Me Against The World

Performer: 2Pac
Artist: Thug Life; Dramacydal; Digital Underground; Lady Levi; Richard "Richie Rich" Serrell; Natasha Walker; Puff Johnson
Distributor: BMG (distributor)

Notes: Personnel: 2Pac, Dan O'Leary, Debbie Hambrick, Sarah Diamond, Jay Jensen, Jill Rose (vocals); Darryl Crooks, Eric "Kenya" Baker, Ronnie Vann (guitar); The Piano Man (keyboards); Stretch, Moe Z.M.D., Eboni Foster, Killa, Milia, L. Tyler, G. Money, Kim Armstrong, Kenyatta Forman, Reggie Green, Rah Rah, "Sweet Franklin" (background vocals); Thug Life, Dramacydal, Digital Underground, Lady Levi, Richard "Richie Rich" Serrell, Natasha Walker, Puff Johnson. Producers include: Tony Pizarro, Easy Mo B., SoulShock, Shock G, Moe Z.M.D. Engineers include: Tony Pizarro, Jay Lean, Paul Arnold. ME AGAINST THE WORLD was nominated for a 1996 Grammy Award for Best Rap Album. "Dear Mama" was nominated for Best Rap Solo Performance. Forget everything you've heard and assumed about rapper/actor 2Pac and think only of his music, which has always stood in the shadow of his lifestyle. ME AGAINST THE WORLD tries to make sense of all the stormy events that have surrounded the gifted vocalist--transforming 2Pac into the "rap star" he's always yearned to be--and turns out to be his best work yet. ME AGAINST THE WORLD seriously connects the rapper with his audience by remaining "real." Although much of the public is already familiar with the all-too politicized/publicized life of Tupac Shakur, the album disputes their perception and serves as his halo. "If I Die 2Nite" couples 2Pac's intense thoughts with the flava-in-ya-ear sound provided by hip-hop super producer Easy Mo Bee. 2Pac softens his tone on "Dear Mama," celebrating the one woman who has stuck by him through it all. The album also focuses on issues known and experienced not only by this "hip-hop outlaw," but by those who share his lifestyle. Many "thugs" have lost their homies and struggled to keep themselves alive in the hood, and so has 2Pac; and his mourning is manifested on "So Many Tears," which is enhanced by a sample of Stevie Wonder's harmonica. "Can U Get Away" carefully alerts women involved in abusive relationships, and labels 2Pac as their saviour. Giving props to the New York rap scene, "Old School" is a tribute to the founders of hip-hop and reminisces about "how it was." Musically, the comfortable tracks help convey positive messages ("Young Niggaz"), and lyrically, 2Pac is, as always, on point.

Rolling Stone (5/4/95, pp.68-70) - 3.5 Stars - Very Good - "...ME AGAINST THE WORLD--by and large a work of pain, anger and burning desperation--is the first time 2Pac has taken the conflicting forces tugging at his psyche head-on..." Vibe (4/95, p.55) - "...lets go of his usual theme of thuggery-as- resistance....amid all his righteous venom...[2Pac] dispenses maxims....He seems, like this album, just schizo enough to be interesting, just crazy enough to be sincere..." The Source (4/95, p.79) - 4 Stars - Slammin' - "...ME AGAINST THE WORLD follows suit as [Tupac] releases his best work by far....a manisfestation of Tupac's talents becoming completely whole as they are mixed with the tracks that may, for a change, overshadow him..."

Beginning his career in the early 1990s as a member of the Oakland rap-funksters Digital Underground, 2Pac rose to become perhaps the single most controversial figure in rap music, easily equal in popularity and notoriety to Snoop Dogg on the West Coast and sometime rival Notorious B.I.G. out East. Taking his moniker from a South American revolutionary, 2Pac managed to embrace themes of black self-determination and social conscience without dulling the edge of his thug image. Achieving almost unrivalled popularity while alive, 2Pac had a penchant for religious and iconic motifs, ensuring his status as a rap martyr after his murder in 1996.

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