The Rose That Grew From Concrete...

Performer: 2Pac
Artist: Q-Tip; Mos Def; The Outlawz; K-Ci & JoJo; Dead Prez; Tre; Babatunde Olatunji; Sikiru Adepoju; Sonia Sanchez; Jasmine Guy; Reverend Run; Red Rat; Providence; RasDaveed El Harar; Danny Glover; Afeni Shakur; The Cast of the Lion King; Nikki Giovanni; Geronimo Ji Jaga; Dan Rockett; Mac Mall; Quincy Jones; Rashida Jones; Russell Simmons; Rha Goddess; Sarah Jones; 4th Avenue Jones; K-CI; Malcolm Jamal Warner; Lamar Antwon Roninson; The IMPACT Repertory Theatre Group; Lamar Antwon Robinson; Tina Thomas Bayyan; Chief Okena Littlehawk
Distributor: Universal Distribution

Notes: Full Title: The Rose That Grew From Concrete Vol. 1. Personnel includes: 2Pac, Q Tip, Mos Def, Outlawz, Geronimo Pratt, Dead Prez, Tre, K-Ci & Jo Jo, 4th Avenue Jones, Babatunde Olatunge, Danny Glover, Quincy Jones, Russell Simmons, Nikki Giovanni, Sarah Jones, Malcolm Jamal Warner, Sonya Sanchez, Lamar Antwon Robinson, Rha Goddess, Dan Rockett, Mac Mall. Producers include: Jamal Joseph, QD3, Eric Rico, Voza Rivers, Mos Def. Engineers include: Tyson Leeper, Michael Dunston, Denis Degher. Includes liner notes by Afeni Shakur. Tupac Shakur's work and iconic importance have attracted an even greater degree of respect and attention after his death than they did during his lifetime. Unparalleled in the hip-hop world, Tupac's posthumous fame finds its precedents in rockers like Jimi Hendrix and Jim Morrison, bad boys whose message was deeper than their hedonistic image suggested. The Tupac legacy continues apace with THE ROSE THAT GREW FROM CONCRETE. Essentially a various artists collection, it finds a wide variety of artists contributing spoken word performances of Shakur's poetry. Dashes of jazz, reggae, funk, and hip-hop accompany rapper Mos Def, poet Nikki Giovanni, actor Danny Glover, and others as they interpret the prose of the late rapper. Despite Shakur's gangsta image, most of his poems reflect a belief in positive social change through the efforts of an enlightened community that he sought to encourage.

Rolling Stone (12/21/00, p.172) - 3 stars out of 5 - "...Shows a more sensitive Tupac....shining light on a side of [him] that often gets forgotten." Entertainment Weekly (11/24/00, p.82) - "...The rapper's poetry as spoken-word performances, hip-hop rhymes, reggae grooves, and country ditties....leaving listeners assured of [his] poetic gifts and saddened by his death..." - Rating: A- Q (1/01, p.121) - 3 out of 5 stars - "...The music covers a broad spectrum from hip hop to country rock and theatrical readings with jazz and African backgrounds....Thoughtful but unpretentious." Melody Maker (12/5/00, p.57) - 3.5 stars out of 5 - "...A homely, organic collection with plentiful standout tracks..." NME (Magazine) (11/18/00, p.43) - 8 out of 10 - "...A bravura effort..."

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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