U serious Ra? Honestly I'm digging some of this more than PL.
I mean maybe it's just cos the songs that are changed the least were so dope to begin with, but
Picture Me Rollin' is sick as hell, I'm feelin the new chords they put on top of the beat, and that old school zapp-ish synth topline that come in every now and then towards the end is dope. Hook is strong too. It's more chilled than the original, it's cool man.
Don't Stop is pretty tight IMO, the production on this is pretty dope, that shaker percussion is tight
Fatal is soundin hype on it. With the outlawz line up the way it is now, I'd rather Fatal was on the track than say Noble or EDI.
Whatz Ya Phone #...man they ruined it. I mean I'm probably biased about this one since the original sampled "777-9311" by The Time, written and produced by Prince
(played every instrument on the track and did all backing vocals too....The Time was a Morris Day fronted project to allow Prince to release more material basically). 777-9311 is one of my
favorite tracks by The Time, so I don't think any version of Whatz Ya Phone # was ever gonna sound better than the OG, but regardless it blows, beat is boring, chicks voices are grating. Ain't diggin this cut.
Starin At The World.....again this ain't far removed from the original so I'm obviously diggin 'it.
Hail Mary - rock mix. WTF. I'm a big rock music fan as should be pretty obvious, and trust me, speaking as a big rock fan, this blows ass. It sounds like whoever made it hasnt actually ever listened to
any rock music. Fucking garbage.
Got My Mind Made Up - again, loving the production on this, the extra synth parts are pretty funky. Like Picture Me Rollin', a very similar but more chilled out version. Maaaan Fatal really came through on this, his killed it. Verse was fucking tight. Props to Fatal, you rippin it boy.
Wait, is this Noble that comes in afterwards? Noble did pretty good here as well. He sounds more focused than usual, tight verse again. Props to Noble. I think 'Pac would be proud of his mans and dem for coming through as tight as this. Kurupt rips it too. One of my favorite tracks on this CD so far.
Pain ft. Styles & Butch Cassidy.
I was ambivalent at first since I like the OG so much, but actually this a pretty dope remix. I like the distorted synths and the piano parts give it some depth. I like Butch Cassidy, he does pretty good hooks. I'm not a massive Styles P fan (don't like 'kiss much either but I always dug Sheek Louch), but his verse is OK here. Track could have done with being shorter, it drags a little towards the end IMO.
Lost Souls - fuck yeah, this is dope. Another one close to the original with additional dope production. Honestly this another tune I will always love, Pac is sooo on point on this tune, it's one of my favorite of his tunes, not to mention the sample on this one which is "Don't Disturb This Groove" by The System, is another old skool funk track that I love. I honestly wish they would have taken this approach with the Whatz Ya Phone # mixx, keeping the original Time sample and adding some new instrumentation to it. I dig that the Pac's vocals are mixed completely differently. Lovin this mix, it's bad ass. Diggin it on the real, this is the fuckin jam.
Wanted Dead or Alive and
Initiated are pretty standard fare to me.
I dig the new mixx to
How Do U Want It. It's pretty funky, it's got a funky and mellow vibe to it, it's cool to bump this one. I could do without the chorus though.
Second version of
Picture Me Rollin with Outlawz, kinda unnecessary really. It's basically the original....but they took Syke's legendary verse off. How the fuck you gonna remove "I got keeyyyyyyyys comin from overseeeeeeeeeas"?
Outlawz didn't need to be on this one. And this shit didnt need to be on the album. Why did they cut up Pac's adlibs and have some of them repeat? Lame. Pac's adlibs are louder in the mix though, which is cool.
This album I think verges on the pretty good side of average, mostly because of the tracks that weren't really changed much. So it's not a massive achievement, but still, it's cool, I can bump some of these versions.
