If you took all the people in this world who think Tupac Amuru Shakur is the greatest rap artist who’s ever lived – all the people who died a little on that tragic day of September 13, 1996 – and asked them to hold hands and form a circle, I firmly believe all of Los Angeles would be surrounded by fans who hold him in the highest respect. And I would be one of those fans; along with Bob Marley, I believe Tupac is amongst the two greatest musical artists to grace America.
But let’s be honest, calling Tupac the greatest emcee who ever lived goes against the evidence. Doubters will provide lines upon lines of concrete, lyrical evidence and, to them, Tupac fans like me simply go, “So? What is your point?” Saying that you think Tupac is the greatest emcee ever is like saying your mother is the most beautiful woman ever – after all, your mother is the most beautiful woman ever… isn’t she? But so is mine, and that seems to refute your claim.
So? What is my point?
The intrigue and controversy surrounding this rapper, even years after his death, may make Tupac not only a memorable rapper, but a historical figure. The University of California at Berkley has an entire undergraduate course dedicated to him, for goodness sakes. The contradictions and flaws in Tupac’s songs and personal life only seem to emphasize his credibility, his human quality that allows him to connect with you and me. After all, I’ll admit, Tupac has never released anything close to a flawless album and his unfortunate stint with Death Row has been labelled, rightfully, as atrocious. Me Against the World, by far Pac’s most mature and powerful release, does have a few poor tracks – unlike all the other entries in this Top 10 Albums of All Time list. So, if you see a bias here, then, you hater, there’s a bias here.
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1: Intro – 1:40 (**)
2: If I Die 2Nite – 4:01 (****)
3: Me Against the World (feat. Dramacydal) - 4:40 (*****)
4: So Many Tears - 3:59 (*****)
5: Temptations – 5:00 (****)
6: Young Niggaz – 4:53 (***)
7: Heavy in the Game (feat. 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 (feat. Dramacydal) – 4:32 (***)
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When Me Against the World works, it is simply the best hip-hop has to offer, but when it doesn’t, it’s pretty mediocre. Tupac tackles all themes with this album and shows a full range of emotions from sadness, to happiness, to misdirected anger, to genuine sensitivity. The album is best when the lyrical content is gloomy – as it most often is – but the beat is mellow. This serves to hide an unbearably pessimistic look on life, much like in Ice Cube’s “It Was a Good Day”, and makes the track even more profound than other tracks, where angry lyrics are rapped over angry beats.
The two greatest examples and two of the greatest hip-hop songs of all time are “Me Against the World” and “So Many Tears”. The former has been played far too much but is a rare case where a rap single has received much attention from mass media that’s actually deserved. It features perhaps the only verse of consequence in Dramacydal’s whole, obscure career:
”Could somebody help me? I'm out here all by myself
See ladies in stores, Baby Capone's, livin wealthy
Pictures of my birth on this Earth is what I'm dreamin
Seein Daddy's semen, full of crooked demons, already crazy
and screamin I guess them nightmares as a child
had me scared, but left me prepared for a while
Is there another route? For a crooked Outlaw
Veteran, a villian, a young thug, who one day shall fall.”
The song paints perfectly a bleak image of life on the streets and is West Coast’s equal to Nas and AZ’s “Life’s a Bitch”. While Nas and AZ might have made the better lyrics, the beat and hook, sung by the extraordinarily beautiful Puff Johnson, push “Me Against the World” over the top. The contradiction between the verses and the smooth beat and chorus exemplify the entrancing style that works best on this album.
It is hard to say “So Many Tears” is not as good as “Me Against the World”; hell, it is hard to say “So Many Tears” is not as good as any rap song. I have no idea who the D-Flizno Production Squad is but they came up with, in “So Many Tears”, one of the best hip-hop beats ever. The feel of this track can best be described as “Hip-Hop Blues” with its guitar and harmonica. If John Lee Hooker could rap to a beat, I’d imagine this is what he’d sound like:
“Back in elementary, I thrived on misery
Left me alone I grew up amongst a dyin breed
Inside my mind couldn't find a place to rest
until I got that Thug Life tatted on my chest.”
