saying eminem is a producer is like saying he's an actor. he's neither. he's a rapper who has explored other areas of his interests and varying degrees of talent. before labeling eminem a producer (who fits the same bill as other hip hop producers who only produce or started by producing), you have to ask yourself if eminem could have succeeded in the industry if he never had picked up a mic. i'd say no with confidence. shit, dizzy can produce better than him and he's working in a cave. by the same token, dr. dre isn't really much of a rapper. his thing is priduction, and just because he picks up the mic on occasion doesn't mean that he could ONLY rap and achieve the same level of success.
Dr. Dre has 2 of his own solo albums, and rapped as a member of probably the most legendary rap group ever, you're a rapper.
Eminem is a rapper/producer, just like Dre is a producer/rapper. Whether or not the two would have "made it" by only producing and only rapping (respectively), is irrelevant.
i can respect that marshall wanted to be a part of this project. fair enough. but when they cancelled the same tracks that he later produced just so it could be an eminem featuring 2pac album and that hurt the project in an incredible way. replacing tracks by kanye or others in favor of em's very sam-sounding stacatto production was a huge disservice. shit, i'll even let him slide with making pac shout him out because i have done that myself.
You said you've done it yourself. But have you put it on store shelves for sale?
changing vocal tempo (buy sometimes as much as 10bpm) is the mark of an amateur. 2pac's albums (including his FIRST) have never resembled novice talent. therefore you turn to the producer of the weak tracks. marshall.
afeni and the outlawz are to blame here, because they have creative control. i think that the outlawz bowed down to eminem's recognition and fame, and thought that he could make this album successful on the merit of his name and therefore continue the 2pac vehicle for outlaw success.
once again, had there been no pac, we'd have no outlawz. they would have never made it in the industry. on every album, on every damn one the outlawz make it a point to remind us that they worked with pac. pathetic. they are horrible artists on anything they have touches since 1997-8.
afeni is an aging woman who is not hip hop. i understand that her passion is the tasf. the problem is that she's being fed some very bad advice from those on whom she relies.
But the bottom line is you are probably right. The Lawz have taken advantage of someone who doesn't know rap like they do.