Hip Hop is a relatively young genre of music; it is not even up to 50 years. Hip Hop blossomed in the 70s and 80s, as a way the Negroes of that time expressed themselves, whether in a political nature, their lifestyles, or just how they had fun. Even though it is relatively young compared to the other genre's of music, a lot of rappers have lost their lives along the way. I guess that has to do with the lifestyle of majority of the artist involved in this type of music. There is a long list from Eazy E, to Tupac, Guru, Big L, O.D.B, Big Pun, Pimp C, Biggie...All these rappers blessed us with their gifts; some had their lives caught shut before we could really get much from them, and others stayed around longer.I would like to make a point that this post is on the Greatest of the bunch, but not necessarily the one everyone considers the best. I am writing to tell you why i consider Tupac the greatest dead rapper. Biggie is always compared to Tupac when it comes to the greatest, dead or alive. Personally, i think Big was a great rapper in his time, everything after that is just hype...no disrespect to his fans. Biggie was the type of rapper that had mass appeal; he had wordplay and a smooth flow. Puffy (Diddy) marketed him well to the public, and his death and feud with the late Tupac Shakur escalated his status. Majority of the people that say Biggie is the greatest can't even quote one line from any of his songs...they mostly just say it because everyone says it...or because Canibus said it on that 2nd Round K.O song.
Eazy E is a Westcoast Legend, but still , he didn't reach the status of a Biggie or Pac when he went solo. Him, Dre, Ice Cube and the other members of NWA made great music in the late 80s to early 90s, but he just wasn't the same when the group disbanded. Not to mention the fact that Ice Cube wrote all his lyrics when they were in NWA.
Big Pun i consider the most underrated dead rapper. On the mic, i personally think he was more of a beast than Biggie was. He always had that song for the ladies, but when you go deep down and listen to his albums, you know the dude was a lyrical monster. No wonder Nas said- "since pun passed, he was the last shinning sun i could feel". I feel the same about Big L. In fact, it is worse with Big L, because, till this day, people don't know who Big L is. This dude was a multi-syllabic monster...with crazy story telling abilities. Thank God for Fat Joe featuring him on a track off that True Story Terror Squad Album. Although that was a posthumous guest appearance, it got me to notice the guy.
All these rappers mentioned above were great on the mic while they were alive, but non touched people like Pac did. I tell people all the time that you can't compare Pac and Big cos Pac made timeless music. You can even forget all his works that came out after his death, just pick up a 1995 album like Me Against The World, then you will know why he is the greatest. He poured his heart into the music. He lived for music. I guess that's why he had so much material after his death. He released 6 studio albums while alive, and 8 since he passed in 1996. He has sold a cumulative album sales of over 75 million copies. He held the record of the highest selling rapper, till Eminem got that title recently.
Just recently, a Hologram of him performed alongside Dr Dre and Snoop Dog at the Coachella concert, and his sales spiked again. This is just a testimony of this man's greatness. No other dead rapper still influences rappers like he does. No other dead rapper still commands the kind of respect he does. And this is not about hype, this is about the passion he put into his music. For this, i say, Tupac is The Greatest Dead Rapper.
