Albums

Various - Gold Digging: As Sampled By 2Pac

Mike Caulfield 29/10/2006

Rating: 2/5

Absolutely shameless cash in compilation on the memory of an artist that in death has been “dissed” by money hungry record executives more than he ever was during his short life, from the title, to the record labels name, it all suggests a group of opportunists at work.

Possibly released to coincide with the tenth anniversary of his suspicious death, still a hot topic for conspiracy nuts everywhere and a Nick Bloomfield documentary a few years back, this collection could have been released at anytime and would still have an unshakably cynical stench attached.

As a compilation it indicates that Tupac had a love for seventies funk heavy-weights, evidenced by the inclusion of some big names such as Ronnie Hudson, James Brown, Sly and the Family Stone, Funkadelic, and also a strange interest in dust-covered eighties power-balladeers Bruce Hornsby & the Range, and Joe Cocker, of course some of the tracks were sampled from post-humorously cobbled together releases so it's hard to tell if he had any interest in artists like Elton John, but I'm guessing not.

The music on offer is mostly top notch, if fairly strange when played all the way through, but despite the good tunes you're left with a bad taste that comes from the surrounding circumstances of its release.