RATING: 100/100. PERFECT ALBUM
This is one of the 2Pac albums I feel like I listened to the most - but never in full surprisingly enough.
I had heard almost all of these songs, but just never in full like I did today. I love how this album mixes g-funk into it since it is my favorite hip-hop subgenre, and Pac's flow is better than almost any rapper from any point in time.
There's a clear reason why Pac is considered one of the greatest rappers of all time - one of the greatest ARTISTS of all time. He was a visionary; not only was he skilled when it came to rapping, he was an incredible writer and a poet. He had artistic visions that were years ahead of other artists and he managed to fulfill that on his albums.
This is only 2Pac's 3rd album and it shows a very large amount of growth in both who he was and what his music was all about. This album has even more grittiness than some of his previous projects - but it's a different kind of grit; a just survived gunshots kind of grit. This incident left him clearly seeing things differently and that can be heard in the lyrics of the songs on this album.
I have no way to say this other than I was blown away from the very start. From the raw intro about what happened to him to the beyond impressive poetic lyric spitting at the very beginning of 'If I Die 2Nite'. It's all something no other rapper could do quite like him - he was a force of his own entirely.
This album uses a lot of poetry in it - rap can really be an art form and Pac showed that constantly in his music. He was a poet and an artist before he was a rapper. The album and the themes on it came from a place of struggle. Pac never had an easy life - even when he was famous, he was still living a dangerous life.
The album itself was released while 2Pac was serving a prison sentence - this impending sentence is reflected on in this album as well as themes of police troubles, death, injury, family, and poverty. These topics were very much real for Pac and they were things he dealt with all throughout his life. Only a day before the jury reached verdict for his multiple court cases he was shot and robbed at gunpoint in New York at the lobby of a recording studio.
'Me Against the World' was met with praise from critics and it performed very well on the charts - it has been certified double platinum. All while Pac was still under the age of 25.
The lyrics of this album were intentionally more personal and reflective of Pac's life and his experiences. He was maturing as both a person and an artist and that is shown heavily all throughout this album.
One thing that stands out about this album for me is the beats. This album contains some of the best beats I have ever heard to put it simply. Every beat is a perfect combination of all of the right elements and Pac flows on them wonderfully - he doesn't feel off on the beats, he's right on them and his timing & delivery is impeccable.
"Me Against the World was really to show people that this is an art to me. That I do take it like that. And whatever mistakes I make, I make out of ignorance, not out of disrespect to music or the art. So Me Against the World was deep, reflective. It was like a blues record. It was down-home. It was all my fears, all the things I just couldn’t sleep about. Everybody thought that I was living so well and doing so good that I wanted to explain it. And it took a whole album to get it all out."
This album really made me realize that 2Pac is my favorite rapper. He was so down to earth and incredible and everything he said was just so poetic - you could tell he was just such a sweet person who cared about his family and close circle so much. He never sold out, he never went behind people's backs - he was humble.
"It’s explaining my lifestyle, who I am, my upbringing and everything. It talks about the streets but talks about it in a different light. There’s a song on there dedicated to mothers, just a song I wrote just for my mother. And it digs deeper like that. I just wanted to do something for all mothers. I’m proud of that song. It affected a lot of people."
'Me Against the World' is an album packed full of meaning and different themes. There is the good & the bad on this album and both are reflected upon beautifully - rap can be a beautiful thing and I think Pac really proved that time and time again with his music.
This album is widely considered one of the greatest of all time - and it has been called 2Pac's magnum opus; despite this being such a hard pick with how consistently amazing his work was throughout his entire career.
Everything about this album is wonderful. The lyrics are deep with meaning and they really hit you; they're meaningful. These lyrics are delivered to perfection by Pac and the beats that back him are incredible. The usage of samples, background vocals, and drums as well as g-funk sounds are all done with absolute expertise.
2Pac is one of the most influential artists in all of hip-hop with both his sound and his lyrical content. He has paved the way and inspired countless other artists over the years and his legacy is still seen in the rap scene and even outside of it.
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