As much as All Eyez On Me is my favorite album in Tupac Shakur’s discography, if it had not been for my listening to Me Against The World, this blog post probably would never have been written.
I respected what Tupac had done with regards to rhyming and acting but paid it no real mind. I owned none of his music but was cool with it. Considering I was not there or knew none of the real factors leading to when he was shot in New York, I felt for him.
When he recovered from the injury and embarked on his anti-East Coast hip hop campaign, I was torn because it nearly pitted me against myself. I understood the instinct to wage war on his “enemies”. The issue is that his “enemies” were in the East Coast hip hop army, the spiritual soldiers I would have enlisted to join or team I would wish to be drafted to.
I naturally was primed to listen to the 1996 double 2CD with a different ear and point of view. At present, I would state All Eyez On Me is the best hip hop double CD recorded to date. I was more than satisfied with the first CD and barely reached for the second. It was also the first Tupac CD to enter my collection to be joined with Me Against The World, The Don Killuminati: The 7 Day Theory and Remember Me.
By the summer of 1996, my East Coast hip hop bias would have had me in the corner of the late Notorious B.I.G. during the beef between him and Tupac Shakur. However, I was a little more informed about the music of both camps and knew the strengths and weaknesses of both artists.
The deaths of The Notorious B.I.G. and Tupac were tragic, unfortunate and the consequences are still felt in hip hop today. With Tupac, in particular, I realized that hip hop lost one of its most prolific poets. I miss Tupac like many of his fans and admirers. The void left behind from his death is impossible to fill. Hip hop could use someone with half of the charisma and mystic of Tupac Shakur right now. Unfortunately, that is what we’ve been left with since September 13, 1996.
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The Suite Delight - April 8 2014 Playlist:
1. Big L - Put It On feat. Kid Capri
2. Common - Resurrection
3. O.C. - Time's Up
4. Big Pun - Super Lyrical feat. Black Thought
5. 2Pac - Ambitionz of a Ridah
6. Jay-Z - This Can't Be Life feat. Scarface
7. Gang Starr - Just To Get A Rep
8. Nice & Smooth - Early To Rise
9. The Beatnuts - Off The Books
10. Cypress Hill - Hits From The Bong
11. Pete Rock & C.L. Smooth - Mecca & The Soul Brother
12. Black Moon - I Got Cha Opin
13. Smif-N-Wessun - Bucktown
14. Nas - The World Is Yours (Remix)
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