Tupac Amaru Shakur would have celebrated his 45th birthday today.
Let that sink in for a second…
How old does that make you feel??
It makes me feel sad.
We are in sort of a golden age of growth in hip hop. We have seen 40+ year old rappers flourish in many facets. Jay-Z has become a cultural icon with his extensive discography and business acumen. You can start to say the same for his former “rival” Nas as he has “ventured” out into the world of venture capitalism. Dr. Dre is almost a billionaire with the Beats By Dre deal with Apple, Will Smith became an A-List actor along with Ice Cube along with many other examples of the rappers of our youth using their platform to extend their shelf life.
I always wonder what would “the game” of rap have been like if Pac and Biggie were able to extend their prime years musically AND more importantly, what could have they accomplished with the same time the others mentioned had the chance to.
Could ‘Pac have become one of the great black actors of this era along with Will Smith and Ice Cube? How many more albums could we have gotten (although we received more posthumous albums of his than we did when he was alive)? How would he have sounded behind a vintage Timberland beat? A Zaytoven track? Metro Boomin? KANYE WEST?!?! The possibilities should have been endless!
Sadly we lost both far too soon so I just wanted to give a quick shout-out to one of the most influential artist (not just rappers) in the last 30 years. Rest In Paradise Brother Pac.
