Everyone loves music, no matter if it’s slow jams, r&b, country or rap music. The real debate is about what’s better: old school music or new school music.
Growing up I heard my parents listen to artists like Tupac, LL Cool J, and groups like TLC and SWV. I am a 90s baby so I would say I am right in the middle of old and new school music just because I grew up to a lot of old school.
My parents and grandparents were huge Tupac Shakur fans, so of course I grew up to be a big Tupac fan. So big that I feel that none of the new school rappers can compare to Tupac. Not a lot of rappers can die and still be making millions off of their hit songs.
According to forbes.com Tupac had made $3.5 million just last year and he died 22 years ago. “Shakur has sold over 75 million records worldwide,” the site reports.
If you compare him to a rapper today for example like Drake, in my opinion he’s definitely crushing Drake and he’s not even alive. Tupac went down as the biggest iconic rapper of the decade per billboard.com. The only reason Drake had a chance is because of Tupac’s death.
Personally when I listen to music I look for the meaning behind it, yes beats and a catchy rhythm seems to draw people’s attention, however that does not make that person a good rapper.
That’s a slap in the face to real rappers that actually write meaningful lyrics and work hard for the success. Today music is just beats and saying a course repeatedly. I’m not saying Drake is a bad rapper, but to all those Drake fans out there, I am going to say he has nothing on Tupac, hands down.
Surprisingly when I looked up Tupac vs. Drake a lot of drake fans came for blood. They feel that Drake’s flow, dance moves and lyrics are way better than the legendary ones from Pac. A lot of people feel that Tupac is more of a poet than a rapper, but what is rap music but poems with a beat. Personally I feel you have to have some kind of poetry skills to be a rapper.
Key elements like rhymes, emotion and literature that go into poems are the same that goes into rap music. So Drake fans might want to come up with a better argument than Tupac being more if a poet than a rapper. According to the Urban dictionary rap is defined as “street poetry.”
Of course the debate still continues but I don’t think anyone can change my mind about who the better rapper is.
Tiauna Horejsi
Reporter