Spoof of the Week: 2Pac ft. Outlawz “Hit ‘Em Up”

Okay, first of all, let me be the first to say I love a good send-up as much as the next guy, in fact, probably even MORE than the next guy. But this 1996 parody of Biggie Smalls by fellow rapper Tupac Shakur (featuring Outlawz), in my opinion, goes beyond good-natured spoofing to the point where it’s actually bordering on mean-spirited. Granted, the Biggie and Puffy impressionists are hilarious (nicely done, guys) and Tupac’s goof of saying “I fucked your bitch you fat motherfucker” is, I’ll admit, also pretty good. The thing is, he just continues to harp on that negative stuff for pretty much the whole song. I think, (and again, this is just me) that if you’re gonna spoof someone, sure, give ‘em a pie in the face, rake ‘em over the coals a little, but at the end of the day, the ribbing has got to be good-natured. Otherwise it comes off as though you just don’t like the person. I think Tupac and Outlawz sort of lost sight of that here and the comedy really suffers as a result.