The Legacy of Tupac Shakur 20 Years After His Death

This September I want to celebrate the life of 2Pac the poet, the rapper, the activist, the actor, the songwriter, and the icon. His lyrics, his passion, his attitude made him the voice of a generation of young people who had to navigate the violent turbulence of 90's Los Angeles.

His music helped people of different backgrounds, from different places, and of different colors deal with the harshest of realities that they could not escape. 

Since his death on September 13th, 1996 we've seen movies, books, and more albums released than came out while he was still alive. And sadly so many of the things he was saying still are completely relevant today. 

If we're going to start anywhere it should be with his music. Technically he had 5 but most people attribute 6 albums to Pac before his passing. If you're new to Pac and looking for what album to buy first.... honestly, it's a bit of a cop out answer, but I'd recommend....

OR

Greatest Hits or the 2Pac Resurrection Soundtrack. It's a really nice all around sampling of his music. What's great about them is that you get to hear his sound from different stages in his career. Which sounds strange to say about someone with a 5 year career in music, but he had mood shifts with each album. If you got those two and want more, I'd recommend All Eyez on Me, then Me Against the World, then Strictly 4 My Niggaz. Or you could just take a look at my comments below and deciding what you'd be most interested in. 

But I'm guessing you want to know what his best albums are. Just fair warning this is totally my opinion. I'm not hiding that. But here are the rankings for the discography of Tupac Shakur. 

1990 - 1996 2Pac/Makaveli Discography

#6 Thug Life: Volume 1  (1994)

So this isn't actually a 2Pac album. It was from a group very briefly formed called Thug Life. The short lived group was comprised of 6 members, one of them being Pac. Their message was simple:
T he
H ate
U you
G ive
L il'
I nfants
F ucks
E verybody

 In this album 2Pac expresses his frustrations with police and the album openly celebrates being from the streets. Still many of the songs take a sobering look at facing mortality. Personally I though this album was the weakest of albums released while 2Pac was alive, some of that due to the studio not letting them release all of the songs. However, it's still heads and tails above most other albums that come out nowadays. Some of the guys on the album (Big Syke, Mopreme, Stretch) became regular collaborators with 2Pac afterward. At 10 tracks, and Pac being on 8 of them, it's a solid little album but probably the one I revisit the least.

Stand Out Songs: Pour Out a Little Liquor, How Long Will They Mourn Me?, Under Pressure, Cradle to the Grave, Str8 Ballin'

#5 2Pacalypse Now (1991)

2Pacalypse was Pac's first album. Many artists nowadays peak with their first album. *cough* *cough* 50 Cent *cough*

But Pac kept getting better with each album. His style started out very political and rebellious. There isn't much that's very "gangsta" (as white people call it)  about this album. It's very poetic and sounds very much like any of the political raps of the 80's. I'd say its in the vein of KRS One or Public Enemy. He spends much of this album telling stories, instead of making dance hits. Overall, I think he learned a lot from this album and it informed his later styles. He was still idealistic at this point and this album didn't share the pessimism or nihilism of some his later records. While I don't think it's as good as some of his later entries, this was a benchmark for his career and reflects his views as a 19 year old who saw the horror of the streets and wanted to change it using the power of speech. 

Stand Out Songs: Trapped, Soulja's Story, Violent, Word's Of Wisdom, Brenda's Got a Baby, Part Time Mutha

#4 All Eyez on Me (1996)

I know, I know, this is the highest selling Pac Album of all time, how can it be number 4. All I can say is personally, I like Pac's poetry, more than I like Pac's dance music. And that's what this album mostly is as Snoop says in 2 of America's Most Wanted "It ain't nuthin but a gangsta paaaarty" This album has many of the biggest names in Hip hop at the time including Snoop Dogg, Dr. Dre, Daz, Nate Dogg, Method Man, Redman, Kurupt, K-Ci & JoJo, Outlawz, E-40, and tons more. It was also the first double disk album in hip hop. It's a great party album and it has many of 2Pac's most popular songs like How Do You Want it and California Love. What's incredible is just about every song on this album is a hit. The reason it isn't #1 is because it has less powerful songs than other albums and actually has a few filler songs, including Whatz Ya Phone Number, which I personally think is the wackest song that came out while Pac was still alive. It even has a straight up advertisement for Thug Passion a drink Suge was trying to push. Still this album has some truly great music and is essential to every true hip hop fan. I Ain't Mad at Cha is one of Pac's best and most personal songs. Also lyrically songs like Only God Can Judge Me and Heartz of Men still blow me away. This album was made because 2Pac promised Suge Knight that he'd make a multi Platinum album if he got him out of jail.  So Suge signed Pac to Death Row records and then he bailed him out. Pac was only a free man for 2 weeks when he dropped this album on Knight's lap and the rest is history. The album went quadruple platinum and broke records selling more than any other rapper in history. A record that would not be broken till over decade after his death by Eminem and then Jay-Z. Still this album was just further proof that this at that time 24 year old artist could do anything. 

