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Tupac: Resurrection
11/06/2003 7:00 PM, Yahoo! Music
Dan Leroy
Tupac's legacy has been diluted by a series of uneven posthumous albums, and in one sense, this soundtrack to the new biopic on the slain rap icon falls into the same category. Yet this time, the newly unearthed material lives up to the hype, and not just because Resurrection contains "Runnin' (Dyin' To Live)," the inevitable beyond-the-grave duet between 'Pac and his rival, Notorious B.I.G. That track and the chilling "Ghost," produced with Dre-inspired elan by Eminem, provide uncanny snatches of what a resurrected Tupac would probably sound like; even the cash-in pairing with 'Pac wannabe 50 Cent on "Realist Killers" plays like the sort of single Tupac's brief Death Row period should have produced. Beyond the four new offerings, the album is an incomplete greatest hits package that neglects important parts of 'Pac's career. Can he really tell his own story through his songs--the alleged intent of the soundtrack--minus reminders of his tender side like "Keep Ya Head Up" or "Dear Mama"? But it does contain inspired choices, such as his first-ever appearance, on Digital Underground's "Same Song"--a welcome reminder Tupac was a man, as well as a gangsta myth.
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