Tupac Shakur would have turned 38 earlier this week, and to celebrate, let’s look at eHow’s super-straight-faced “How To Write Songs Like Tupac”! I think my favorite step might very well be the last one, in which possible heirs to his throne are encouraged to practice their powers of prognostication: “Step 6: Write prophetic lyrics. Albums such as The Don Killuminati: The 7 Day Theory include songs that seemed to foreshadow Tupac’s untimely death, and have also encouraged the conspiracy theory that he is in fact alive and well.” Er, so perhaps I should amend that first sentence to “Tupac Shakur may have turned 38 earlier this week…” [eHow]
Step one: Be good-looking and a controversy magnet, while not releasing a single good album. Die young.
@Chris Molanphy: A lot of good singles, though. And to be fair, it’s hard to appreciate the good music he did make when his “estate” keeps churning out a new bunch of (very) outtakes every year.