Stand out Songs: Ambitionz Az a Ridah, All About U, How Do You Want It, 2 of Amerikaz Most Wanted, Heartz of Men, Life Goes On, Only God Can Judge Me, California Love, I Ain't Mad at Cha, Shorty Wanna Be a Thug, Holla at Me, When We Ride

#3 The Don Killuminati: The 7 Day Theory(1996)

If you want to get technical this was actually his first posthumous album. But I have always paired it with his living albums because he put it together while he was still alive, unlike the latter albums that were compiled without his input. This album came out 2 months after he died and was reportedly recorded in just 7 days. It's a masterful blend of his political raps, as well as his frustrations with the media, and other rappers in general. 'White Man's World' lyrically sounds like a throwback to his politically charged early albums. Overall it's easily his most violent album, where he openly disses many of his enemies. But the album also included songs like Blasphemy in which he outlines his issues with the major church's. The opening track and the closing one are both vicious battle raps where he rips into lots of big named rappers like Biggie, Jay-Z, Nas and Puffy. While tracks in the middle are more thoughtful, he puts his most violent songs on the ends creating a rough exterior to the other works. Hail Mary is one of his master works, a song that unapologetically chastises the rap game or at least what he considers to be it's weaker elements. A brief respite from the frustration and anger is To Live and Die in LA forms a small oasis where he proclaims his love for his new home of Los Angeles. In this very album he exemplifies what he talks about in the songs Life of an Outlaw and Hold Ya Head, both songs that talk about the dangers of living life as a thug, but openly admits to being addicted to the lifestyle and unable to stop. What's fantastic about this album is almost every track is a stand out. It's more than a powerful message, it stands as a warning about what this lifestyle can do to someone. It adds meaning to the cover, depicting him crucified. His death was a warning to everyone else about the danger as he says explicitly in the song White Man's World "It ain't them that's killin' us, it's us that's killin' us" He raps from the perspective of a man on a derailed train, but he's the only one on board who's realized that it's crashing. It's tragic, it's beautiful, and it's an amazing album. 

Stand Out Songs: Hail Mary, To Live and Die in LA, Blasphemy, Life of an Outlaw, Krazy, White Man'z World, Me and My Girlfriend, Hold Ya Head, Against All Odds

#2 Strictly 4 My N.I.G.G.A.Z. (1993)

Tupac's Sophomore album still stands as one of his best. He was young, angry, energetic, intelligent, and out for blood. On this album Pac speaks with a beautiful mix of political raps, poetry, and an incendiary contempt for the system. Unlike his first album that focused solely on political raps, this album took a page out of Rakim's book and focused on more complex rhymes, rhythms, and themes. He begins with two high energy raps about the music industry and our society. 'Holla if Ya Hear Me 'and 'Point The Finger' chastise the media for looking for someone to blame for gang violence instead of actually trying to solve the problem. He takes a quote from Dan Quayle who blamed the real death of a cop on 2Pac's last album and mixes the sound bite into a song. And Pac retorts to that quote by saying "Dan Quayle don't ya know you need ya ass kicked? Where was you when it was niggas in them caskets?" Another theme that runs through the whole album is the theme of abandonment. Pac has songs about young kids in the ghetto being abandoned by their government, their society, and even their own fathers. In 'Papa's Song' Pac shares no love for any "man" who would abandon their baby. Continuing on with this theme his song 'Keep Ya Head Up' illustrates how as bad as things are for men in the ghetto, they're even worse for women. He implores them to do as the title says "Please don't cry dry your eye's never let up. Forgive but don't forget, girl keep ya head up" Unlike his first album 2Pac also mixes in a dance song with I Get Around, where he is joined by Digital Underground the group who brought him into the mainstream hip hop scene.  He also mixes in more popular productions from the time. He brings back the character of the Soulja in a sequel to 'Souljah's Song' called 'Soulja's Revenge'. Looking at those two songs you can see how his style has progressed. The former being the telling of a tragic story about the streets, and the latter being a high octane song that accuses the police of just being another gang in the city. He get's Ice Cube and Ice-T to jump into his song Last Wordz. And in his darkest song on the album the 'Streetz R Deathrow', he truly has to use his skills as a poet to so beautifully say that we're fucked. This album was a mix of his older styles and his younger style. Still politically charged, but now furious at a system that fails to get any better. A huge turning point and this was in one of the overall greatest years for hip hop in general. 

