As always, it starts in a bar.
"California Love" comes on the radio, and my buddy tells nobody in particular how much he loves 2Pac, in that reminiscent, I-haven't-heard-this-song-in-awhile kind of way.
That devil's advocate in me has to give credit to Dr. Dre ("It's his production that makes the song"). And then, seeking a pop music argument wherever I can get one, I pose the eternal question, the one American suburbanites are forever destined to pose: "Who do you take, Biggie or Tupac?"
Without hesitation, my buddy says: "Tupac. Biggie sounds like...a fat man. Like he can barely breathe."
I'd never heard that one before.
I went on to defend Notorious B.I.G., the perpetual underdog in any West Coast establishment, on the grounds of his unmistakable voice and his cleverness. I mentioned a few killer tracks ("Notorious Thugs," "Sky's the Limit," and the ubiquitous "Juicy"), but without a laptop to back it up, the argument eventually fizzled into a "seriously, you should check those songs out."
The next day I consciously stumbled upon Tupac's "Hit 'Em Up," one of the most impassioned recordings in music history, and found myself at square one.
Until the next inevitable bar debate, of course.
