Though it was released on the eve of the busiest year in
2Pac
's posthumous career,
Better Dayz
shouldn't be overlooked -- and with the schedule including a feature documentary (with soundtrack), plus two books and another double album, it might be easy for this one to slip from the radar. A lengthy two-disc set, it benefits from a raft of still-compelling material by one of the two or three best rappers in history, as well as excellent compiling by executive producers
Suge Knight
and
Afeni Shakur
,
's mother. Organizing the set roughly into one disc of
hardcore rap
and one of
R&B
jams makes for an easier listen, and the
disc especially has some strong tracks, opening with a remix of 1995's
"My Block"
and including quintessentially
material -- reflective, conflicted, occasionally anguished -- like
"Never Call U B**** Again,"
"Better Dayz,"
"Fame,"
"This Life I Lead."
Most of the tracks are previously unreleased, the rest coming from scattered compilations like
Knight
's
Chronic 2000: Still Smokin'
or 1995's
The Show
soundtrack. It's
's best album since his death, and bodes well for future material by, and concerning,
rap
's most legendary figure. ~ John Bush