Noted Arcade Fire enthusiast Dan Patrick of ESPN Radio (above) observed today the forthcoming Tupac CD, ‘Pac’s Life’, is the late M.C./icon’s 8th album since his 1996 slaying.
“Elvis Presley hasn’t had that many posthumous albums, has he?” wondered Patrick.
A quick check of Amazon’s Elvis listings reveals more than 40 Elvis compilations, box sets and live albums (not counting reissues of studio albums) released since 1990…and I’m only halfway through the pile. Stretching back to the King’s passing in 1977, it is safe to presume there were previous attempts to plunder the vaults.
This kind of posthumous reuse of material is particularly suited to the staccato style of hip hop delivery. It’s nigh on impossible to use as many John Lennon or Elvis outtakes as are available due to the shifting tempos of “practice” song delivery. Rap, on the other hand, can edit and use couplets far easier because traditionally it was a collage medium anyway. So while only a fool would think that Elvis didn’t have as many posthumous releases, there are very few reconstituted songs from Elvis material- and the biggest hits of that type were the heavily remixed songs off “1” or whatever that record was called.
there’s another parallel – both the Colonel and Suge know a lot about getting guys to part with their publishing.