Stand Out Songs: Holler if Ya Hear Me, Point The Finger, Last Wordz, Souljah's Revenge, Representin' 93, Keep Ya Head Up, Strictly 4 My N.I.G.G.A.Z., The Streetz R Deathrow, I Get Around, Papa'z Song

#1 Me Against The World (1995)

For me this isn't just 2Pac's best album, it's my favorite album of all time. When people call 2Pac a poet, this is what they're talking about. This is an album that could be studied by people wanting to understand the mindset of a young black male in the 90's. The album steps away from the more popular music found in his last 2 albums and goes back to what he started with in the first album. Trying to change the world with his words. This album isn't about dance songs, or being a gangsta, this album is all about the poetry. It doesn't have very many guest appearances, this album is mostly just 2Pac with a mic just talking to us. More than most albums this one felt more like a conversation than it was him talking at us. Some songs he seems to beg us to understand like in 'Heavy in the Game' and 'If I Die 2Nite'. What's strange was I didn't get the brilliance of this album on my first listen. I slowly absorbed how good it was over time. Every track illustrates the hopelessness of living in the ghetto but it lacks the pessimism of the 7 Day Theory album. There is a fire in him for this entire album. He's broken down, he's is hurt, but he is not out. This also started his contemplation about death. He starts out with the song If I Die 2Nite, contemplating what would happen if he died running out here in the street. He asks the impossibly hard question to face of his audience; what if you died tonight, what would you have accomplished? What would your life be worth, and what would people say was your story? The songs are sprinkled with uplifting musings where he directly gives advice to his younger listeners. 'Me Against The World', and 'Young Niggaz' talk directly to his audicen as he gives them hopeful advice for a better life.  At the point of this album he still believes that we can do better and will do better. While songs like 'So Many Tears', 'It ain't Easy', and 'Lord Knows' he practically sings to the audience painting a picture of a young kid growing up rough. He also goes into the hazards of being a young charismatic man in 'Temptations'. A song that surprisingly doesn't come off as bragging when he describes how hard it is to be faithful when you're young horny and uncommitted. It's refreshingly honest song about relationships on a rap album. While most of his songs extend to the hood in general, 2 songs in particular 'Fuck the World' and 'Dear Mama' are incredibly personal. Fuck the World has Pac unload all of his frustration with his sexual assault accusation and the way it was being misrepresented in the media. While 'Dear Mama' is probably the most famous song on this album. 'Dear Mama' is a brutally honest love song to his mother. Where he talks about her virtues and her faults openly but expresses that he loves her unconditionally anyway. It's one of his best works ever. 'The Old School' is a love letter to the 80's and hip hop history. It expresses a love for days when life as just a bit simpler, and he had fewer worries. In 'Can U Get Away' he plays with the idea of being saved, or escaping the hand someone is dealt. The last 2 songs are 'Death Around the Corner' and 'Outlaw'. While some of this album had been hopeful these songs express a pretty deep doubt that there is any escape from this life. In 'Death Around the Corner' he goes into how fear turns men cruel. How it drives people crazy as they expect death to come from any angle. And finally 'Outlaw', a song that sums up so much about 2Pac at this stage in his life. A song that begins with a kid talking about how he's addicted to the hood lifestyle, then while laughing about it the kid tells the audience that he's only 11. The song screams "Outlaw, Outlaw, Outlaw" as a battle cry. Then after he cries this, celebrating being a thug, he says "Dear Lord, I wonder could ya save me?" He asks not if the lord will save him but can the lord actually save him. The song does a magical job of condemning the thug life and it celebrates its freedom at the same time. And somehow this all works. The Album Me Against the World is the pinnacle of 2Pac's career as he truly comes into his own as one of the Greatest of All Time. His rapping style is really one of a kind and use of vivid imagery, poetry, music make this one of the greatest Hip Hop Albums ever.

Stand Out Songs: All of them. There really isn't a wasted track on this album. 

I'll go into all the albums that came out after he died in a later entry. For now, drink a little Thugz Passion, and contemplate that even as bad as things may seem, we are truly lucky to be alive.