On June 16, 1971 , Tupac Amaru Shakur, Tupac meaning shining serpent in Inca, and Shakur meaning thankful to god in Arabic, was born in New York city. Afeni Shakur, Tupac's mother was a strong activist, and joined the Black Panther party, 3 years before Tupac's birth. Believe it or not , Tupac never had a criminal record before his rapping career, but during his childhood he experienced many hard times. But during his actual career, many considered him to be a rap god, as he represented a side of the ghetto that had not been represented before. Before his (supposed) death on September 13th, 1996, Tupac had released "All eyez on me", and had starred in several movies. A week before his death, Tupac was shot 5 times in his car, leaving after a "scuffle" with several people at a Mike Tyson fight. Of course there is plenty of mystery surrounding his death (http://www.tupacfans.com/alive.php for all those who think he's still alive, I do too!). After his death, Tupac's estate actually made a lot more money off albums that came out, than he had done before his death, Loyal to the game being the 7th album to be released after his death.

But with all this new music coming out after his death, Tupac's voice and lyrics are being used way too much, and many people, including me, are really starting to get tired of this, especially when his voice is massacred with the digital soundboards.

A BREAKDOWN OF THE CD

The first track, Soldier like me , is not bad, and I really like the way Tupac flows, when he goes raps from fast to slow on each line. Being a "gangsta" Tupac song, of course he talks about shooting corrupt cops, and messing up people in general ("Comin round a corner spittin rounds, they can't hold em down cause them sucka a** b*tches out a bounds, now tell me how that sounds"). But my favorite line in this song has to be "Stanky Biatch!" at the end of the second verse! Unfortunately, Eminem singing the hook practically ruins the song in my opinion, and really takes away from the strength of Tupac's lyrics.
So I give this song 4 T's out of 5

The Uppercut, isn't anything special, and the E.D.I, one of Tupac's old friend's, verse, is complete trash. Eminem's beats are real similar to the first track, except slowed down. I give this track 1 T out of 5.

Number 3, Out on bail, is just all about Tupac getting out of jail, so it really isn't all that amazing. Once again, Tupac preaches about killin all those who said stuff about him, now that he's out of jail ("And when I finally do hit the mother f*ckin streets, I'm a tear through this, thug n*gga getting scandalous...I'll see you motherf*ckers at the next show"). Because of the lack of originality, and the incoherent mumbling at parts, during the hooks, I give the song 2 T's out of 5. At least Eminem didn't sing!

Track 4 , Ghetto Gossip , is probably one of my favorite songs on the CD. Even though it sounds a lot like "Running" with Biggie, and Em's "Sing for the moment", the powerful beats, and the sampling from Sir Elton John, make it a real good song, with some hard hitting lyrics: "And nowadays things changed, everyone's ashamed of the youth, cause the truth looks strange! Cause any day they'll push the button, and they all come in like Malcom X or Bobby Huton, die for nothin, Gonna make ya look teary, the world looks dreary, when you wipe yo eyes, see it clearly, There's no need for you to fear me, if you take the time to hear me, maybe you can learn to cheer me".
The lyrics of the song are really emotional, and talk a lot about crack, underage mothers, and in general, "the war in the streets" .
I really enjoyed the song, and its beats, and give it 5 T'3s out of 5

Black cotton, featuring Kastro and Young Noble of the Outlawz, isn't a bad song at all, except for Em's singing of the hook, once again. Lyrically, this track is probably my favorite, and deals with a wide range of stuff including slavery, drugs, and about the working black man. With hot lyrics, and an ok beat, I give this track 4 T's.

Loyal to the Game featuring G Unit, is just aight. Tupac and Lloyd Bank's verses are not bad, but the rest of G Unit definitely doesn't come out real strong on the track, with a very weak hook by 50, and a just ok verse by Young Buck. However, Tupac saying "G Unit in the motherf*ckin house is sure to raise some heads from Tupac fans (considering Tupac was long dead before G Unit ever came out, and even though Eminem probably just used a computer, to make Tupac say this, something Is still kind of awkard about it).
2 T's out of 5

Thugs get lonely too, featuring Nate Dogg, is all about Tupac getting p*ssed at some girl who's changed. "Sit alone in my room drinking, without a care, talking out loud to you, like you there", kinda sad hearing this from a "thug a** n*gga", but as he says, thugs get lonely too. I'm pretty sure that this is the first single off the CD, and even though a lot of people are showing it love, I'm not really feeling it.
2 T's out of 5

N.I.G.G.A featuring Jadakiss(Never Ignorant about Getting Goals Accomplished), has nothing to do with the title, and definitely isn't a positive song, as the name might suggest! Tupac rants on about cop killing, drugs, etc , but I highly think that Jadakiss outraps Tupac, (I never thought I would say that) and that his verse is a lot better ("My dimes make the fiends go to sleep so they call em bedrocks, my n*ggas is like photographers, all they take is head shots, they last words will be damn whats all these red dots? "). And also the beats are real eery at points, which can get kind of irritating after a while.
3 T's, just because of JadaKiss' verse

Who do you love, track 9, isn't anything special, so I won't say to much about it. Of course, Tupac's got to rap about hoes, slanging rocks, and who can forget, his homies . "High 'til I die and strapped with this .45" is a quote from the song, that pretty much sums up the whole track, better than I can.
The beats aren'3t that good, and the lyrics are just ok, so I give this two T's

With the next track, A crooked N*gga too Tupac hits us off with his real fast flow once again, which to me is still very hot. But my main problem with this song is the fact that Eminem makes the beat and the drums and all that, sound like they arejust about to come in, but they never do, which can be irritating to a lot of people. Lyrically, the song is gangsta as hell, but I still think it's a pretty good track, considering how fast Tupac raps, over such a long time (he even has to take a deep a** breath during the third verse). I give this song 3 T's.

