balogun's Full Review: Tupac: Resurrection [Original Soundtrack] [PA] by ...
I have to agree with roheblius on this one - this album is odd.
Meant to be a soundtrack for the 2003 documentary Tupac: Resurrection, the 14-track collection covers 2Pac’s short career, and it includes four new songs that has G-Unit/Shady/Aftermath’s fingerprints all over it. Bearing this in mind, it is rather confusing to figure out exactly what audience was being targeted by putting together such a playlist.
It would have helped if the collection of old songs was comprehensive. But it isn’t. It’s nice to hear “Panther Power”, which is a rare glimpse into his pre-2Pacalypse years. The same goes for “Staring at the World Through My Rearview”, which samples Phil Collins’ “In the Air Tonight” and first appeared in the obscure 1997 soundtrack for his last movie, Gang Related; and “Same Song”, from Digital Underground’s This Is an EP Release (1991), marks 2Pac’s memorable debut verse. But most of the songs, as good as they are, originally appear in albums that any 2Pac fan should be without, or already have – 2Pacalypse Now (“Rebel of the Underground”), Strictly 4 My N.I.G.G.A.Z. (“Holler If Ya Hear Me”), Me Against the World (“Death Around the Corner”), and, to a lesser extent, Thug Life, Vol. 1 (“Bury Me a G” and “Str8 Ballin’”). Besides, where’s the love for 2Pac’s later albums, All Eyez On Me and The Don Killuminati? There just doesn’t seem to be a compelling reason why these songs were chosen. In fact, any casual listener that buys this would be robbed of the superior songs that did not make it, like “Brenda’s Got a Baby,” “Keep Ya Head Up,” “Pour a Little Liquor,” “Dear Mama” and “I Ain’t Mad at ‘Cha.” And what the heck is that wack “Secretz of War” off the equally wack Still I Rise album doing here?
Thus this brings us to the four new songs in this soundtrack. Believe me, only “Runnin’ (Dying to Live)” is worth it. For once, Eminem’s stilted boardwork works behind 2Pac and the Notorious B.I.G., two rappers who are forever united in enmity and violent death, the thunderous kicks greatly complementing their mesmerizing flows. But Em falls flat in “Ghost”, his beat lacking soul and ‘Pac with another account with his run-ins with the law and the streets. Em does a slightly better job in “One Day at a Time” and he, ‘Pac and the Outlawz generally rap about perseverance. But the whole affair grows rather monotonous pretty quick, no lyrics particularly standing out and the music with zero variance or deviation. However, the greatest travesty happens at the end of the album – with “The Realest Killaz”. Here, a usually mush-mouthed 50 Cent has the temerity to use his guest spot as yet another attack on his arch-nemesis Ja Rule:
Tupac cut his head bald, then you want to cut your head bald
Tupac wear a bandanna, you wanna wear a bandanna
Tupac put a cross on his back, you wanna put crosses on your back
N***a, you ain’t Tupac!
You know, it’s bad enough 50 is on this track with his personal agenda. He comes off as a hypocrite, for he is just as guilty as Ja Rule for riding 2Pac’s jock. Amazing how a guy who had been dead for almost a decade utterly murders him on the mic, although ‘Pac says hardly anything new, and 50’s pathetic lyricism only exacerbates the situation. At least the beat is kind of nice.
Yeah, this album is odd. This does a great disservice to casual listeners who need a better representation of his music. And hardcore fans would already have access to virtually all the old songs through their album collection. Moreover, the new songs are too few in number, and their variance in quality is not enough to justify a purchase. The Tupac: Resurrection soundtrack ultimately suffers from an identity crisis that should baffle and repel damn near everyone.
Oh, and did I say this album is odd? Oh I did, didn’t I? Oh yeah, well, pass on this one.
TRACK LISTING:
1. Intro
2. Ghost
3. One Day at a Time
4. Death Around the Corner
5. Secretz of War
6. Runnin’ (Dying to Live)
7. Holler If Ya Hear Me
8. Staring at the World Through My Rearview
9. Bury Me a G
10. Same Song
11. Panther Power
12. Str8 Ballin’
13. Rebel of the Underground
14. The Realest Killaz
Music. Amid all of the generally disappointing posthumous {$2Pac} releases, the {^Tupac: Resurrection} {\soundtrack} is a diamond in the rough, an aff...More at DeepDiscount.com
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