Recorded following his near-fatal shooting in New York, and released while he was in prison,
Me Against the World
is the point where
2Pac
really became a legendary figure. Having stared death in the face and survived, he was a changed man on record, displaying a new confessional bent and a consistent emotional depth. By and large, this isn't the sort of material that made him a gangsta icon; this is
the soul-baring artist, the foundation of the immense respect he commanded in the
hip-hop
community. It's his most thematically consistent, least-self-contradicting work, full of genuine reflection about how he's gotten where he is -- and dread of the consequences. Even the more combative tracks (
"Me Against the World,"
"Fuck the World"
) acknowledge the high-risk life he's living, and pause to wonder how things ever went this far. He battles occasional self-loathing, is haunted by the friends he's already lost to violence, and can't escape the desperate paranoia that his own death isn't far in the future. These tracks -- most notably
"So Many Tears,"
"Lord Knows,"
and
"Death Around the Corner"
-- are all the more powerful in hindsight with the chilling knowledge that he was right. Even romance takes on a new meaning as an escape from the hellish pressure of everyday life (
"Temptations,"
"Can U Get Away"
), and when that's not available, getting high or drunk is almost a necessity. He longs for the innocence of childhood (
"Young Niggaz,"
"Old School"
), and remembers how quickly it disappeared, yet he still pays loving, clear-eyed tribute to his drug-addicted mother on the touching
"Dear Mama."
Overall,
paints a bleak, nihilistic picture, but there's such an honest, self-revealing quality to it that it can't help conveying a certain hope simply through its humanity. It's the best place to go to understand why
is so revered; it may not be his definitive album, but it just might be his best. ~ Steve Huey