Generation-defining artists like Tupac Shakur naturally get the benefit of contemporary listeners seeing their material with rose-tinted glasses on their material as the years go by. That benefit certainly applies to the final album released during their lifetime as well– that final release is typically put on a bit of a pedestal, even if the content doesn’t necessarily stand up to their career work. And it’s especially true for an artist who leaves us at such a young age (25 in Shakur’s case), even more so when that final goodbye is as grisly and as dramatic as Shakur’s exit.
The funny thing is, even though 2Pac’s 1996 album All Eyez on Me fits all of the above criteria, this album honestly doesn’t get as much credit as it truly deserves. It’s an incredible gangsta rap album released during an era when West Coast gangsta rap was a dominant force in pop culture, and with a run-time of over two hours, effectively doubles as a de-facto “Greatest Hits” album from one of the most formidable MC’s to ever step behind the mic. Shakur’s contributions to hip hop, poetry, social activism, and chronicling the black experience in America has consistently put him in critics Top 5 list for greatest rappers of all-time, and yet this album consistently struggles to crack the Top 25 in any album ranking in the genre. Maybe it’s due to the generation which I grew up in listening to him during my formative years, but it’s a strange dichotomy I haven’t been quite able to understand.
All Eyez on Me showcases Tupac at his best, effortlessly navigating between hardcore street bangers that detail his life of crime before effortlessly transitioning to thoughtful and sentimental ballads that unveil a simpler truth underneath that brash persona which illuminate the person who truly exists between that sheen. As Walt Whitman once famously said “I am large, I contain multitudes.” That quote applies to most of the great artists of our time, and perhaps none more so than Tupac Shakur.
One of the biggest losses of our time was losing Shakur at the age of 25. His unrelenting brand of truth-telling and sheer confidence in speaking that truth is something we’ve collectively been robbed of over the past 30 years. America would have been a better place with him in it for longer than we had him.
Standout Songs: “Ambitionz Az A Ridah”, “How Do U Want It”, “Life Goes On”, “I Ain’t Mad At Cha”, “Can’t C Me”, “Picture Me Rollin’”, “All Eyez On Me”, “California Love”