The other track that could challenge “Me Against the World” and “So Many Tears” is “It Ain’t Easy”, and in some ways, it can be the best of them all. Here, Pac doesn’t use any complicated beat or background vocals as he just raps to a track that is perfect to tip a little J.D. to and just relax:
”I hit the weed and then proceed to say fuck all of y'all
Ain't nobody down with me I'm thuggin, I can't go home
Cause muh-fuckers think I'm buggin, so now I'm in
this high powered cell at the county jail
Punk judge got a grudge, can't post no bail, what
do I do in these county blues.”
The blues can be so sad and emotional because they can make you happy at the same time and your heart doesn’t really know what to feel. When Me Against the World pulls this off, it’s at its best, such as with one line in “Dear Mama”: ”And even as a crack fiend, mama / You always was a black queen, mama.” I don’t think “Dear Mama” is as good as a few of the other songs on this CD, but that one line never fails to give me a chill down my spine.
But one track, perhaps as great as any other, can easily get slept on and is all about good times and reminiscing. I am, of course, talking about “Old School”, which is made great thanks to a lot of help from amazing production by Soulshock and a funky sample done by none other than Grand Puba, ”What more could I say? I wouldn’t be here today / if the old school didn’t pave the way.” This track doesn’t feature lyrics to recite, but Tupac goes through all the memories of childhood block parties with infectious fervour. This is the best party song on this album, which has a few potential ones.
Despite five incredible five-star songs, the tracks I didn’t feel on Me Against the World, are entirely skipable. On them, Tupac loses focus, as he did on too many occasions on his next album, recorded under the aegis of Suge Knight. “Heavy in the Game”, for example, had potential for nothing else except being a club track, but having failed that, it offers nothing. The annoying nonsensical babbling in Patois, courtesy of Eboni Foster, doesn’t belong and the verse delivered by guest rapper Richie Rich is terrible.
“Can U Get Away”, although not awful, is really not good for the album as a whole. I thought I could say, “Finally, I have a good example of a popular west coast CD without lyrics dedicated to a rapper trying to promote himself as a playa,” but this track ruins that. While “Can U Get Away”, is not exactly complete misogyny, it does demean female intellect:
”Could it be my destiny to be lonely?
And checkin for these hoochies that be on me cause they phony
But you was different -- I got no need to be suspicious
Cause I can tell -- my life with you would be delicious
The way you lick your lips and shake your hips got me addicted
I'm sittin here hoping that we can find some way to kick it.”
I don’t understand how educated rappers can feel that it’s verses like these that get them all the women and being rich and famous has nothing to do with it.
Me Against the World ends disappointingly with three songs that are pretty hard to ingest. You really have to be pretty drunk and in a bad mood to enjoy “Death around the Corner”, which is the kind of music to listen to while whipping empty Old English bottles at brick walls. As cliché as “Fuck the World” and “Outlaw” sounds and actually are, they’re slightly better thanks to some nice beats. The hook in “Outlaw”, however, by a guy named Rah Rah, is like someone keying a car.
The unmitigated violent lyrics at the end of Me Against the World is but a hint of Tupac’s descent into the aptly-named Death Row, which is first foreshadowed by the Dr. Dre sample in the opening song, “If I Die 2Night”. It’s one thing to not care about life or death and be artistically creative about it, but it’s another to just try and piss off as many people as you can before you go.
But the more dirt you say about Tupac, the more his memory becomes one of a tragic hero’s. And while you may shake your head at what he had to say about dying to live and living to die, you forget just how fun life can be when you just don’t give a fuck. I do hope Tupac had fun with his life, and Me Against the World is one release that makes me believe so.
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