit he'd seen, not necessarily done. I don't think either of them is fake, nor do I think either of them is the realest. Not to mention they're 2 of my favorite rappers, so I'd just leave it at they're both legends.

[DrRapid]

^ Yep, 2Pac did say that he rapped what he saw, not necessarily what he did, that's true. I think 2Pac was very paranoid and that made him act in certain ways. He always dissed with a reason but, was it a big enough reason?

I never really said that Nas was fake nor 2Pac but the things Nas said I've had doubts with. Did he really meet up with 2Pac and made peace before Pac died? Also I do think Pac influenced Nas a bit in one thing or another with this whole "thug" image. Nas mentioning "thug life is mine" I don't really like, to me it's almost like disrespecting Pac in a way and then giving him a tribute in one of his songs...

I also think with this whole Biggie/2Pac thing Nas also wanted to get some attention and controversy. I mean, he did get a #1 Billboard album with It Was Written but, was that enough?

In the song The Message Nas once said that he was actually dissing Biggie with "there's one life, one love, so there can only be one King".

[James R.]

^Of course Pac influenced Nas. I mean you'd be hard pressed to find a rapper Biggie and Pac didn't influence.

Nas has been called out on hypocritical and inconsistent lyrics throughout his career. I mean just listen to the song Blueprint 2 by Jay-Z and he brings up the fact that Nas talks about all this thug materialistic shit and then on another track mocks it and talks about how pointless it is.

And I know you didn't say either was fake or w/e, but in my opinion when it comes to talking about shit like you've done it they're both pretty fake. I mean Nas talks about shootin people and selling drugs, yet his claims are constantly questioned and never PROVEN you know what I mean? People like 50 definitely sold a lot of drugs and did some seriously illegal/gangsta shit. Pac and Nas are soldiers from a poetic stand point.

Did Nas and Pac make peace? Who knows. Pac was mad paranoid and dissed all the time without ANY actual reason. Shit he even wrote a diss for snoop according to some people because he wasn't sure if snoop was plotting against him or not.

[DrRapid]

^ Shit, Pac was probably beefing with 10 other arstists or so before he died.
Biggie/Puffy/Junior Mafia/Bad Boy for you know why.
Jay-Z for having Biggie diss Pac on his song Brooklyn's Finest and because he hung around with Biggie
Nas for the reasons above
Mobb Deep for
The Fugees for who knows why...
Chino XL because Chino said he Pac got raped in jail
Dr. Dre because he didn't support Death Row nor Snoop on the trial...
LL Cool J for dissing him on I Shot Ya
Plus there were also politicians included

He wasn't happy with what Snoop had been doing. Damn! There's an interesting interview (his last one I think) in which he says he'll destroy anyone who gets in his way but that really ended up being his life getting destroyed sadly...

I think Jay-Z could be another one that talked quite a lot of shit but then again he's a talented rapper and that's what really matters to us but I don't think he disrespected Pac after his death in any way which is what I think these rappers who had problems with Pac should of done. Keep his name out of their mouths. Mobb Deep didn't.


Well as a conclusion we got our points across and these rappers will always be rembered through their music.

[James R.]

Word man. Let the dead rest.

[mcZu]

For all we know Pac, Nas and Biggie are as fake as anime, thing is, we'll never know. Tupac was a fucking pussy before he started rapping. There is this interview with Tupac when he was still a teen, and he looked mad gay back then. And all of a sudden Pac got this gangsta image.

It might be just marketing, who the hell knows (well the artists them self would know).

As long as they make (made) good music, I'm satisfied.

[pawel]

There is this interview with Tupac when he was still a teen, and he looked mad gay back then.

check 'the message' by 'the furious five'. the video clip. those were just times people were dressed like that and stuff. and I've seen some interviews as well, and I think he was just young and shy... not gangsta though, but not gay either. no g's in there ;P