Click here to get to the official 2Pac Loyal to the Game Website!

It's the joke that's not even funny anymore:  more than seven years after his death, 2Pac is still releasing new material.  However, we have now reached the point where his estate will allow anyone who ever admired him to posthumously collaborate with him, as long as they are popular artists.  Enter Eminem, the man who can make a hit out of Pee-Wee Herman-esque humor and sexual molestation jokes (this isn't even figuratively speaking anymore).  He has been selected as the exclusive producer on Pac's 12th album released since his death, producing every track and allowing many of his label's artists to join 2Pac's voice on songs.  Loyal to the Game is 2Pac's latest, and sadly, one of the saddest things to be heard on record in a while.

It's been said that Eminem's production is repetitive.  OK, I have said that Eminem's production is extremely repetitive.  On Loyal to the Game, wouldn't you know, Eminem proves me right once again with overly-dramatic, plooding beats which shuld have never left his fingertips, much less the studio.  In fact, Em is more noticable on this album than Pac himself, as everywhere is Em, either singing a hook, rapping a verse, or ju st behind the boards.  Songs like "Soldier Like Me" and "Black Cotton" are proof Em needs to stop joking around and singing, as this was the same promblem with his own album, Encore.  He also proves he cannot sample without making it into some fake epic confessional, as the Elton John collabo "Ghetto Gospel" sounds much like "Sing For The Moment" and "Runnin'"; what makes it even sadder that this is one of the best songs. Not even old running buddies of 2Pac's sound comfortable here; Nate Dogg sounds utterly bored on the single "Thugs Get Lonely Too", and E.D.I. is just wack on "The Uppercut".  When Eminem does experiment with new sounds, they usually sound worse than his usual work.  "Hennessey" is a strange, hip-polka-sounding work with Obie Trice and "A Crooked Nigga Too" sounds like a violin-induced headache.  Some guests actually sound decent here, though; G-Unit update 2Pac's sound on the title track, and Ron Isley's coos sound great alongside Pac's cliched, but still strong lyrics on "Po Nigga Blues".  The most glaring problem of the album, though, is the level of lyrics Pac has been reduced to.  At first, there were some hidden gems, but now Pac's vault has run dry and he is forced to have his tired vocals stretched to their limits by producers.  Most of these vocals even sound strange, as they sound horribly mixed or have had the voice tampered with to the umpteenth degree.  When even 2Pac can't sound like himself, it's time to stop this.

It's oblivious to me why Pac's fans allow this obvious destruction of his legacy; this is certainly not the same inspired man they related to on Makaveli and this isn't the remorseful hero of Thug Life Vol. 1.  This is, in fact, not 2Pac at all.  At least not the artist he wanted to be.  Isn't that reason enough to let this joke go unlaughed at?

iPod Worthy:  "Don't You Trust Me", "Loyal to the Game", "Po Nigga Blues", "Ghetto Gospel"

Skip These:  "Soldier Like Me", "The Uppercut", "Thugs Get Lonely Too", "Hennessey", "A Crooked Nigga Too"

Overall:  2 out of Six Shots