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[Bobby Roberts]

The release date of Tupac Shakur's most popular album was February 13th, 1996. Its cover is one of the most easily recognizable images in hip-hop, and probably (aside from those weird posters with his poetry all over 'em that they used to sell at Sam Goody) the image of the man that pops into people's heads when they hear his name.

The AV Club has posted a retrospective of not just the album's high points (and its lows), but the details of how the album was made, and where Shakur was coming from when he hit the studio.

On Thursday, October 12, 1995, Tupac Shakur was in the Clinton Correctional Facility in Dannemora, New York. By the evening of Friday the 13th, he was recording in Can-Am Studios in Los Angeles. In between, Suge Knight had ponied up $1.4 million for bail and—not coincidentally—inked Shakur to a three-album deal with Death Row Records. If he thought he’d bought Shakur’s services for a couple of years, he was wrong; by the following February, two of those three albums were already in stores.

Now 20 years old, All Eyez On Me was the first double-album of new music in the history of hip-hop, recorded in a furious haze of Budweiser and bud, one-take verses and 12 hour days. “Before Tupac came, everyone at Death Row only got a verse or two or one song done per day,” Death Row artist Kurupt told Jeff Weiss in 2009. “We’d just be partying, smoking, chilling. Pac came in with a military mindset. He taught us that it wasn’t a game; it was about making as much music as you can.”

Shakur had always approached recording sessions with a certain single-mindedness, but this time around he had several reasons for working quickly. He had been convicted of sexual abuse in the first degree for offensive touching without consent, and was only eligible for bail because his appeal was making its slow way through the courts; he was broke, which is why he had needed to make a deal with Knight; and he was anxious to reach the end of his contract with Death Row and start his own label, Makaveli Records. Furthermore, his time in Clinton Correctional—marked by white guards who called him “that rich nigger” as well as two prisoner-on-prisoner murders—had left him feeling shaken and bitter. “Thug Life to me is dead,” he told Vibe magazine in April 1995. “If it’s real, then let somebody else represent it, because I’m tired of it... This Thug Life stuff, it was just ignorance.”

This new worldview lasted right up until he arrived at Can-Am Studios. By most accounts, he had recorded the first verse of “Ambitionz Az A Ridah” within about 45 minutes of walking in the door.

For my part: No matter how many great singles came spinning out of this thing, it's a tough album to love. It's twice as long, and barely even half as good as the preceding "Me Against the World," and with hindsight, it's hard to get into the album too much without being reminded that you're basically listening to the man voluntarily descend into self-hate and degradation as loudly and quickly as he possibly can, as well as being reminded that there probably isn't a single person who got within a 2 block radius of Suge Knight that wasn't somehow ruined by it to any measurable degree.

It's an album that feels sorta like getting drunk off good liquor way too fast, and waking up the next day not just hungover, but alcohol poisoned; at some point you knew you probably shoulda stopped, but by that point you were already drunk and a big case of the "Fuck its" kicked in, at which point it was a matter of seeing how gloriously you'd lose the race to unconsciousness.

Still though: When it was good, it was pretty fuckin good.


How Do You Want It


All About U


California Love


I Ain't Mad At Cha

Commence the reminiscence.

 

[sans_pants]

I can still listen to like 75% of this which is a pretty high percentage given his poorly aged beats

 

[Bobby Roberts]

I can still listen to like 75% of this which is a pretty high percentage given his poorly aged beats

See, even there I think Me Against the World has the edge. If All Eyez was a single album, it probably wouldn't be a question, but it's not.

 

[strafer]

Fantastic album.

Me Against the world is also good.

 

[DontBeThatGuy]

Me Against The World was always my favorite Pac album, no question. All Eyes On Me had too much filler. (and speaking of All Eyes On Me, a biopic with that name is currently filming, which should be interesting)

 

[MoodyFog]

Me Against The World was always my favorite Pac album, no question. All Eyes On Me had too much filler. (and speaking of All Eyes On Me, a biopic with that name is currently filming, which should be interesting)

Pretty much.

 

[nasax]

My first rap album back in the day. I still have it.

 

[TheBowen]

Still love this album. I aint mad at cha and wonder why they call you bitch are absolute classics. Some songs havnt held up as well and some are utterly ruined by dumb guest verses, but overall a classic album

 

[akileese]

See, even there I think Me Against the World has the edge. If All Eyez was a single album, it probably wouldn't be a question, but it's not.

I'm glad someone feels the same way I do! I always thought it was a good album, but it felt too long and his older stuff stood up way better against the album as a whole. If it was like...13 or 14 tracks, I think it would go down as his best work. I think there were just too many random outlaw heavy tracks that just weren't very good at all.

 

[Voysa Reezun]

Me Against the World is superior--oh, I see people already got here to compare the two.

