Me Against the World

1	Intro 1:40
2	If I Die 2 Nite 4:01
3	Me Against the World / Dramacydal 4:40
4	So Many Tears 3:59
5	Temptations 5:00
6	Young Niggaz 4:53
7	Heavy In The Game / Richie Rich 4:23
8	Lord Knows 4:31
9	Dear Mama 4:39
10	It Ain't Easy 4:53
11	Can U Get Away 5:45
12	Old School 4:40
13	Fuck the World 4:13
14	Death Around The Corner 4:07
15	Outlaw / Dramacydal 4:32

Barnes & Noble

Tupac Shakur embodied the contradictions, lunacy, poignancy, and tragedy of gangsta life better than any other figure in hip-hop history. This is his most articulate rumination on '90s thug life, from the wistfully uplifting "Dear Mama" to the brutally nihilistic "If I Die 2Night" and "Fuck the World". 2Pac (as he called himself professionally) rapped in a rushed, urgent style, and he favored musical backdrops with heavy bass lines and loud accents. With a sure sense of rap's history, his "Old School" is a tribute to hip-hop's founders and a touching reminiscence that recalls a simpler time. Still, always controversial -- and self-contradicting -- 'Pac delivers an astonishing balance between levelheaded essays on the evils of ghetto violence ("So Many Tears") and explicit endorsements of violence ("Death Around the Corner"). In a horrifically tragic turn that seemed scripted by his own lyrics, Tupac was killed in a still-unsolved 1996 drive-by shooting, leaving scores of recordings to exemplify what would have been his continued ascendance. Martin Johnson

All Music Guide

Recorded following his near-fatal shooting in New York, and released while he was in prison, Me Against the World is the point where 2Pac really became a legendary figure. Having stared death in the face and survived, he was a changed man on record, displaying a new confessional bent and a consistent emotional depth. By and large, this isn't the sort of material that made him a gangsta icon; this is 2Pac the soul-baring artist, the foundation of the immense respect he commanded in the hip-hop community. It's his most thematically consistent, least-self-contradicting work, full of genuine reflection about how he's gotten where he is -- and dread of the consequences. Even the more combative tracks ("Me Against the World," "Fuck the World") acknowledge the high-risk life he's living, and pause to wonder how things ever went this far. He battles occasional self-loathing, is haunted by the friends he's already lost to violence, and can't escape the desperate paranoia that his own death isn't far in the future. These tracks -- most notably "So Many Tears," "Lord Knows," and "Death Around the Corner" -- are all the more powerful in hindsight with the chilling knowledge that he was right. Even romance takes on a new meaning as an escape from the hellish pressure of everyday life ("Temptations," "Can U Get Away"), and when that's not available, getting high or drunk is almost a necessity. He longs for the innocence of childhood ("Young Niggaz," "Old School"), and remembers how quickly it disappeared, yet he still pays loving, clear-eyed tribute to his drug-addicted mother on the touching "Dear Mama." Overall, Me Against the World paints a bleak, nihilistic picture, but there's such an honest, self-revealing quality to it that it can't help conveying a certain hope simply through its humanity. It's the best place to go to understand why 2Pac is so revered; it may not be his definitive album, but it just might be his best. Steve Huey