One of the main motivations for any reggae or rap superstar fighting off the Grim Reaper as long as possible is to prevent mom from getting in there and executively producing your unfinished doodles. 'Until The End Of The Time' is not quite Bob Marley-goes-tekno, but you're still forced to speculate whether the great man Tupac would have allowed the massive chunk of re-done sampling from Mr Mister's '80s poodle ballad 'Broken Wings' to dominate this track had he still been alive. The rap titan himself sounds as compelling as ever, philosophical about outlaw life and phony homies, but haunted by visions of his own coffin. However, even if Suge Knight and Tupac's mom Afeni Shakur's executive production wasn't hands-on, the scarily pop chorus, featuring soul warbler RL doing his Mr Mister update is one too many sugars in the brew - the kind of thing Seal might do if he ever went 'thug'. Come back Tupac, there's poodles in the chain gang.
Roger Morton
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