Eminem Pays Tribute to 2Pac

2pac

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Although the newer generation may not be up on 2pac as much as we were growing up, his legacy still lives. Kendrick Lamar has been one of the main artists from today’s era that has embraced 2pac’s music and exposed it to the young people, encouraging them to discover it as he paid homage to one of the greats that came before him.

To continue the PAPER Magazine “Nowstalgia” series, they hollered at Eminem to write a few words about Mr. Shakur and what his music meant to him. In the piece, Marshall talked about how he felt when he listened to ‘Pac, how much range he had with his songs and why his catalog influenced him to make music. He also shared what it was like to work on Loyal To The Game with the blessing of Afeni Shakur, thinking back at how 18-year old him wouldn’t have ever believed that he would one day be a part of a project like that.

“The first time I ever heard Tupac was his verse on “I Get Around” with Digital Underground. I was 18 or 19 years old and I remember thinking, “Who is this?” He stood out so much. Once I heard that, I got his first album, 2Pacalypse Now. I saw the video for “Brenda’s Got a Baby” and I remember thinking, “Holy shit.” By the time he got to Me Against the World, it was him at his pinnacle. He’s off and running. He knows what he wants, and he’s figured out how he wants to be and how he wants to sound — everything. I would probably put that up against anything as far as a classic hip-hop album goes.

The school I come from growing up, we spent a lot of time studying rappers, everyone from N.W.A. to Public Enemy to Big Daddy Kane to Kool G Rap to Rakim to Special Ed, taking all these bits and piece from each one. Tupac was the first one to really help me learn how to make songs that felt like something.

He was so versatile — if you weren’t in the mood for what he was doing on this song here, he’s got something for you over here. He covered such a broad perspective and there were so many different sides to him, but the best part about him overall was that he was a human being. He would let you see that. I used to be fascinated with his interviews like, “Yo, what he’s saying is so true.” He would also be able to trump people who were interviewing him when they would hit him with hard questions — it was incredible. He was a superstar in every aspect of the word. You just wanted to know that guy. Like man, I wanna hang out with Pac.

You can read the entire article over at PAPER Magazine.

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