2Pac Friday

2 February 2024

Happy 2Pac Friday! Happy Groundhog Day!

Will we have six more weeks of winter? Or will spring come early?

The only thing we know for sure is that we will have at least six more weeks of 2Pac Fridays and whether or not Punxsutawney Phil sees his shadow, we know he will listen to 2Pac, for today is 2Pac Friday. When a 2Pac Friday lands on Groundhog Day, it is like a rare* solar eclipse and you just have to resist looking at the sun for too long.

This song is perfect for Groundhog Day because it essentially follows the same trajectory as Bill Murray in the metaphysical classic movie Groundhog Day where Murray’s character—Phil Connors, a great Pittsburgh weatherman—needs at least 38 days** to get things right. Similarly, this song seemingly has endless versions.

The first version of the song was never released because it featured Li’l Vicious—best known for “Nika”—who was under 18 and so record labels were reluctant about mixing a minor with such explicit content.

Further controversy kept the second version of the song off 2Pac’s group Thug Life’s only album, Thug Life Volume 1.

Then a third version of the song was intended for Me Against the World, but because that album was released while 2Pac was in jail, it was thought to be ill-advised to include such a song with its title at the time “Runnin’ from tha Police” while 2Pac was experiencing such legal troubles. 2Pac was also thought to be against releasing the song on his album because he had then been feuding with Biggie Smalls since 2Pac was shot on November 30th of 1994 as he believed the Notorious B.I.G. had set him up.

All of these above versions were recorded at the same recording in November of 1993 and produced by Easy Mo Bee. The final version of these three was the only one officially released, appearing on the compilation album One Million Strong.

After both 2Pac and the Notorious B.I.G. were murdered, Trapp released a remix of this song titled “Stop The Gunlight” which was the opening track of the album with the same name.

A year later DJ Stonebridge released another remix of the song.

While all of the versions are good and have something different to offer, the best-known version—which is also my favorite—is the 2003 remix produced by Eminem and released on the Tupac: Resurrection soundtrack under the title “Runnin’ (Dying to Live).” Eminem used the vocals of Biggie Smalls and 2Pac from a mixture of the earlier versions and sampled Edgar Winter’s “Dying to Live” for the chorus.

Just as Phil Connors finally wins the love of Rita in Groundhog Day, “Runnin’ (Dying to Live)” won my heart in 2003 and should win your heart now, if it hasn’t already, as should all of its earlier versions.

As they say, “it takes a village to raise a child [and it takes a decade to fully develop a song this great].” In fact, Groundhog Day director Harold Ramis himself said, “It takes at least ten years to get good at anything.”

And so it takes at least a decade to fully enjoy a commemorate something so good it takes at least a decade to produce. This song that has already been enjoyed for decades since its release and will be enjoyed for decades beyond its appearance here on this 2024 Groundhog Day 2Pac Friday.

If any man, woman, or child is lucky enough to experience as many 2Pac Fridays as the 12,395 times it has been estimated Phil Connors experienced Groundhog Day, then they are a lucky person.

We wish that for every person celebrating this Groundhog Day and this 2Pac Friday.

Happy Groundhog Day and Happy 2Pac Friday, for days and days and weeks and weeks and months and months and years and years and decades and decades and centuries and centuries and millennia and millennia to come!

Featured Track:

Runnin’

(Dying to Live)

*In this case, happening on average once every seven years.

**38 days is a very conservative minimum. It was probably many, many more days. It remains life’s great mystery. No one really knows quite how long Bill Murray was stuck in the learning cycle before reaching enlightenment. People have tried to estimate, but mathematics has yet evolved enough as a field to get a precise number. While we cannot know for sure when mathematics will reach enlightenment by solving the Groundhog Day riddle, we are confident it will be on a 2Pac Friday.