This weekend Troy announced that he would be dropping a new mixtape this coming Friday titled NuPac.
The title is inspired by the backlash he received after an observation he made during his hour-plus long interview with The Breakfast Club. He says that right now, his life feels like “some Tupac sh*t.” In case you didn’t notice, Troy Ave experienced between May and December 2016 what Tupac did from November 1994 to September 1996.
Tupac got shot on two different occasions, with the first time rumored to include a self-inflicted wound in the groin. Troy has also been shot on two different occasions, the first time reportedly self-inflicted. Tupac made the cover of the New York Post when he got shot the first time. Troy made the cover of the NY Daily News when he got shot the first time. Tupac reported to court bandaged up in a wheelchair. Troy reported to court bandaged up in a wheelchair. Tupac was sitting in a car after a Mike Tyson fight, a Black holiday at the time, the second time he got shot. Troy was sitting in a car on Christmas the second time he got shot.
To his defense, Troy did not explicitly label himself the “next Tupac” in his TBC interview. What he meant was that it feels like people treat him as such given his recent hardships and how much they resemble ‘Pac’s. When TBC co-host Charlamagne Tha God warned Troy about the backlash he was guaranteed to get because of the comment, he again reiterated what he meant.
“I didn’t say I’m new ‘Pac,” he said. “I said the feeling is on some Tupac sh*t. This what people are saying to me…Don’t ever get it twisted. I don’t ever want to be no other man, I only want to be me…I would never say I’m Tupac. I like Tupac’s music and sh*t like that, but n*gga Tupac is dead. Ain’t nobody trying to be no Tupac, at all.”
Troy may not be trying to be like Tupac, but it’s not hard to see why someone would accuse him of it. However, he isn’t the first.
When Tupac got shot the first time in 1994 and went to jail on sex crime charges soon after, his popularity skyrocketed. Sure, he had a couple of hit records up to that point, but he wasn’t dominating news headlines yet. But after the shooting and incarceration, serendipity allowed for his third album Me Against The World to be released at the height of the controversy surrounding him while he was in jail. The album would become a #1 record and go platinum within a year. When he was released from prison, Tupac’s legend was at mythical status. His circumstances matched with his popularity led to his next release All Eyez On Me becoming an even bigger success. Both albums gave listeners something they never heard in rap before: the truth. Sure we had “conscious rap” and “reality rap” that informed us in ways that mainstream news didn’t, but we never got to hear or see a rapper actually talk about what as going on in their real life right as we were seeing it in the news.
Because of ‘Pac, being “real” has been expected of every MC that claimed to be from the streets for the people. Also because of ‘Pac, bullet wounds and jail time have been worked into rap artists’ story and marketing plan whenever it was applicable. 50 Cent, Boosie Badass, Gucci Mane, YG, Freddie Gibbs and Young Dolph are just a few of the many rappers we’ve seen either directly compare their near-death and jail experiences to Tupac’s or take pages from his “this-is-how-it-really-happened-go-buy-my-album” manual.
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Since the infamous May 2016 shooting at Irving Plaza where Troy Ave’s friend Ronald “Banga” McPhatter died, Ave has released four mixtapes. The first of those four, Free Troy Ave, was released while he was in jail after being indicted for murder. It opened with a freestyle where rapped, “P*ssy n*gga tried to assassinate me, I took the gun from him and turned the tables ‘round like a G.” His most recent mixtape, Dope Boy Troy, was his first release since being shot last Christmas. The cover image features him rocking a bullet proof vest on his way to court. Throughout the tapes he mentions going to jail, getting shot, losing friends and bouncing back. Troy, who insists he’s not mimicking Pac, as well as his biggest detractors, may hate to admit it but what he’s saying really isn’t all that different from when ‘Pac rapped lines like “Out on bail, fresh out of jail” or the many times he mentioned being shot five times on All Eyez On Me. He even matched ‘Pac’s cringe-worthy moments with songs like “Sextape” which could be considered his “Whatz Ya Phone Number.”
“My music is always my real life,” Troy also said in his Breakfast Club interview. “I talk about what happens to me.”
While that appears to be true, it would be naive to think that Troy isn’t approaching all of this with a capitalist, theatrical mindstate too. Which is where his ‘Pac influence differs from Joey’s. Tupac knew exactly what he was doing when he started name-dropping in his disses and claiming to have slept with another man’s wife. Troy knows exactly what he’s doing when he comes up with mixtape titles like NuPac. Controversy sells.
Artists who cite ‘Pac as an influence have the luxury of picking which ‘Pac they love and this is strongly evident with Joey and Troy. Joey represents the ‘Pac that strived to put a conscious message in his music and is generally thought of to represent what Hip-Hop is supposed to be. Right now, Troy represents the transformation that happened after the shooting and is often viewed as an example of everything that is wrong with Hip-Hop. Where Joey preaches a “power to the people” ethos, Troy once hijacked the same phrase and flipped it to “powder to the people.” Early Tupac is taught about by college professors, later-day Tupac is warned about by concerned parents.
Both versions of Tupac mean a lot to different people and both versions just got inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall Of Fame last Friday. Which also happened to be the same day Joey dropped All Amerikkkan Bada$$ and Troy announced that his NuPac tape was coming next week.
So far it seems like more people are navigating towards Joey’s brand of ‘Pac influence because it provides a bit of hope and righteousness at a time when much of what ‘Pac rapped about in his political songs is still ringing true. We won’t know how the world will react to Troy’s offering until it actually drops. But it will be interesting to see if his promise of “airing everybody the f*ck out” will be received the same way ‘Pac’s spree of disses was met with. Some found the ruthlessness entertaining, others found it divisive. Ultimately, those were the final thoughts we had about Tupac before he died. Which is fitting because just like Joey Bada$$ and Troy Ave’s music and relationship to each other, ‘Pac’s entire life and legacy have revolved around conflict.
Both Joey and Troy are a long ways from having the career that ‘Pac had by age 25. But both have already been accused of “Blasphemy” and “crucified severely” by the media for even sounding like they are suggesting to be on his level. Only time will tell if they ever will be.