Once again, Eminem hits us off with the "Ghetto Gospel/Runnin/Sing for the moment" kind of beat, with a real dramatic feel, with the next track Don't you Trust me. However, this sogn has a completely different side to it, considering it's lyrics. Here Tupac raps about how his stardom affects his relationships with females, and how his girls tend to not trust him anymore, since he's a big rapper. To me this seems normal however, considering he raps about all his multiple girls, in half of his songs. "Calling up my house, then hanging up, you think that makes sense, tell me what it takes for us to say so that we can be friends...You sayin that I'm too busy I ignore you, I guess you didn't here me when I said that I care for you, I wanna hold you tightly but instead you tryin to fight me". This quote seems very ridiculous, when compared to "N.I.G.G.A" or "Soldier like me", and this is exactly why I have always disliked most of Tupac's music...
Basically this song is way too emotional for Tupac, especially coming right after "A crooked N*gga Too".
Because this song contradicts half of the other songs on the CD, and is way too emotional, but also since the beat is pretty hot (with a hook by Dido I think), I give this 3 T's out of 5

I'd rather not even talk about Henessy, but since I'm reviewing the whole CD, I guess I have to. "They want to know what's my role model, it's in the brown bottle, Yo what's our motherf*ckin motto, Hennessy". Interesting quote after listening to stuff like "Ghetto Gossip" .
And if the song wasn't bad enough, Obie Trice had to be on it too. I really wonder if Tupac was still alive, if he would be seriously rapping with a dude who's best line on this song is "Don't come around hurr with that floss sh*t, and who's claim to fame was the line "Obie Trice- real game no gimmicks". Once again, we see that Eminem made a terrible, horrible decision with coupling Tupac with Obie Trice, and so I give this 1 T . Actually you know what? I almost forgot how horrible the beat is, I give it 0 T's out of 5

Thug for life is just plain messed up on behalf of Eminem. Slim, thought it would be a good idea to put an oriental/Egyptian type beat, with Tupac's gangsta lyrics. In the song, which lyrically is not too too bad, Tupac describes what exactly, needs to be done to be a true gangsta. Even though the lyrics sound real cliché, the lyrics are not that bad. But because of the horrible beat, I give this 2.5 T's . If it wasn't for the bad beats, I probably would have given the song 3 or 3 and a half T's, but the beat really just takes away from the lyrics. for me .

Po' N*gga Blues is among the best songs on the CD. The very old school, Ron Isley, of the famous Isley Brothers, and one of my personal favorite singers, delivers a very smooth presentation, over a real smooth beat, and really adds a dramatic effect to the song. The reason why I really like this song is that it's different than most of the other songs on the CD, and Tupac really talks about hard hitting subjects, "They got me trapped in this slavery, now I'm lost in this holocaust, headed for my grave G...why Must I sock a fella, just to live large like Rocafella, I'm old enough to go to war, but I ain't old enough to drink, and cops want to hit me with the book, and you hooked on my I don't give a f*ck look". Tupac finally delivers a real strong and dramatic song, after a rack of bad songs. I definitely give this song, without a doubt, 5 T's out of 5. "Why'd you sling crack, cause I had too, now I'm heading for the ma f*ckin pen...".

Bonus Tracks:
Hennessy remix with E.D.I and Sleepy Brownproduced by Red Spyda, is a lot better than the original one, which was practically a joke. Sleepy Brown really gives this song a much chiller feeling EDI's lyrics aren't amazing, the song flows a lot better than the first. 3.5 T's out of 5. (It's funny how the songs with a different producer than Eminem, mostly sound, and feel, a lot better than the originals.)

A Crooked N*gga remix is not bad either, produced by Rapael Saadiq, and even though it has the same lyrics as the first, it flows pretty well too. 3 T's

Loyal to the Game remix featuring Big Syke, has a real gangsta feel to it, especially with Big Syke's real deep voice, which kind of reminds of David Banner.
Ok song, hot beat, give it 3.5 T's

In Conclusion, I will say that Eminem didnâ't do a real good job on this CD. To me it seems, that someone who had already had experience with Tupac, someone like Dre, would have done a much better job on the album, and would make it sound a lot better.

More than half of the time, it seems that Eminem was running out of ideas for beats, and so used the same loops many different times on the CD. It also seems that Slim Shady, really manipulated Tupac to plug G Unit, and Shady Records with all the duets with Tupac and members of Em's entourage. Finally there is a huge lack of content, and Tupac seems to go on most of the time about the same thing, drugs, hustling, guns, and the disparity of the ghetto, which can get incredibly irritating and repetitive.

On the other side, some of the tracks, like Black cotton, Ghetto Gospel, and Po' N*gga Blues are really hot, some a bit too dramatic, but do justice to Tupac, who was supposed to be a man of hope.

This CD, is not amazing at all, and I only recommend it to those who are true Tupac fans, and who would buy the CD no matter how bad the CD was.












Recommended: No

Great Music to Play While: Driving