Unreleased Music: Importance and Intrigue

So imagine this hip hop heads...you get online to do your daily music updates. Songs are in a debatable word "ehh".  You got your soulja boy here, your kevin gates there, oh lil b just came out with his 5th mixtape in 4 months? No disrespect to loyal lil b fans of course, but, well, you see a guy like me finds no interest in that. So you scroll and scroll until you believe you've lost all hope in the day until just then; BAM!  Herpes (No I'm kidding of course, Family Guy reference, sorry). But anyways, BAM!  A new (technically old) Eminem video of him at age 25 surfaces on the web and you get more excited than Royce Da 5'9 when he touches his rifle's butt.

So what brings this excitement you ask?  Well that my friends is what we are here to discuss. I can't be the only one when I say I absolutely love unreleased music, and with respect to all genres of different sizes and shapes of artists. It seems hip-hop takes the crown when we discuss unreleased material. A big reason for this possibly being the case could be the passing of arguably the 2 biggest and best to ever do it, Tupac Shakur and the literally big in his own right Notorious B.I.G. While the work ethic of both is seen differently; for example, an interview with Dr. Dre says being in the studio with Tupac is like making a whole album in one night (at least that's how I picture it, see Dre interview below starting at 3:55). Where as something new (old) from Notorious is definitely not as expected at this point, but from other's perspective might be something way more special.

Change happens in music. Sometimes its for the better and sometimes for the worse!  But nonetheless it happens. For example, the old, insane Eminem that could give the Joker a run for his money. Many people would find this Eminem more descriptive, more lyrical, and funnier in what he says (depending upon your taste in humor). Now, when we talk about the new post-Recovery Eminem, it almost seems like a different person (not saying I'm a conspiracy theorist who believes the real slim shady died many years ago and they replaced him with a clone. No really...look it up. Isn't it crazy what people can come up with?). Recovery was a good album of course, but not what fans were expecting. The opera heavy lead single "Not Afraid" to me sounds like him walking up to a church pastor on a sunday morning, snatching the mic from him, handing the church choir lyrics sheets, and just letting it all out (cue "AMEN" from the crowd).

A breath of fresh air to an old school Eminem fan could possibly be something like stumbling across a 20 year old freestyle, or an interview, enjoying the old blonde Slim Shady we all grew to know and love. These hip hop artifacts if you will, are very key pieces to seeing the growth of an artist, the struggles they go through, and who they were before they really became "somebody" as they say. The process of becoming a name in the music industry is just that; a process.

So enjoy who your favorites artists may be now, enjoy what they're currently doing, and understand that no matter how big they may get to be, they probably do deserve their come up because they worked for it, and paid their dues. Everybody loves a throwback Thursday though, and who knows what the next big release may be, or even when it drops. So, be on the look out for new Tupac 2015!!