2Pac: Me Against the World (2LP, 180g) [INTERSCOPE]

Why you'll love it

This 25th anniversary 2LP set is pressed on 180g vinyl. The album debuted at No. 1 on the Billboard 200 and held the top spot for four weeks, and "Dear Mama" reached No. 9 on the Hot 100.

This edition

• 2LP set
• 180g vinyl
• 25th anniversary edition
• Stereo mix

About the album

By 1994 Tupac Shakur was already one of the most famous and talked-about rappers in America, and he set out to make his next album more personal and reflective than anything he'd done before. He said he wanted to show the hip hop audience his respect for the art form, and Me Against the World is the result: a record about mortality, family and pressure, made by a 23-year-old who sounded far older.

His mentor Shock G of Digital Underground worked on it, along with Easy Mo Bee, Johnny J, Tony Pizarro and the Danish duo Soulshock and Karlin. "So Many Tears" and "If I Die 2Nite" wrestle with fate, "Temptations" lightens the mood with a smooth groove, "Lord Knows" and "Death Around the Corner" look straight at the dangers around him, and "Old School" is a warm tribute to the hip hop he grew up on. Dramacydal and Richie Rich drop in as guests. "Dear Mama," his loving, clear-eyed tribute to his mother Afeni Shakur, became the album's biggest single.

It came out while he was in prison, earned a Grammy nomination for Best Rap Album, and critics have since ranked it among the greatest hip hop albums ever made. In 2010 "Dear Mama" became the first solo rap song added to the Library of Congress's National Recording Registry, which is a rather grand certificate for a thank-you note to your mum.

Also at Kops: more 2Pac on vinyl · browse Hip Hop / R&B

Tracklist

Listen

On Interscope / Amaru (cat# B0031433-01), a reissue of the 1995 album.