INTRODUCTION:

Keep your head up and try to keep the faith
And pray for better days

These words from the title track of the fourth major posthumous 2Pac album, Better Dayz, might as well apply to his long-suffering fans. It was 2002, a year after the scattershot Until the End of Time hit stores, the exploitation stinking to the high heavens. And it had been five long years since the public received a passable album of previously unreleased ‘Pac material in R U Still Down? (Remember Me). Better Dayz, just like its immediate predecessor, was a collection of songs mainly culled or reconstructed from his “thug” phase, 1994-1996. It had its work cut out for it – was it going to match, or even surpass, the decidedly average R U Still Down? Or was it going to suck major balls like the horrid Until the End of Time?

Thankfully, Better Dayz leans towards the former. Here’s why:

DISC 1:

The “Intro” symbolizes the pure universal awe for 2Pac. As the excited crowd rent the air with their cries in the background, chanting his name, a reporter marvels at two things: 1.) the sheer amount of material still being released, even after three albums, two of which were two-disc sets, and 2.) how his lyrics, none younger than six years, still maintains their societal relevance. Even in death, 2Pac had such a chokehold on people’s memories and imaginations – something that living rappers wish they have.

Who could ask for a better start? “Still Ballin’” is pure fire. The beat, crafted by the ever-reliable Johnny “J”, has this Southern bounce to it that cannot make you sit still, which is quite a departure from his signature post-G-Funk era sound. It is partly due to the updated production that Tupac proves his flow have aged quite well. In fact, he sounds like he recorded it in 2002, and his energetic cadence by far outshines one of his clones that guest raps on the track (Trick Daddy). The next song, “When We Ride On Our Enemies” is yet more venom for Mobb Deep, Biggie, and…a certain trio who p****d him off by making the gangsta-rap and West Coast satire “Cowboys” off their 1996 album The Score:

Heard the Fugees was trying to do me
Look, b***h! - I cut your face, this ain't no m***********g movie!
Then, we watch the other two die slow -
Castrated entertaining at my m***********g sideshow!

Ouch. Surely 2Pac was not taking attacks on gangsta rap lightly – even from his rap peers. Once again Johnny “J” does a great job, with dark piano keys and hyped-up horns in the hook to heighten the intensity of the lyrics.

Disc 1 takes a dip from there. “Changed Man” has a passable beat from Jazze Pha, but ‘Pac says barely anything new and a pre-King of the South T.I. barely hangs on to make his verse work. “F**k ‘Em All” and “Whatcha Gonna Do” are more Outlawz-featured songs of tough talk. “Never B Peace” features the Outlawz again, this time joining with ‘Pac to give yet another lecture about the turbulence of the streets over a dull Eastern-wannabe beat. “Street Fame” finds 'Pac being his wild self - for the umpteenth time - over a dark piano-heavy track. And “Fair XChange” is another finely-produced Jazze Pha beat that features ‘Pac on yet another venture into kinky sex.

However, “Mama’s Just a Little Girl”, which appears right in the middle of Disc 1, is yet another remarkable performance from ‘Pac. It traces its bloodline to “Brenda’s Got a Baby” in that it is a heart-wrenching tale of a fifteen-year old orphan who becomes pregnant and tries to escape the cycle of violence that seems so inevitable. Supported by a soothing guitar-driven beat by, guess…Johnny “J”, Tupac develops the concept of “the rose that grew from concrete” (which is the title of a CD collection of his poetry released two years earlier). It is symbolic and exemplary of the young woman’s struggle, for she is striving to get out of her unfavorable living conditions, even if she is scarred in the process. This is what ‘Pac says at the outro:

You see, you wouldn't ask why the rose that grew from the concrete had damaged petals. On the contrary, we would all celebrate its tenacity. We would all love its will to reach the sun. Well, we are the roses, this is the concrete, and these are my damaged petals. Don't ask me why - thank God…

Beautiful. Just beautiful.

Disc 1 recovers somewhat toward the end. Wonder why this DJ Quik slice of '70s vibrant funk that comprises “Late Night” did not make it onto All Eyez On Me. It really is a nice party track, and could have taken the place of “Heartz of Men.” Even though there is little in the subject matter of “Ghetto Star” to get really excited about, the slow synth-heavy funk of Ant Banks is enough to save the day. Disc 1 ends with the acoustic version of “Thugz Mansion” – here ‘Pac, with some help from Nas, envisions an afterlife where the dead finally find peace. It’s certainly a place Tupac wants to end up in, too:

Just think of all the people that you knew in the past
That passed on, they in heaven, found peace at last
Picture a place that they exist, together
There has to be a place better than this, in heaven
So right before I sleep, dear God, what I'm asking
Remember this face, save me a place, in thug's mansion

It’s a pleasant end to Disc 1, and the synopsis does not look any less bright for the other disc of Better Dayz.

