I Ain't Mad at Cha vs. Suicidal Thoughts

I definitely like magnanimous Biggie more than bleak Biggie. Voted Pac.

man you can play I Ain't Mad At Cha at my damn funeral that right there is a jam

i know, right? that's what i voted for too.

xp rev, iirc you prefer pac to big, right? biggie's material is way more melancholy than pac's and "suicidal thoughts" really does seem like the logical culmination of the dystopia he sketches in ready to die. the bleakness is part of his who spiel, and suicide in particular is a specter that looms over the entire album (i mean... the title.) 2pac is a lot of things, but he never gives you the impression that he is a man resigned to vision of hopelessness and i really like that about him. "I Ain't Mad at Cha" is essentially a song about how people can change -- grow apart and grow in general -- and that that's okay. people could call it corny or mawkish -- i'm not sure if they do -- but i love it, especially in the context of an album where pac often finds himself in modes that are the opposite of politically-conscious positivity.

I've long noted that "I Ain't Mad at Cha" and "If My Homie Calls" look at people changing and moving on from exact opposite perspectives but coming to similar conclusions.

But uhhh Pac certainly had his share of nihilism, I just like his version of it better than Biggie's. Seemed more aggrieved than self-pitying.

Aero: only if you let every rapper rock it.

"More aggrieved than self-pitying" is a good way to put it.

whole row of seats marked Reserved: Hoes That He Used To Know From Way Before

"i ain't mad at cha" would probably be a comforting sentiment to a lot of mourners at most funerals

also i want to take a moment to plug this classic ilx thread that features great posts from sterling clover, ta-nehisi coates, and others. Am I the only person on earth that thinks Tupac is a boring, overrated hack?

(obviously i disagree with the premise of that thread but it spurred a really interesting dialogue)

Tree, my friend, I must disagree with you.

This track has that melancholic, light-at-the-end-of-the-tunnel tone I always attributed to 2Pac. It's this idea that no matter how much shit one has been through, one must always have hope, because this is all we have type of thing. "I gotta fight, the fate's arrived" pretty much sums it up, because it is this sense that one must endure.

And, see, this stands in stark contrast to Suicidal Thoughts.

Personally, I would choose 2Pac's "They Don't Give a Fuck About Us" as a companion piece to Suicidal Thoughts. "You must always remember you still a member of the hopeless" <> "Cause I'm a piece of shit, it ain't hard to fucking tell"

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_s3vnuGIMh0

I still voted.

Suicidal Thoughts, of course.

oh yeah, the sentiment on that track is much, much more similar to suicidal thoughts. the relationship b/w these two tracks that exists in my mind has to do with the fact that, for me, they feel like the most intimate, personal and, most importantly, direct expressions of the MCs POV on the albums on which they appear. (that doesn't mean they are these things. i mean, i'm not a mind reader, but they feel like remarkably straightforward and honest to me.)

so yeah, basically i agree that the songs i am polling are really different from one another but in a way that reveals the deeper contrast between the two rappers and that's why i think they are useful to view alongside one another.

damn, you guys are making me feel like a goth for voting Suicidal Thoughts

biggie is objectively more goth than 2pac

Both great, but Pac for me.

Suicidal Thoughts is like 90 seconds long. Always thought it was weird to end RtD with that, too.

suicidal thoughts is 2 minutes and 50 seconds long. i think i spoke to hastily in the intro in saying it's my favorite song on RtD though... it definitely is on some days, but "Things Done Changed" beats it on other days

the whole theme that runs through the album of parents being frightened of their children is absolutely devastating though

suicidal thoughts is 2 minutes and 50 seconds long

Yeah just being lame but it has a 40 second intro and like 30 seconds of nothing much at the end. Anyway Id rank it somewhere in the middle on RtD. Everyday Struggle is my choice.

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Damn only 15 votes

never heard these songs

why didn't more people vote in this thread

I didn't realize this was an ILM thread