Tastes So Good Straight From the Hood: Bay Area Rap Energy Drinks Pt. 2 (2Pac vs. Hyphy)

Last week, we conducted a blind taste test and determined that of the two energy drinks dedicated to the late local rapper Mac Dre, Thizz Juice was the superior product. Now, it's time to pit two more Bay Area rap-related energy drinks against each other: Hyphy, from Oakland's It's Good Beverage Co.; and 2Pac Energy Drink by 100 Racks Inc., also of Oakland.

100 Racks makes the Mac Dre drink that lost our first challenge, so how will its Tupac Shakur-branded beverage fare against Hyphy, the drink named for a youth movement that pretty much came and went already?

•Smell: The purple 2Pac drink smells like grape soda, while neither of us could place the odor of Hyphy.

•Taste: Hyphy's taste is also hard to place without reading the can that informs that it is "grapple," a combination of grape and apple. It doesn't taste like a natural product. 2Pac's grape taste tastes a lot like soda, and it doesn't dissolve into a gross aftertaste as many energy drinks do.

•Overall: Hyphy gets points for flavor originality, but is simply not as tasty as 2Pac. This is the only can we finished.

Now it's down to comparing 2Pac to the previous battle winner Thizz Juice. We had an easy time picking 2Pac as the ultimate fighting champ here, because it tastes more like soda than any energy drink that either of us have ever tried. Long live Tupac Shakur.