PAPER magazine's "Nowstalgia" issue features self-penned essays by current rap stars dedicated to their late, great forbearers. Two days ago (Oct. 6), Kendrick Lamar shared a letter to Eazy E and now Eminem has paid tribute to his biggest idol, Tupac Shakur.
"He stood out so much," Eminem remembers upon first hearing 2Pac late into his teen years, while 'Pac was still a part of Digital Underground. He goes on to write about his experiences listening to 2Pacalypse Now and Me Against the World, which he "would probably put that up against anything as far as a classic hip-hop album goes."
"Whatever he was rapping about, it was urgent. If it was a sad song, it'd make you cry. But there were a lot of different sides to him: fed-up, angry, militant, having a good time. His spirit spoke to me because it was like you knew everything that he was going through, especially when he made Me Against the World. You just felt every aspect of his pain, every emotion: when he was happy, when he was sad. His ability to touch people's lives like that was incredible."
Earlier this year, a letter from Eminem to Tupac's mother, Afeni Shakur, was discovered. It was written after Afeni had given him permission to produce a posthumous 2Pac album, Loyal to the Game.
Read Eminem's new 'Pac-dedicated essay here, and check out PAPER's "Nowstalgia" issue on newsstands October 20. The next essay to be released from the issue will be by Swizz Beatz in honor of The Notorious B.I.G.