Has it really been 15 years?
You know that old question, If you could spend the day with one person, past or present, who would it be? I can't think of anyone it would be more fun to spend a day with than Pac.
He taught me how rap should be. He inspires my poems more than anyone else. Nobody put more feeling or thought into their rhymes than him. Unlike rappers today, he actually cared about, and believed in what he was writing. That's something you can't teach. Sort of like a rap intangible. He put his heart into everything he did.
Pac was more than just a rapper. A great poet, actor, and political activist of sorts. His music lives on the strongest, but who could forget his Oscar worthy performance in Juice? He had more dimensions than today's rappers, and most rappers at the time. That's how you build a legacy. You can't just call him rapper Tupac Shakur, but rapper, actor, and poet, Tupac Shakur.
Pac did what few could, he gave a voice to the voiceless. And when he spoke, people listened. You can't measure what he meant to the African American teenager at the time. He knew their story, he lived it. He taught people how to cope with the problems society gives them. It's rare to have that combination of commercial success and socially conscious lyrics. He did it like it was nothing.
They say you're nobody till somebody kills you. This man had a legacy before his assassination. It lives on today in people of all ages. He's missed so much by his fans that some of them refuse to believe he's dead. Like the Beatles, Elvis and Michael Jackson, he continues to sell records after his death. Ask a rapper his top 5, there's a good chance 2pac is on that list. Many cite him as an inspiration.
Now, 15 years after his death, we still have signs of his legacy in mainstream rap. Tupac Back and Flockaveli are direct tributes to the best selling rapper of the 1990's. Sites like Notorious Makaveli and Makaveli Board thrive, adding new members every day. Who else do you know with a following like that? So now, 15 years later, I give yet another Rest In Peace to Tupac Amaru Shakur. Gone too soon. --Escobar
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