I like All Eyez on Me, but there isn't one cut as good as "Death Around the Corner" on it, not even "California Love," which is a good banger for a party, but which is not exactly why I listen to Tupac, personally.

 

[glow]

Still listen to Bring the Pain regularly 20 years later

 

[DontBeThatGuy]

Still love this album. I aint mad at cha and wonder why they call you bitch are absolute classics. Some songs havnt held up as well and some are utterly ruined by dumb guest verses, but overall a classic album

A 2Pac staple.

 

[Bobby Roberts]

I loved "Whatz Ya Phone #" on first listen more than anything, I think, but that's mostly because I was tripping off hearing Tupac go off over a Time sample.

 

[eddie4]

Great album. After 20 years, I still listen to it on a regular basis.

 

[BocoDragon]

Great album. After 20 years, I still listen to it on a regular basis.

Me too. Maybe one of the only things from the 90s to never fall out of my regular rotation.

 

[Cesare Borgia]

Imagine a world where Tupac let Kurupt, Daz, and Snoop do verses on multiple tracks instead of the Outlawz. I want to live in that world.

It's a great album but has some definite flaws that hold it back from really being compared to some of the classic albums of that era.

 

[JLynn]

I could never listen to All Eyez on Me all the way through compared to Me Against the World. I always considered it Pac's darkside album. Pac was clouded by hate in his final years and it showed in SPADES in AEoM. Suge got was he wanted and, well, you know the rest unfortunately.

 

[Ashhong]

Honestly never listened through any of his albums. Just loaded this up on Apple Music(TM)

 

[R3TRODYCE]

Such a great album.

 

[bidguy]

Honestly never listened through any of his albums. Just loaded this up on Apple Music(TM)

hahahah this is amazing knowing youre in love with kanye

 

[HammerOfThor]

Still love this album. I aint mad at cha and wonder why they call you bitch are absolute classics. Some songs havnt held up as well and some are utterly ruined by dumb guest verses, but overall a classic album

Shit almost every 2Pac song I like has this shit.

I wish someone would edit his albums and cut out guest versus.

 

[LosDaddie]

This album and Killuminati are ones I buy on every format that I use. I'm fairly certain I had them on tape, I bought them on CD, and I bought them on iTunes when I got my first iPod.

Classics that I still bump to this day.

 

[JrBaconCheeseburger]

I still listen to this album.

I could not really appreciate it back then due to young age but the album is timeless.

Thank you Tupac for this incredible album.

 

[glow]

hahahah this is amazing knowing youre in love with kanye

I would think the same thing is true with 95% of other Kanye fans...

 

[Anth0ny]

20 years old

fuuuuuuuuck


that means mario 64 also turns 20 this year


fuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuck

 

[johnFkennedy]

I can't believe how young 2Pac was. He accomplished so much and was much wiser than most his age.

He might not be my favorite rapper, but he is bar none my favorite person that is associated with hip hop. I could listen to the man talk for hours.

 

[Fine Ham Abounds]

On todays episode of BobbyRoberts Reminds You You're Old

I still think of him as that new guy and he's been dead 20 years.

 

[spyder_ur]

I can't believe how young 2Pac was. He accomplished so much and was much wiser than most his age.

He might not be my favorite rapper, but he is bar none my favorite person that is associated with hip hop. I could listen to the man talk for hours.

I feel similarly. Tupac was a literal poet and it comes through in his lyrics and accentuations.

Honestly, though, I prefer both Me Against the World and Makaveli. I realize Makaveli is less preferred generally, but I like the rawness.

Makes me feel old. When I was 16 or so I had this unreleased 2pac album, had some of later-released songs and verses on it. I felt so goddamn cool. Also had this great drunken freestyle - it's pretty incredible.

 

[Strike]

Had this and Me Against the World in regular rotation all through high school. Hard to believe that he's been gone 20 years.

 

[dyergram]

I love this album. Sometimes it's my favourite 2pac album it shocks me that people prefer matw but I think I'm a death row fan first. 20 years fuck I paid £24 for this album and I earned £2.50 a hour at the time.

 

[EricTheRed]

I love this album. Sometimes it's my favourite 2pac album it shocks me that people prefer matw but I think I'm a death row fan first. 20 years fuck I paid £24 for this album and I earned £2.50 a hour at the time.

Haha I remember my ex gf buying it for me one Xmas when it was still priced £22.99! Great album, from my all time favourite rapper (although I associate Greatest Hits with him more as it was the first album I ever bought).

 

[DontBeThatGuy]

I feel similarly. Tupac was a literal poet and it comes through in his lyrics and accentuations.

Honestly, though, I prefer both Me Against the World and Makaveli. I realize Makaveli is less preferred generally, but I like the rawness.

Makes me feel old. When I was 16 or so I had this unreleased 2pac album, had some of later-released songs and verses on it. I felt so goddamn cool. Also had this great drunken freestyle - it's pretty incredible.

