Thug Passion

Black and White, Asian and Latino, boys and girls, everybody loved Tupac Shakur. Even FOB hommies (including me) loved Pac, even though we had no clue what the hell he was rapping about. We just digged his thug persona and the gangster beats. Every Vietnamese guy that I knew owned a copy of All Eyes on Me, and they all played the same tunes: “2 of Amerikaz Most Wanted,” “How Do You Want It,” and of course “California Love (Remix).” For me, the thuggish, ruggish shit on the whole double album was “No More Pain.” The beat was crazy, and Pac’s flow was the illest. I can still rap along to every word whenever I played that track. He is sure a living legend now, but he already knew that in his rhymes, “When I die, I wanna be a livin’ legend, say my name affiliated with this motherfuckin’ game, with no more pain.” Of course, there are plenty of hot tracks on the CDs such as “Heartz of Men,” “Life Goes On,” “Only God Can Judge Me,” Picture Me Rollin’,” and the title track, but Pac made a classic diss after the album released when he “Hit Em Up.” (YouTube rocks!)