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2Pac vs. Ras Kass (Davey D's Top MC's Readers Poll)

© Steve Juon

And in a stunning victory, the #1 West Coast emcee as picked by voters in Davey D's (www.daveyd.com) internet poll was Ras Kass, beating out 2Pac. But who voted? Internet heads. Who likes Ras Kass? Internet heads. What are the consumers buying in the streets? Tupac Shakur.

I bought an eight week subscription to a kid from a Detroit newspaper last week. He came over to my car cause I was pumpin up the rap tunes as I pulled in the parking lot, and we both knew it -- so I took my chance (both journalistically and curiosity-wise) to see what today's hip-hop kids are into. At his age I was bumping Public Enemy. What's he listening to? "Makaveli's latest album 'Lost in Alabama'." If I hadn't been trying to have a serious conversation I woulda shitted a brick on the spot. Not only that, but he thought that The Fugees had been signed to Death Row. I had to run in my apartment and get my copy of "Blunted on Reality" to prove to him that it wasn't the case. Hella nice kid though. My subscription helped his college fund. I hope they teach Hip-Hop 101 at the University though...

My point? Tupac is what's bangin on the streets. When kids say we have an unreal sense of reality on the internet, they're right. We're most definitely NOT in touch with what's going on at the grassroots level. That's why the whole No Limit Tank phenomena took us by surprise; and instead of bemoaning it I think we should take it as a wake-up call. This is I think exactly what Kari Orr is talking about when he says Aceyalone should do an album with Pixel-N-Pen cover art. We're LOST out here in cyberia. We need to reconnect with what's REALLY going on.

If you could poll every rap album owner in the United States (impossible I know but play along theoretically) I bet you 3 out of every 5 have at least ONE thing that's either by, featuring, or including Tupac. I bet 1 out of *150* has anything to do with Ras Kass, and odds are it's probably the _Street Fighter_ soundtrack.

Ras Kass is a bomb MC, but he's not the people's choice. He can't even beat a man who is selling albums posthumously. Tupac's popularity is HUGE. Even in suburbia. Go to any outland mall and check how many Shakur posters and t-shirts they sell at your Sam Goody. He has been made into a martyr/folk hero/Bob Marley/prophet for our generation and greedy corporations are eating it up while we buy into the hype. Is

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