1995 - Me against the world

Me Against the World is the third studio album by American hip hop artist Tupac Shakur (2Pac). It was released March 14, 1995 on Jive Records through Interscope Records. The album was recorded over the course of several weeks prior to Shakur's imprisonment resulting from a sexual assault conviction. It was this impending prison sentence which many believe might have contributed to Shakur's artistic re-emergence on record, as his material is believed by Steve Huey of Allmusic to have become markedly more "confessional", "reflective", and "soul-baring".[2]

Me Against the World, released while Shakur was imprisoned, made an immediate impact on the charts, debuting at number one on the Billboard 200. This ultimately made Shakur the first artist to have an album debut at number one on Billboard 200 while serving time in prison. The album served one of Shakur's most positively reviewed albums, with many calling it the best effort of his career, and one of the greatest and influential hip hop albums of all-time. Me Against The World sold 240.000 copies in the first week.

Background

In 1993, Tupac Shakur was already a success in the hip hop industry, with two gold-certified singles that reached the top twenty on the pop charts ("I Get Around", "Keep Ya Head Up"), and a gold-selling sophomore album that would peak just inside the top twenty-five of the Billboard 200 (Strictly 4 My N.I.G.G.A.Z.).[3][4] However, the 22 year old artist had a series of incidents and charges of breaking the law. In the summer of 1993, Shakur was charged for assaulting director Allen Hughes while filming Menace II Society; Shakur was later to sentenced to fifteen days in jail. Later, in October 1993, Shakur was charged with shooting two off-duty police officers in Atlanta, though the charges would eventually be dismissed. In November, Shakur and two members of his entourage were charged with sexually assaulting a female fan, for which they were found guilty and sentenced to 4.5 years in jail.[5] According to Shakur, the album was made to show the hip hop audience his respect for the art form. Lyrically, Shakur intentionally tried to make the album more personal and reflective than his previous efforts.[6]

Recording and production

The musical production on the album was considered by several music critics to be the best on any of Shakur's albums up to that point in his career. Steve 'Flash' Juon at RapReviews gave the production on the album a perfect 10 of 10 rating, particularly praising tracks like "So Many Tears" and "Temptations".[7] Jon Parales remarked that the production had a "fatalistic calm, in a commercial mold". He compared the album's production and synthesized hooks to that of Dr. Dre's G-funk style, stating that "while 2Pac doesn't sing, other voices do, providing smooth melody".[8] James Bernard at Entertainment Weekly was not quite as enthusiastic about the album's production, remarking that Shakur's "vocals are buried deep in the mix. That's a shame—if they were more in-your-face, the lackluster beats might be less noticeable."[9] The album's recording sessions took place at ten different studios, while it was mastered at Bernie Grundman Mastering.[10] Although the album was originally released on Interscope, Amaru Entertainment, the label owned by Shakur's mother Afeni Shakur, has since released the album twice.[1][11]

Composition

    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 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. I get to tell my innermost, darkest secrets I tell my own personal problems.[6]
    ——Tupac Shakur

Some of the album's main themes concern the loss of innocence, paranoia, and occasional self-loathing.[2] Much attention is paid to subjects such as the pain of urban survival.[7] Not all of the music deals with such extremely bleak subject matter, however. Some tracks, such as "Old School", lean more to the nostalgic, though somewhat bittersweet side in Shakur's remembrance of his youth and the early days of hip hop music.[2][7] The album is also well-known for the more sensitive tracks "Dear Mama" and "Can U Get Away", which are both directed towards and reveal Shakur's devotion to the women he loves. On "Dear Mama", Shakur pays tribute to and expresses his undying affection for his own mother, continuously reminding her that though his actions might sometimes seem to state otherwise, "you are appreciated".[7][12] On the track "Can U Get Away", Shakur attempts to impress a woman who has managed to gain his affections away from the woman and Shakur's abusive relationship. Three of the most eerie and revered tracks on the album are "Death Around the Corner", "If I Die 2Nite", and "So Many Tears", the songs which Steve Huey of Allmusic have in hindsight called "powerful" due to their themes dealing with what would become Shakur's own tragic fate: premature death.[2] Throughout the entirety of the album Shakur employs various poetical deliveries, ranging from alliteration ("If I Die 2Nite"), to the use of paired couplets ("Lord Knows").[7]
[edit] Singles

"Dear Mama" was released as the album's first single in February 1995, along with the track "Old School" as the B-side.[13] "Dear Mama" would be the album's most successful single, topping the Hot Rap Singles chart, and peaking at the ninth spot on the Billboard Hot 100.[14] The single was certified platinum in July 1995.[3]

The second single, "So Many Tears", was released in June, four months after the first single.[15] The single would reach the number six spot on the Hot Rap Singles chart, and the 44th on the Billboard Hot 100.[14]

"Temptations", released in August, was be the third and final single from the album.[16] The single would be the least successful of the three released, but still did fairly well on the charts, reaching number 68 on the Billboard Hot 100, 35 on the Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Singles & Tracks, and 13 on the Hot Rap Singles charts.[14]

Reception
[edit] Critical response
[hide] Professional ratings
Review scores
Source    Rating
Allmusic    5/5 stars[17]
Robert Christgau    (C+)[18]
New York Times    (favorable)[8]
Rap Central    5/5 stars[19]
RapReviews    (10/10)[20]
Rolling Stone    3.5/5 stars[21]
The Source    4/5 stars1995[22]
Vibe    (favorable)[23]

After being released on March 14, 1995, the album peaked at the number one spot on the Billboard 200 chart and became certified double platinum by the end of the year.[24][25] While Shakur was in prison, the album over-took Bruce Springsteen's Greatest Hits as the best-selling album in the United States, a feat which he took pride in.[6] Shakur became the first artist to have a number one album while serving a prison sentence.

The album received a five-star rating from Allmusic, with reviewer Steve Huey calling it "[Shakur's] most thematically consistent, least self-contradicting work", and stating "it may not be his definitive album, but it just might be his best".[2] However, Steve 'Flash' Juon of RapReview seemed to feel differently, remarking that the album "is not only the quintessential Shakur album, but one of the most important rap albums released in the 1990's as a whole". Juon awarded the work a perfect ten-out-of-ten rating.[7] Cheo H. Coker at Rolling Stone also called the album Shakur's best, giving it three-and-a-half out of five stars.[21] Robert Christgau spoke out against the album, saying "the subtext of his persecution complex is his self-regard".[18] Of the overall effect of the album, Coker said it was "by and large a work of pain, anger and burning desperation — [it] is the first time 2Pac has taken the conflicting forces tugging at his psyche head-on".[21] Jon Pareles of The New York Times gave the album a favorable review, calling Shakur the "St. Augustine of gangster rap" due to his ambivalence towards the behavior and nature of the gangster lifestyle.[8]
[edit] Accolades

At the 38th Grammy Awards, in 1996, Me Against the World was nominated for Best Rap Album and the single "Dear Mama" was nominated for Best Rap Solo Performance.[26][27] In 2008, the National Association of Recording Merchandisers, in conjunction with the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, recognized Me Against the World as one of the "most influential and popular albums", ranking it #170 on a list of 200 other albums by artists of various musical genres.[28]