I know what you mean Vinny. He was no saint & made his share of mistakes, but I truly believe he was at heart a good person who did care very much about the youth of his nation.

Biggie always had that mad flow, but Tupac was a true poet. When I read The Rose That Grew From Concrete & other poems of his Im always struck by the heart, the depth of emotion he showed even while so young. This man had so much potential, which even at his creative nadir had not yet (I believe) peaked.

I loved his turn in Gridlock'd, so did the critics. Knowing he had such interests in acting & may have gone on to play so many more roles is but one of the reasons its so sad to have seen his life cut short.

Like mentioned in the Scott interview, I think some of the problems I (& others) had with accepting his death was the idea that someone like Tupac could be murdered by someone like Baby Lane Anderson over something so petty. Its easier, & in a twisted way almost more comforting to think it was the result of some sort of conspiracy, that if he had to die it was because there was some dark & mysterious plot against him. I think maybe it gives more substance(perhaps the wrong word?) to his death & somehow easier to accept.

Tupac's music was the soundtrack to my last primary & first high school years. His was the first music I chose for myself, not what my parents listened to or what I was raised on, but the first music I myself discovered & loved & my entrance into hip hop as a genre..

The first time I heard a swear-word in a song was "Hit Em Up", I remember having my mind blown realising people could actually do that. I played Dear Mama to my mother trying to apologise to her for stupidly deciding to run away from home at 13 (not the first or last time, but the longest at 10 days. I was, actually, a little shit of a child)

Me Against The World is one of those albums you can just put on & let play the whole way through. Listening to songs like Changes & I Wonder If Heaven Got A Ghetto can really be heart wrenching.