In fact, he believed an early death was his fate - a mountain impossible to move. Tupac died violently on September 13, 1996.
“I appreciate how you raised me/And all the extra love that you gave me.” But “Dear Mama” hits harder for its warts-and-all realism, as 2Pac doesn’t shy from describing his own failings, his pain over his absent father and his mother’s struggle with drug addiction: “And even as a crack fiend, Mama/You always was a black queen, Mama.” So Many Tears
Tony Pizarro’s beat, with its plush 70s soul samples, sets a tender mood, and the rhymes strike a similar note:
The song is the ne plus ultra of hip-hop odes to Mom. There was always a plaintive side to 2Pac’s thug-life tales, and he foregrounded the pathos on his 1995 ballad tribute to his mother, Afeni Shakur. “The emotional, the sad songs, were his personal favorites,” said Johnny J, one of the late Tupac Shakur‘s producers. The fact that his words were backed up by the truth via news headlines resonated with people around the world, making it his definitive body of work. With Me Against The World, Pac took the opportunity to address his many run-ins with the law, his feelings towards friends-turned-enemies, paranoia and even his own mortality. Because of this album and the controversy surrounding it, critics and fans have used the work as a litmus test for "realness" in rap.
On this day 26years ago, Pac's third studio album, Me Against The World, was released and rap hasn't been the same since. Rappin’ 4-Tay)Īrguably All Eyez on Me’s most poignant track, with 2Pac at his most lucid, vulnerable and captivating, as he explores the psychological consequences of his 1994 shooting and more broadly, the rampant jealousy, scrutiny, and strife he’s endured throughout his life.2Pac was born on Jand died on September 13, 1996, but his legacy was birthed on March 14, 1995. Check out our choices for All Eyez on Me’s five choicest cuts below, and by all means, let us know if you agree or disagree with our selections. Staying with this hypothetical train of thought, we’ve selected the five tracks that we believe would have been imperative, no-brainer additions to the streamlined version of the album. In retrospect, had 2Pac released All Eyez on Me as a single album with, say, 15 songs, the masterpiece tag would likely never have been in question. As is to be expected of an album comprised of a whopping 27 tracks, a handful of tracks (“Shorty Wanna Be a Thug,” “Holla at Me,” “Run The Streetz,” and a few others) can rightfully be considered filler fare.
Though some will surely disagree, while All Eyez on Me was indeed a significant milestone for 2Pac and arguably his magnum opus, it fell just a few notches shy of hip-hop masterpiece status. Moreover, 2Pac’s remarkable transformation from the low profile Digital Underground sideman featured on the group’s “Same Song” just five years earlier to full-fledged ambassador of the thug life was now complete. Indeed, with the diamond-certified All Eyez on Me, Death Row’s well-deserved reputation as hip-hop hit-making machine was further solidified. Him, Dogg Pound, Nate Dogg, Dre, all of them. I'm gonna make it bigger than Snoop even made it.’ Not stepping on Snoop's toes he did a lot of work. Indeed, 2Pac placed lofty expectations on himself with this record, explaining in a 1996 interview for Vibe magazine that he vowed to Knight that he would “‘make Death Row the biggest label in the whole world. The ambitiously conceived, thrillingly executed head rush of an album showcases 2Pac in his rawest and most audacious form, defiantly spitting fire from deep within his heart and soul. The Notorious B.I.G.’s Life After Death and the Wu-Tang Clan’s Wu-Tang Forever would follow soon thereafter, but All Eyez on Me unquestionably established the blueprint for the hip-hop double LP. Released less than a year after his acclaimed Me Against the World LP and four months after Death Row Records CEO Suge Knight and Interscope Co-Founder Jimmy Iovine bailed him out of prison after serving nine months for a sexual assault conviction, All Eyez on Me was hip-hop’s first double album ever released as a single, combined package. When The Game released his better-than-expected double album The Documentary 2 and The Documentary 2.5 in two successive parts this past October, one couldn’t help but recall 2Pac’s fourth album released nearly twenty years earlier and seven months before his infamous death. Happy 20th Anniversary to 2Pac’s All Eyez on Me, originally released February 13, 1996.