Progress?

The essential idea I was attempting to get at in my final was there are ups and downs as both a train and nation.  There will be dark times like when you're going through a tunnel, or in an economic depression or recession.  There will also be lighted times when you're on the train in the middle of the day, and it's beautiful out, and prosperous times when the stock market is booming, and money isn't so tight.  Basically, no matter where we are, we go up and down and up and down in a continuous cycle, so even on the rainiest, most depressed day, there will always be a light to pick you up and get you to that sunny day.

Tupac is alive

Tupac may very well be alive, but that is not the point of this post.  In class the other day we were conversating =P about cover songs and how well they remain true to the original, and if which is better and such.  I feel that cover songs when done right can be just as good if not better than the original.  To do this I think that there has to be a fair amount of tweaking to try and make the song move of the cover artist's song.  I think a great example of this is the Nas song Thugz Mansion.  It fairly different song that 2Pac's original, it has an acoustic guitar beat played by Nas, a different chorus, and features only one 2Pac verse.  I think this song is a great example of a cover song done right.  I also enjoy when small excerpt's from songs are used for a loop of chorus of another song.  For example Nas's song Black President takes an excerpt from the song changes which we discussed today, where Pac is stating "Although it seems heaven sent, we ain't ready to see a black president".  Nas uses this being rapped by Pac as the chorus and follows it with a female singing "Yes we can, change the world".  Those are two examples in my opinion of covering or borrowing from a song done right.