After Biggie and Pac were gone, hip hop didn't go soft. It got polished. Today on Grown Man Bars, Chad and Big Absoloot break down DMX and Tupac Shakur — two of the most intense forces to ever touch a microphone in 90s rap history.

Not the charts. What they actually meant. And what burning that hot cost both of them.

DMX threw water on his face and hit the street. That's exactly what 1998 hip hop needed.

This That and the Third breaks it down three ways.

The THIS — Tupac Shakur was the greatest emotional communicator rap music has ever seen. Not just a rapper. A poet. An advocate. A man who made the street feel seen.

The THAT — DMX dropped two nuclear classic albums in the same year. 1998. Nobody had done it before. Nobody has done it since. But explosions don't sustain.

The THIRD — Some artists are stars. They burn steady for a long time. Some are meteors. They flash brighter than anything else and then they're gone. DMX and 2Pac were the meteor moment 90s rap required.

Is it about the bars or about moving the people? Tell us where we got it wrong.

Grown Man Bars — hip hop debate for grown ups. Two Gen X former rappers. No scripts. No safe takes. New episodes every Tuesday.

00:00 The Open

00:27 The Stakes

00:59 The THIS: 2pac

01:50 The This: DMX

03:09 The That: Tupac

04:23 The That: DMX

06:15 The Third: What All This Means

11:18 The Comment of the Week

11:53 The Outro