Yeah, file sharing programs like Napster and Audiogalaxy really let you run wild finding all kinds of obscure 2pac shit, and considering how much music he made before he died, you were always on to something else. My best friend and I were obsessed.

Spoiler

I miss that time.

 

[NipplesAndToes23]

I should write about this, but I haven't even listened to it yet shamefully.

 

[Head of Vengarl]

I was 6 years old when this album came out and I still remember listening to it lol. My older sister loves Tupac so she was always bumping it at home.

 

[EricTheRed]

Yeah, file sharing programs like Napster and Audiogalaxy really let you run wild finding all kinds of obscure 2pac shit, and considering how much music he made before he died, you were always on to something else. My best friend and I were obsessed.

Spoiler

I miss that time.

I also have fond memories of me and my best mate scouring early versions of the Internet for real audio formatted files of unreleased 2pac songs while reading the latest conspiracy theory as to why he was still alive!! Was gutted when his unreleased stuff got remixed upon official release as the originals were miles better.

 

[Future Foundation]

See, even there I think Me Against the World has the edge. If All Eyez was a single album, it probably wouldn't be a question, but it's not.

I read this article earlier, and a decent discussion broke out in the comment section on rap double albums. Basically it went "[blank]'s double album could've been a really great single album if he'd cut out some of the fluff".

 

[mkenyon]

Yeah, file sharing programs like Napster and Audiogalaxy really let you run wild finding all kinds of obscure 2pac shit, and considering how much music he made before he died, you were always on to something else. My best friend and I were obsessed.

Spoiler

I miss that time.

I remember the time I found an FTP server that did 1-1 file transfers, had all the Makaveli albums on it too.

That's the same day the FTP server received a number of text files with a single letter name.

 

[DontBeThatGuy]

I remember the time I found an FTP server that did 1-1 file transfers, had all the Makaveli albums on it too.

That's the same day the FTP server received a number of text files with a single letter name.

Getting access to someone's stacked FTP server was like Christmas.

I also have fond memories of me and my best mate scouring early versions of the Internet for real audio formatted files of unreleased 2pac songs while reading the latest conspiracy theory as to why he was still alive!! Was gutted when his unreleased stuff got remixed upon official release as the originals were miles better.

Lol, yeah, we got deep into that conspiracy theory stuff as well, wore those tin-foil hats with pride. (and I agree 100% on the originals being better)

 

[Raylan]

Amazing album! But you know what's weird? I can't listen to them (most of his songs) anymore because it makes me sad as hell. Miss ya, Pac.

 

[EricTheRed]

Lol, yeah, we got deep into that conspiracy theory stuff as well, wore those tin-foil hats with pride. (and I agree 100% on the originals being better)

We were genuinely gutted when he didn't return in 2003 lol!

A lot of the original, unreleased stuff had a kind of haunting, from beyond the grave quality to it. Something about the beats. I'd love to be able to listen to them all over again.

 

[Bobby Roberts]

We were genuinely gutted when he didn't return in 2003 lol!

A lot of the original, unreleased stuff had a kind of haunting, from beyond the grave quality to it. Something about the beats. I'd love to be able to listen to them all over again.

I remember this specific aspect being a big driver of sales for both Makaveli & the other posthumous albums. Had more than a few friends trying to break down the lyrics as part of a theory regarding Tupac's being alive somewhere planning hits on various enemies.

 

[Timedog]

Shoulda been a single album. So much filler with shit beats.

 

[glow]

Shoulda been a single album. So much filler with shit beats.

Yeah. Too much polycarbonate for too little gold, but the gold goes a long way

 

[RBelong2Us]

Who else loves ''mind made up' as much as I do? That song never gets talked about.

Just emcees destroying it.

 

[Gully State]

Amazing album! But you know what's weird? I can't listen to them (most of his songs) anymore because it makes me sad as hell. Miss ya, Pac.

While I don't have this issue with Pac, I know exactly what you mean. Ever since Aaliyah died, I haven't been able to listen to any of her songs

 

[andthebeatgoeson]

Does a bear take a shit in the woods and wipe his ass with a rabbit?

 

[Ashhong]

hahahah this is amazing knowing youre in love with kanye

What can I say, this was before I listened to hip hop and never went into the backlog/classics.

 

[catpurrcat]

I own 5 No Doubt albums, and this.

Wait, who thinks me against the world is better than all eyes? Was that always the narrative?

 

[Fine Ham Abounds]

While I don't have this issue with Pac, I know exactly what you mean. Ever since Aaliyah died, I haven't been able to listen to any of her songs

Jesus, I didn't remember she was only 22. It's been 15 years since that crash.

 

[dsp]

Down South Hustlers: Bouncin' and Swingin' was the first double rap album.