>it ticked me off. Ice Cube didn't need to go "G-Funk", he had
>"Funk Squad" with Pooh, Jinx, and the Boogiemen. He definitely
>didn't need to go "clubbin". I think joining the bandwagon in
>that era is what sucked. and then the VOICE...

I might be in a minority on this but I think Sir Jinx etc. productions were funky as fuck not to mention that they managed to capture the *spirit* of P-funk better than Dre's "Chronic"-style G-funk beats (not necessarily better than the funky beats on "Efilrofzaggin" though but that record is more along the line of the post-PE aesthetic that Ice Cube's early producers had).

Obviously, he couldn't have kept that sound when "all" Hip-Hop went more down-stripped/less dense as the 90's progressed for obvious reasons (=sample-laws) so I can understand why he took that route but it's still not as dope to me and it felt contrived because it was so trendy at the time...

As for the subject of this thread, I don't like 2pac's voice, flow and while I have no business commention on the lyrical matters of his "emotionally resonant" "ghetto-ballads", I do feel I'm allowed to comment on their general vibe and that is the Hip-Hop equivalent to the Scorpions power-ballad:it's "lighters in the air"-Hip-Hop and while those overblown tunes had a massive impact on the vibe of certain Hip-Hop tunes (see several songs by the biggest stars like Eminem, Kanye, Jay-z and Nas as proof), that vibe has nothing to do with what I dig about Hip-hop which is something else (see: Radio, Criminal Minded, Strictly business, Daily Operation, Runaway Slave, Bizarre ride, Enter the Wu-tang and you'll get my vibe(s) and core aesthetics...)

Ice Cube all day regardless of how wack he became...