Rap AH

something I thought of last night, what if Tupac had survived the attack that in OTL killed him on the Vegas Strip? Would Biggie have been killed months later? Would the East Coast-West Coast rivalry have signed its unoffical truce that stemmed from Pac's death? Would Either have died eventually? Would Snoop or Sean Combs, 2 of the biggest names in the buisness today, have gone down as a result of a larger more intense rivalry that could have gone on to 98' or even today?

heres what I think

Tupac survives, albiet barely, and stuns the entertainment world. As he recovers theres a lot of smoke and trash talk, almost surely a massive diss album with a track that makes 'hit em up' look like a church hymn. However, with a disaster narrowly averted, everyone does realize that people can die from all of this. Biggie never gets shot but at the same time the peace conference and the truce also never become "offical". Of course after this rap which was already going mainstream, explodes in popularity. The continued rivalry continues to polarize the nation but it never loses it's two leaders.

More than likely a smaller figure in the rivalry, either Nas or Chino XL, or some other person ends up dying in the name of the rivalry. This death will hit those in the rivalry hard but only the die-hard followers of the rivalry will understand the meaning. The hardcore dis rivalry rap gets watered down. First by Nelly and his St. Louis scene then by the club rap scene coming out of Atlanta and the Chopped and Screwed scene coming out of Houston. Theres a slight possibility that the emergence of these cities could further fuel the fire between themselves and LA and NYC, but I doubt it. Instead Tupac and Biggie follow the career path of Snoop and Combs, a few more modern albums that are OK but never truly match what they had during the rivalry at its peak between 94'-98'. Instead they fall to cameo apperances in random singles (perhaps its Tupac instead of Paul Wall who backs up Nelly in Grillz), appear in VH1 specials (Biggies House), performs at Superbowl halftime shows, and present awards at random functions. Esentially they follow the plan that maximizes their profits off the names theyve created for themselves, leave the rap game to market themselves and find new young talent (It's hard to see someone as pasionate as Tupac following this path, but after something that could have killed him I see him being able to change to survive rather easily, especially considering how easily he was convinced to go to LA after his prison sentance). Either way I see the rap game at about where it is now, maybe a little more hardcore and meaningful than it is now, but with two more big leaders.

What are yalls thoughts?
 
for me, 2pac's death had more impact than his career. it seems odd about the silence of his so called enemies following that night in las vegas. but in fact, he is what 50 cent is,or some say was....a loud mouth who could only push sales by picking fights.

if he stays under the management of suge knight if he lives, i see only more trouble and a public becoming tired of his antics
 
Hmmm... it all depends on what happens to Tupac after he recovers. I read that he wanted to return to Afro-consciousness of his earlier years, and release a major album once every few years. If he does return to this earlier style, socially conscious rap will have a major boost in popularity and we might see a return to the Golden Age of Rap.

If socially conscious rap sees a boost, I think that the explosion that we saw of Dirty South will be muted or never occur.

I for one, think this would have been a good thing. The mindless and vapid styles of Crunk and Chopped & Screwed would have never gained popularity outside their hometowns, and we wouldn't be forced to listen to such rubbish as

"This is why I'm hot

I'm hot cause I'm fly (fly)
You ain't cause you're not"
 
Hmmm... it all depends on what happens to Tupac after he recovers. I read that he wanted to return to Afro-consciousness of his earlier years, and release a major album once every few years. If he does return to this earlier style, socially conscious rap will have a major boost in popularity and we might see a return to the Golden Age of Rap.

If socially conscious rap sees a boost, I think that the explosion that we saw of Dirty South will be muted or never occur.

I for one, think this would have been a good thing. The mindless and vapid styles of Crunk and Chopped & Screwed would have never gained popularity outside their hometowns, and we wouldn't be forced to listen to such rubbish as

"This is why I'm hot

I'm hot cause I'm fly (fly)
You ain't cause you're not"

yeah, chopped and screwed derives from cough syrup abuse and crunk is basically stripper/booty music. but i dont see the clock being turned back to '87.
 
yeah, chopped and screwed derives from cough syrup abuse and crunk is basically stripper/booty music. but i dont see the clock being turned back to '87.

Welcome to Screwston Texas, were Mike Jones is still tippin and Chamillinoaire and the World Series Astros are getting their Shine on:p

anyways...
Even if socially consious rap continues I still see Crunk and Chopped and Screwed and the regional stuff having their run (maybe not as big, and certianly with a bit of a different flair but still esentially the same thing they are today). Those types of raps have roots in the 80's rap movement and some ties to the mid 90's West-East rivalry but they are mostly indepedent. They have risen because of globalization and the contiued rise of the internet and MTV.

In the 80's to mid 90's MTV was still pretty localized to LA, NYC, and a few other places, the internet wasnt big and developed enough, and the spotlight was on LA and NYC rap. With the continued internet development and continued TV exposure, regional rap will come out regardless if Tupac and Biggie are killed.

Will the regional rap styles be different, undoubtly, but they would be esentially the same and more mindless "Get Low" and "Yeah!" songs would rise in popularity, at the very least because every day people get dumber:p

In the words of Chris Rock "It's getting hard and harder to defend rap, but dammit I still love it. Back in the day if someone questioned you about listening to Shakur all you had to do was expalin the lyrics more clearly. Now if someone asks me to explain my favorite rap song I have a hard time defending Lil' Jon talking about the sweat dripping down his balls."
 

Rocano

Banned
I think Biggie would retire eventually and become a producer. However Tupac will be even angrier than usual. He will probaly keep up his path until he gets to be Dr. Dre.
 
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