2Pac Friday
8 September 2023
The opening game of the NFL season was last night and the opening Sunday is in 2 days–at the end of the weekend. So we must begin the weekend with “Hit “Em Up” on this 2Pac Friday.
Athletes are famous for getting pumped up by music.
And no, I’m not referring to the 90s Jock Jam series.
Not that they do not contain classic songs or good music, but somehow the compilation seems to cheapen the tracks rather than make the collection greater than the sum of its parts.
So that’s not what we are talking about.
We are talking about music really pumping people up.
For better or for worse.
For worse, the Patriots dynasty famously rode the “Crazy Train” to successfully terrorizing the rest of the NFL and society.
For better, the Steelers were boosted by “Renegade” to come back from a 24-7 deficit against the Browns in a 2002 Wild Card game in what has become regular tradition late in games at Heinz Field.
I was actually at that playoff game! I had no idea what an historic game it would turn out to be. It would cause me to become emotionally-attached to the song that I previously was ambivalent about and now claim has an acapella introduction only equaled by Whitney Houston’s famous cover of Dolly Parton’s “I Will Always Love You.” This 2002 classic Steelers (delayed, 4th quarter) stomping of the Browns also caused local Pittsburgh kid, David Bednar, to grow up and become an All-Star relief pitcher for the Pirates and get his own bobblehead that plays “Renegade” because he comes out of the bullpen to that song. It also would make Browns fans wait almost two more decades for a playoff victory, but no one cares about Cleveland Browns history.
While I did foresee the Steelers coming back and beating the Browns that fateful Sunday over two decades ago (because I foresee the Steelers coming back and winning every game), I did not foresee all that would happen with this song. I did not foresee the hit from the Windy City rock band Styx becoming more associated with the Steel City over the years.
While “Crazy Train” and “Renegade” are famous examples of people getting jacked up by music for sporting events, there are also the lesser known personal experiences.
In freshman football, I still remember a teammate playing Master P’s “Bout It, Bout It II” to get pumped up before games, on our way to a winning season in southwestern Ohio back in the day.
My friend, J.A. who played minor league ball for the Twins, said he would get pumped up by Jay Z’s The Black Album, especially “Dirt Off Your Shoulder”--a great tune.
But I believe J.A. said he would play that during workouts, rather than to get ready for games.
And there entails what I think could be an interesting thesis or dissertation–how do athletes use music to enhance performance?
Sometimes the perception may be greater than the reality. Or the view fans have may be different than the views players have.
This Steelers fan and writer certainly believes that it helps.
But here we see a less enthusiastic view from Big Ben.
If we apply all this to last night, when the Lions upset the Chiefs, were the Lions revved up by some pregame music? If so, did it have a delayed effect because they went three-and-out on their first possession and would have gone three-and-out on their second possession if it were not for their successful fake punt that changed the tenor of the game. So did any pregame music take effect halfway through the first quarter for the Lions, like the delayed effects of taking shots or smoking bongs?
So there is a lot to be said about songs pumping people up for a performance. There is a lot that is debatable or arguable about the impact music has on performance.
What is not arguable is that one song always does successfully pump people up and improve performance in any arena: 2Pac’s “Hit ‘Em Up.”
That will get anyone pumped up for anything.
So much so that you don’t have to be a 2Pac fan.
You don’t have to be an athlete.
You just have to be an honest-to-goodness living, breathing human being (maybe not even that; maybe cats get pumped up by it too).
This is so true that I believe this is strangely one of 2Pac’s most “pop” or “mainstream” songs that non-fans can like or put on a playlist right behind smash hits like “Changes” and “California Love.”
It may have more lasting power than the song it was on the B side for: “How Do U Want It,” which is also a great song. But I would say a non-2Pac fan is more likely to have “Hit ‘Em Up” in a playlist than “How Do U Want It,” which is a good party song, but may not have the same lasting appeal to the average person out there on the street.
In other words, if a polling company were to ask the Average Joe if they knew either of those songs, I bet more people would know “Hit ‘Em Up” than “How Do U Want It.” By the way, that is a good idea for a future SLP Poll.
One reason that “Hit ‘Em Up” may have so much appeal is that it feels like a regular song in terms of the production and quality of rapping than a traditional diss track, which is often underproduced and sounds like an afterthought or underground release even if by a high-profile artist. 2Pac brings his usual energy and The Outlawz also bring their A-Game, which is notable because while The Outlawz are very much present in 2Pac’s music and SLP 2Pac Fridays, they are absent from the majority of 2Pac’s biggest hits. They are definitely not absent from “Hit ‘Em Up.”
While there are tons of internet lists of top diss tracks (and perhaps a future prominent Mount Rushmore), “Hit ‘Em Up,” consistently ranks at the top. Even to this day, if you were to scour such lists, “Hit ‘Em Up” would be by far the number #1 by a large aggregate margin. Even the lists that do not have it as number #1, put it near the top. While classic diss tracks like “No Vaseline” or “Kick in the Door” are prominent on many lists, they also are absent from other lists as well. Eminem has many diss tracks that appear throughout the lists, but listmakers cannot agree which one of his diss tracks is the best. Eminem even has done a cover of “Hit ‘Em Up” as a diss track.
As such, we can look at “Hit ‘Em Up” as the Tiger Woods (in his prime) of diss tracks–even when he wasn’t winning, he was in contention, while other golfers might have won some opens or sporadically finished near the top in some events, but were completely out of contention for others.
Or, more appropriately as this 2Pac Friday has been engineered for beginning of the football season, “Hit ‘Em Up” is like the Steelers, clearly the best franchise in NFL history (the Super Bowl Era, the NFL history that matters) and when not winning Super Bowls, at least not losing, never having a losing season during the Tomlin era, or since 2004, a couple years after (another delayed affect example) the “Renegade” era started.
Let’s add “Hit ‘Em Up” to that. They may never play it at Heinz Field. But we can play it in our homes–on 2Pac Fridays and Football Sundays (and whenever we so please). And while we may not win every time, like a Steelers season, on the balance we are never to lose with “Hit ‘Em Up.”
In other words, as far as diss tracks go, “Hit ‘Em Up” is clearly number 1.
That’s why we “Hit ‘Em Up.”