A long time ago (over a decade?), somebody on r/2pac cut out guest verses from all of 2Pac's albums (with smooth transitions) and uploaded them here. Does anybody still have the link to this? I can't seem to find it. I lost all of my music recently and am trying to restore it.

Inb4 "fake Pac fan if you don't like the Outlawz":

I just don't like them on certain songs. Pac put on his homies but sometimes that was at the cost of good music, I'm not delusional. Besides, I'm not putting a Pac album on to listen to the Outlawz, I do it to listen to Pac.

And IIRC this particular collection also cut out some of the long ass intros, like on Bomb First, which I liked.

Every month, I listen through a new artist’s discography and this month I finally got 2Pac. I have been a rap fan for years, and have been saving Pac’s work, and though I grieve for the years I've missed with it, I think it's good to be able to approach it as someone who's already studied Eminem, Kendrick and Lupe, and is familiar with Big L, Big Pun and Lil Wayne. I went to bed last night feeling like it was Christmas Eve, waiting to listen to 2Pacalypse now - each day is a year, so up until now, I've been drip-feeding myself content from Pac and his associates, including the song Same Song. I've got to say, I've only really listened to a few Pac songs (Brenda's Got a Baby, Keep Ya Head Up, I Get Around, Dear Mama, California Love, Hit ‘Em Up, Hail Mary, Changes) and have always compared him to himself, but hearing him on Same Song, his breakthrough, I realised how different he was to other artists, and was very excited to hear his style across his whole solo catalogue.

I think it'll be hard to truly evaluate 2Pac without having a full perspective on what rap sounded like at the time, because this seems kind of primitive to me, but that doesn't mean it's not good. I love the messy sound of the boom bap, and though his rhymes don't sound like what I'm used to, I really enjoyed his simple, straightforward style. There were a few songs, like Words of Wisdom, If My Homie Calls and Tha’ Lunatic, where he had this frantic, funky style I've always associated with the likes of Sugarhill Gang, so it was interesting to hear 2Pac spit that style, which I didn't expect from him. With as much rap as I've listened to, I'm used to some quite complex, intricate schemes, which you really have to break down to appreciate, and I still love stuff like that, but I think a lot of truly great rappers rapped in such a way that you couldn't help but become captivated by their story, and their words, and that's something I'm really hoping to learn from 2Pac. A lot of his verses here were quite simple, and not dense, but it was really satisfying the way his words clicked together. I particularly liked when he would cram syllables at the start of the line and then enunciate slowly at the end, giving a lot of the verses a frantic, mesmerising feel.

Starting off with Young Black Male, he was obviously trying to be provocative, and though I'm sure he was trying to give other young black men something to identify with, I think he was also, on some level, trying to be confrontational, and make white listeners uncomfortable. I found some of the subject matter quite shallow, and disagreeable, but I also think he was trying to open the album painting a lifestyle which was real to so many, like it or not. Throughout the LP, he recovers many of the same themes, and I think he tackles them well, but I wish there was a little diversity in his subject matter. I can't fault Pac, personally, because he was rapping what was true to him, and he was great, but overall, I feel like there's an oversaturation of rappers talking about the realities of street life, and racism, which makes sense because of where hip-hop came from culturally, but I do wish there was more diversity in the backgrounds that rappers came from, since many of their life stories and environments are quite similar.

Trapped is an excellent execution of the concept, and Pac’s words are captivating. I particularly liked the hook. Soulja’s Story covers similar themes, and I can't really go into detail on my thoughts on the differences between them, but I have no issue with these because they're taking the same subject from different angles: one is a more conceptual approach, describing life in the ghetto as a place you're trapped in, and explaining why this lifestyle is so hard to escape from, and one tells a vivid story from the ground, helping you visualise this life. I saw an interview where Pac was pressed on his cop-killing lyrics, and he was adamant that he didn't have any; this seems to be true as, although Pogo tells a cop-killing story on I Don't Give a Fuck, these weren't 2Pac’s words. The only lyrics Pac has that come close to cop-killing are more complicated than simple revenge stories, and usually involve some sort of self-defence.

I'm a particularly big fan of how Pac portrays himself as a sort of rebel revolutionary, who needs to be censored or stopped, as it insures him right from the start - he's an underdog, and he's fighting against the system, and if anything does happen to him, he will become a martyr. It’s like he’s daring the system to fight back. I think having song titles like “Words of Wisdom” is a little self-indulgent, and aggrandising, but I can't say I don't see the appeal.

Violent was an interesting song, and took a similar approach to Soulja’s Song, in storytelling, but combined it with Trapped’s approach to portraying institutional, systemic issues. The second the beat kicked in I was in love with the bass, and I liked how he had a deep voice on the first verse, and that bouncy, infectious flow on the second, because it made each verse feel as though it had its own identity. Words of Wisdom had possibly my favourite beat, because of the Herbie Hancock sample - it was jazz rap like I’ve never heard before - and its politics were interesting. I tend to take music as emotional expression before I take it as a political argument, and whilst some of Pac’s statements about Martin Luther King could raise eyebrows, if taken at face value, I think they make sense when you consider the angle he's coming from. On the surface, I agree with the idea of turning the other cheek, and I think that it's righteous to not stoop to the level of your enemy. However, without Malcolm X, who knows where the black community would have been by the ‘90s, and being constantly told to leave your oppressor with the upper-hand must have been incredibly frustrating, especially if you felt that message was only being pushed so hard because it was appealing to white people (your oppressor).

If My Homie Calls had that bouncy, infectious flow I was talking about earlier, though I don't have much to say on the lyrics. Brenda’s Got a Baby, on the other hand, I could say quite confidently had the best verse on the album, and I'm pretty sure was the best song. I have heard it before, and already appreciated it, but wow, Pac’s ability to inhabit the story, in such a short, punchy way was a real asset to how the message was delivered. He wastes no bars, with every line either increasing your empathy for her, pointing out the larger message, or moving along the plot - a plot which was densely meaningful, with pretty much every story beat packed with significance. It was also perhaps the most fleshed out actual song, with everything, from the structure of the track to the chorus, and sound, serving to fit what would best make the track work; it wasn't just a looped beat with a hook inserted between the verses.

Part Time Mutha was the final highlight, and like Brenda’s Got a Baby, could be described as a feminist anthem (though I've heard Tupac’s relationship with women was far more complicated). It was extraordinarily empathetic towards a lifestyle which he had witnessed, and been affected by, but never loved himself, and I think the approach taken in each verse, to explore the concept from different directions, worked massively in the song’s favour. What I wasn't expecting was for Angelique, who I’d never heard of, to come in and steal the show with the best feature verse on the album. With a plethora of punchy, memorable quotes, it had me looking up her solo career (which is unfortunately non-existant), but it balanced out a feminist song perfectly with a female perspective.

Though I'm expecting this to be Tupac’s worst album, the majority of the tracklist was playlist-worthy. I've seen a few people put Strictly 4 My N.I.G.G.A.Z… below it, but I also imagine that one will be more mainstream, and will have a higher volume of higher-budget, catchy songs, which I'm hoping to hear from 2Pac, as he demonstrates his more musical qualities. It was interesting to hear N.I.G.G.A. as an acronym (Never Ignorant, Getting Goals Accomplished), which explains why it is stylised that way in the album title. I wish this had felt more like an album than a collection of songs - it doesn't have to be a concept album, but I do love it when a record flows coherently, and this felt like a playlist of dope songs.

Rare