This first exposure to rap music and hip-hop culture changed the way that I listened to music. The stuff that rappers were talking about in the early 90's was very foreign to me, and I learned to respect various artists for baring their souls in their music, and courageously speaking out against injustices that they perceived in American urban culture.
Fans of rap music debate who the greatest MC of all time is. It happens all the time, and it's kind of dumb. There is no way to provide a definitive answer to this debate, so I think that the arguments for various rappers are ultimately very silly. However, I do think that it's a lot easier, and more productive, to debate the merits of one rapper against another. For example, it would be ridiculous to debate whether or not Snoop Dogg is the greatest rapper of all time, but it's not ridiculous to examine whether or not he is a better rapper than, say, Eazy-E. Or, since I brought up Eazy-E, it wouldn't be ridiculous to debate the artistic merit of groups like N.W.A. compared to Public Enemy or Run-DMC. Narrowing down the debate allows for more conclusive results.
So, I would like to take a moment to make an argument about the comparative merits of two unquestionably great rappers. The question is, between Tupac Shakur (a.k.a. 2Pac) and Christopher Wallace (a.k.a. The Notorious BIG), who is better?
This is the holy grail of rap debates. There is no bigger question. It has been argued over and over for many years. It was debated intensely during the 90's, when East Coast/West Coast rivalry was at an all-time high. Bad Boy and Death Row (Biggie's and Tupac's record labels, respectively) fiercely competed with each other musically in a way that seems downright savage compared to the subdued, highly commercialized, watered-down hip-hop that is produced today. While the rivalry between East Coast and West Coast hip-hop doesn't exist anymore, the Tupac vs. Notorious BIG debate has raged on over the years.
Fans of The Notorious BIG argue that his flow was tighter than Tupac's. It's fair to say that Biggie's delivery was definitely better than Tupac's, and it's also fair to say that Biggie was a more imaginative lyricist. Posthumously, Tupac's albums have outsold Biggie's by a huge margin, but during their feud Biggie was more commercially successful, and he lived a more glamorous lifestyle, which was definitely attractive to hip-hop fans. Biggie had all kinds of swagger and confidence, and his music was about the pursuit of wealth and power. The Notorious BIG was the very personification of all things cool back in the mid-90's. Songs like "Hypnotize Me" and "Mo' Money, Mo' Problems" were just so damn COOL, and his delivery was smooth and effortless.
If Biggie was the personification of cool, then Tupac was the personification of anger and urban desperation. He thought deeper than Biggie, and explored more substantial themes. Biggie was a larger-than-life figure, and he liked it that way. He was the Big Poppa, and the majority of his music emphasized this persona that he worked tirelessly to promote. On the other hand, Tupac preferred to allow the listener to see how deeply human he was, and welcomed us in to his insecurities without shame or reservation (he did this repeatedly, but he probably did it best, or at least most memorably, on "Dear Mama"). At the same time, this deeply human guy could eviscerate an opponent lyrically, a skill he demonstrated with unparalleled effectiveness, rage, and passion in the legendary Bad Boy diss song "Hit 'Em Up" back in 1996.
So, who was better? I'm going to say Tupac. I think that the bottom line in this debate is that hip-hop is supposed to be rooted in urban reality, and nobody was more sincere and transparent than Tupac. His songwriting was amazing, but it's not his skill as a songwriter that made him so great. What made him great was a combination of honesty and versatility. Those qualities are what separate him from Biggie. Biggie was amazing, but he was not multi-dimensional like Tupac. You can only rap about money and bitches for so long before it gets repetitive, and Biggie was limited when it came to stepping outside of his lyrical comfort zone. Attempts at Tupac-like self-reflection (on a track like "Suicidal Thoughts", for example) seem forced and uncomfortable. Meanwhile, Tupac was just as comfortable rapping about violence as he was rapping about social movement ("Changes"), teen pregnancy ("Brenda's Got A Baby"), or the cyclical nature of doomed urban youth falling into criminal activity ("Shorty Wanna Be A Thug"). Tupac also radically differed from the majority of rappers (and I mean ALL rappers, even today) when he released the song "Keep Ya' Head Up" in an attempt to advance the role of women in rap music.
To me, great artists enhance our understanding of the world, offering an enhanced perspective on humanity. By that definition, Tupac was a transcendent rapper, and a true artist. Biggie never really gave a shit about inspiring social change. Biggie was a professional rapper, and Bad Boy was all about money. While it would be stupid to say that Tupac didn't perform or write for money, I have a hard time believing that money was Tupac's primary motivation. Tupac wasn't as gifted as Biggie, and he chose to work on developing his talent while also exploring himself in his music. Tupac could have made more money rapping exclusively about the kind of stuff Biggie rapped about, but doing so would have greatly diminished Tupac's artistic credibility.
So, there you have it. By the way, before you start thinking that I'm some kind of Tupac loyalist, I just want to go ahead and say that he is not my favorite rapper. He's definitely in my top ten, but he's not my favorite, and I wouldn't say that he's the greatest of all time. He's just better than Biggie. Definitively.
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