DISC 2:

Once again, there is a fantastic kickoff. Originally appearing in 1995’s The Show soundtrack, “My Block” is remixed and added here as the first song of Better Dayz’s Disc 2. With all due respect to Easy Mo Bee, the producer who did the beat for the original, Frank Nitty surpasses him tremendously with the remix. He employs a brooding mix of acoustic guitar, deep bass and intermittent and faint strings; and throws in a choir of children to sing the chorus. The melodramatic stage is set for ‘Pac to bare his soul for four verses about the ‘hood. Even though the content is pretty standard, he mainly uses his unique brand of internal rhyming and a consistent cadence to keep things fresh:

Now s**t's constantly hot, on my block, it never fails to be gunshots
Can't explain a mother's pain when her son drops
Black males living in hell - when will we prevail?
Fearing jail but crack sales got me living well

The rest of the disc is rather uneven. The better songs are either ones of more ghetto introspection from Tupac (“Thugz Mansion” and “Better Dayz”) or more songs of his sensitive side towards women (“Never Call U B***h Again” with Tyrese and “U Can Call”), all which sport some impressive boardwork from 7 Aurelius, Johnny “J” and Jazze Pha. As for the lesser songs, well, there’s the disappointing collaboration with the Boot Camp Click (“Military Minds”); a song that does not seem to stick to its theme very well (the Outlawz-featured “Fame”); an abysmal, and therefore unnecessary, remix (“Fair Xchange [Remix]” with Mya); more taunting from ‘Pac and the Outlawz (“Catchin’ Feelings”); and yet more songs explaining why certain women are and will always remain “hos” (“There U Go”) and the life of a thug (“This Life I Lead”). It is not that the songs are altogether bad. It’s just that there are no new twists to the deja vu material, rendering them merely average. Some of the beats are pretty good (e.g. check out the Johnny “J”-produced “There U Go” and “This Life I Lead”), but there’s only so much a producer can do to salvage trite material.

Luckily Disc 2 rebounds toward the end. 2Pac never really delved into religion all that much, so it is rather refreshing to hear his views – albeit somewhat abstract – over a murky, lo-fi beat in "Who Do U Believe In". Bemoaning the black-on-black violence happening around him, he muses, “It's like we don't believe in God cause we living in sin.” He even questions his own belief in God, even though he’s determined to stay steadfast to the end in his theism: “I put my faith in God, blessed and still breathing/And even though it's hard, that's who I believe in.” What is so spooky about this particular song is that it features Outlawz member Khadafi, who shares the same concern with ‘Pac, but like him, succumbed to a violent death – in the same year (November 1996). The following – and last – song, “They Don’t Give a F**k About Us”, has Johnny “J” returning to more familiar G-Funk territory, crafting a deceptively multi-layered beat for ‘Pac to lash out about an apathetic American society, reawakening the militant of 2Pacalypse Now:

I told you last album - we need help ‘cause we dying
Give us a chance, help us advance ‘cause we trying
Ignore my whole plea, watching us in disgust
And then they beg when my guns bust - they don't give a f**k about us!

Ever the defiant one, wasn’t he?

CONCLUSION:

Better Dayz ends with a spooky “Outro”, in which ‘Pac promises to be back – just like Jesus Christ. Not literally, definitely, but the point is clear – he’s not done giving us more music. Well, if Amaru Entertainment gives us more albums like this, then that would be very welcome. Sure, Better Dayz suffers from superfluous material, and it would have been a better album if it was a single disc. However, it has a greater number of good songs in its 2-CD format than Until the End of Time, and even with its single disc format, Still I Rise still cannot measure up to it. Based on this, I would go far as to say that Better Dayz – and R U Still Down? (Remember Me) – are the only posthumous albums that the average 2Pac fan truly needs, since they are the best of the bunch. Besides, while R U Still Down? covers his early years, 1991-1995, Better Dayz mostly covers his Death Row years, 1994-1996. A convenient overlap, don’t you think?

Too bad the better days (pun intended) of ‘Pac posthumous albums did not last for long.

TRACK LISTING:

Disc 1:

1. Intro
2. Still Ballin’
3. When We Ride On Our Enemies
4. Changed Man
5. F**k ‘Em All
6. Never B Peace
7. Mama’s Just a Little Girl
8. Street Fame
9. Whatcha Gonna Do
10. Fair Xchange
11. Late Night
12. Ghetto Star
13. Thugz Mansion (Acoustic Version)

Disc 2:

1. My Block (Remix)
2. Thugz Mansion
3. Never Call U B***h Again
4. Better Dayz
5. U Can Call
6. Military Minds
7. Fame
8. Fair Xchange (Remix)
9. Catchin’ Feelings
10. There U Go
11. This Life I Lead
12. Who Do U Believe In
13. They Don’t Give a F**k About Us
14. Outro

OTHER REVIEWS IN MY 2PAC SERIES:

2Pacalypse Now (1991)
Strictly 4 My N.I.G.G.A.Z. (1993)
Thug Life, Vol. 1 (1994)
Me Against the World (1995)
All Eyez On Me (1996)
The Don Killuminati: The 7-Day Theory (1996)
R U Still Down? (Remember Me) (1997)
Greatest Hits (1998)
Still I Rise (1999)
Until the End of Time (2001)
Better Dayz (2002)
Tupac: Resurrection Soundtrack (2003)
Loyal to the Game (2004)
'Pac's Life (2006)

Recommended: Yes