2Pac Friday
15 September 2023
We have perhaps waited too long to feature a quintessential storytelling track from 2Pac’s early days, in these, the early days of SLP 2Pac Fridays*.
2Pac was certainly influenced by storytelling rap, as we know from a certain track on Me Against the World ***foreshadowing/spoiler alert for future 2Pac Fridays*** where he lauds various rappers that influenced him, many of the storytelling variety. We also saw it in a previous 2Pac Friday with ”Representin’ 93,” where the second verse acts as a shoutout of sorts, celebrating or “representing” many rappers 2Pac respected, some who are heavy on narrative songs–or at least more inclined in that direction than things would become as the 90s progressed and moved into the 2000s. In other words, in the storytelling nature of this week’s featured 2Pac Friday song, as well as other rappers 2Pac admired, we see him influenced by an era of storytelling rap and having a propensity for storytelling himself, especially at the genesis of his music.
It was one of my early aspects of liking 2Pac. They say a song should build, and while that usually refers to the instrumental aspect of the song, I also enjoy when a song builds in a narrative sense, when something happens. In a lot of 2Pac’s early music, something happens.
There is a story. 2Pacalypse Now is filled with stories in songs like “Soulja’s Story,” “Brenda’s Got a Baby,” “Part-Time Mutha,” and the featured song of this terrific 2Pac Friday: “Violent.”
While this is certainly not a laidback track, and 2Pac does spit the lyrics with a certain urgency, the song is not in a hurry to tell the story it wants to tell. The instrumental intro is over 30 seconds long with the bass intro alone lasting over 10 seconds. This is indicative of a song that is not trying to be a hit or single from an era where there may have been a little more time allotted to various songs–”deep tracks” that may not have pop appeal but fans (such as future 2Pac Friday commemorators) will appreciate–and this track, the longest of the album, is almost six-and-a-half minutes long.
But what a worthwhile 6.5 minutes it is.
Verse #1 of this song is not a narrative, but lays the framework for the narrative that will proceed in verses #2 and #3 by opening with how others “claim that I’m violent” and further discussion thereof that the narrator will show the context to in the second and third verses.
It is important to remember that the narrator in this song is not really 2Pac himself. That line can be blurry in music, often especially rap, or other arts like stand up comedy, where the performer may use their own name in lieu of stage name while presenting a persona that is not necessarily themselves. Of course 2Pac is one of the few rappers that does use his own name, but as he famously said in reference to his music’s content in the context of his court case at the time: “This is not my real life.”
As 2Pac’s music develops, while there are less stories, the stories that are prevalent may be more about himself than they were in his earlier music, where first person narratives are often retelling versions of stories he heard. In this track, the narrator is not 2Pac himself.
With that in mind, verse #2 tells a story of the narrator and a friend getting pulled over and framed by racist cops, with the situation escalating into physical violence. In verse #3, the situation further escalates into gun violence before circling back to the initial idea of verse #1–people claiming that he is violent–with that claim and the violence now having context from the narrator’s perspective.
It is a well-constructed song and argument.
Even if the beat itself is not really a true banger.
2Pac felt that he wasn’t getting the best beats or production in 2Pacalypse Now and told Shock G that if he could get some better tracks to rap on, he could really take things to the next level. They did just that on 2Pac’s second album with the timeless classic “I Get Around,” which could almost be considered a song of Digital Underground (who did have a hand on the hit “Trapped,” another narrative song from 2Pacalypse Now) with 2Pac at the lead.
I wonder if the fact 2Pac was establishing himself as a star early on and didn’t have the most manicured production at the beginning stages of his career kind of forced or encouraged him into the storytelling nature. In other words, if his early songs weren’t going to stand out with the production, maybe he had to make them stand out with the storytelling (as he was never really elite in many of the other aspects of rap like creative rhyming, flow, etc.). Of course, this is just a thought, outward wondering or speculation on my part. I do not believe 2Pac ever discusses this or is asked directly about this, so I suppose we will never know.
What we do know is that this is an awesome and classic 2Pac track.
And we hope you have an awesome, peaceful 2Pac Friday–and Sweet Livin’ weekend ahead, with many stories of your own to tell and the only “Violent" thing coming in quotation marks, in this very track.
*In comparison to the eternity that they—2Pac Fridays—will continue to prosper.
This clarification and substantial footnote is necessary because one might note that SLP 2Pac Fridays have been going on for 3 months now and so you do not currently feel like these are the early days of anything, as one could say it is the end of the first trimester if this were your typical pregnancy.
But it is not.
While certainly something wonderful is being born and thrust onto the world, this process lasts beyond 9 months—without complications or morning sickness or doctor’s visits (as society continues to evolve, with inventions like the Other Internet, perhaps one day society will evolve to the level where women can simply listen to a 2Pac song to bring a new soul into the world instead of experiencing the sometimes violent pains of childbirth—but we are not there, yet).
So yes, this wonderful present, these joyous days are indeed the “early days” of 2Pac Fridays even if they do not feel “early” because 2Pac Fridays have already changed your life by transforming your weekends for the better (no need to get into the details or how sad and pathetic your weekends may have been pre-2Pac Fridays; such ugliness is content for the Other Internet).
But yes, these are just the very early days of 2Pac Fridays, our dear fellow 2Pac-listening friends, and your weekends and your lives will only continue to grow and prosper beyond what you could have possibly imagined before you had the discipline to listen to 2Pac every Friday.
And those younger generations, reading these sacred words in the future, will certainly look back on these days–these wonderful Fridays–as the early days of 2Pac Fridays.
It is, after all, as they say: all about perspective.
And now you have a good perspective.
Thank you 2Pac.
And thank you Friday.
Thank you 2Pac Friday.
You’re welcome.