All Eyez on Me | ||||
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Studio album by | ||||
Released | February 13, 1996 | |||
Recorded | October 13−27, 1995 | |||
Studio | Can-Am Studios, Los Angeles, California | |||
Genre | ||||
Length | 2:12:20 | |||
Label | ||||
Producer |
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2Pac chronology | ||||
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Singles from All Eyez on Me | ||||
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All Eyez on Me is the fourth studio album by American rapper 2Pac (and the last to be released during his lifetime), released on February 13, 1996 by Death Row and Interscope Records. The album features the Billboard Hot 100 number-one singles 'How Do U Want It' and 'California Love'. It featured five singles in all, the most of any of Shakur's albums. Moreover, All Eyez on Me made history as the first ever double-full-length hip-hop solo studio album released for mass consumption globally.
All Eyez on Me was the second album by 2Pac to chart at number one on both the Billboard 200 and the Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums charts, selling 566,000 copies in the first week. The album won the 1997 Soul Train R&B/Soul or Rap Album of the Year Award posthumously.[1][2] Shakur also won the Award for Favorite Rap/Hip-Hop Artist at the 24th Annual American Music Awards. The album was certified Diamond by the RIAA on July 23, 2014, eighteen years after Shakur's death,[3][4] with shipments of over 5 million copies (each disc in the double album counted as a separate unit for certification).
- 2Recording and production
- 4Critical reception
- 9Charts
Background[edit]
In October 1995, Suge Knight and Jimmy Iovine paid the $1.4 million bail necessary to get Shakur released from jail on charges of sexual abuse. At the time, Shakur was broke and thus unable to make bail himself. All Eyez on Me was released following an agreement between Knight and Shakur which stated Shakur would make three albums under Death Row Records in return for them paying his bail. Fulfilling part of Shakur's brand new contract, this double-album served as the first two albums of his three-album contract.[5][6]
Euthanasia was the initial title of the album until it was changed to All Eyez on Me during the recording process. Shakur explained to MTV's Bill Bellamy in December 1995 saying:
It's called All Eyez on Me. That's how I feel it is. I got the police watching me, the Feds. I got the females that want to charge me with false charges and sue me and all that. I got the females that like me. I got the jealous homeboys and I got the homies that roll with me. Everybody's looking to see what I'mma do now so All Eyez on Me.[7]
All Eyez on Me was originally intended for a Christmas 1995 release but was pushed back as Shakur continued to record music and shoot music videos for the album.[7]
Recording and production[edit]
The album features guest spots from 2Pac's regulars, such as former-Thug Life members and The Outlawz, as well as Dr. Dre, Snoop Dogg, Tha Dogg Pound, Nate Dogg, and George Clinton, Rappin' 4-Tay, The Click, Method Man, and Redman among others.[8] The song 'Heartz of Men' samples a portion of Richard Pryor's comedy album That Nigger's Crazy. Most of the album was produced by Johnny 'J' and Daz Dillinger, with help from Dr. Dre on the songs 'California Love', which he himself appeared in also as an album guest spot, and 'Can't C Me', which was Clinton's appearance. DJ Quik also produced, mixed and made an appearance on the album, but had to use his real name on the credits because his contract with Profile Records prevented him from using his stage name.
Lyrical themes[edit]
The songs on All Eyez on Me are, in general, unapologetic celebrations of living the 'Thug Lifestyle'. Though there is the occasional reminiscence about past and present friends, it is a definite move away from the social and political consciousness of 2Pacalypse Now and Strictly 4 My N.I.G.G.A.Z...[9] The songs on the album along with the name of the album itself, allude to the feeling of being watched. With songs like 'Can't C Me' and 'All Eyez on Me', 2Pac makes it known that he feels the presence of surveillance, most notably by the police. The album also references the fact that 2Pac is under the attention of many fans, being his fourth studio album.[10]
Singles[edit]
The first single, 'California Love' featuring Dr. Dre and Roger Troutman was released, December 28, 1995.[11] This is perhaps 2Pac's best-known song and his most successful, reaching number one on the Billboard Hot 100 for eight weeks (as a double A-side single with 'How Do U Want It') and 12 weeks at number one in New Zealand. The song was nominated for a Grammy Award as a Best Rap Solo Performance and Best Rap Performance by a Duo or Group (with Dr. Dre and Roger Troutman) in 1997.[12] A remix version also produced by Dr. Dre appeared on the album. The song has since been certified 2x platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America.[13]
'2 of Amerikaz Most Wanted' featuring rapper Snoop Dogg, was released as the second single on, May 7, 1996.[14] The video was directed by one of 2Pac's production partners, Gobi M. Rahimi and was filmed four months prior to the September 1996 shooting of 2Pac. The prelude for the song shows a parody of Biggie Smalls ('Piggie') and Puff Daddy ('Buff Daddy') in discussion with Shakur about the November 1994 shooting. The beginning of the scene where Tupac is speaking to Biggie is in reference to the movie Scarface where Tony speaks to his alleged killer before shooting him.[15] The song peaked at number 46 on the US BillboardHot R&B/Hip-Hop Airplay chart.[16]
The third single, 'How Do U Want It' featuring R&B duo K-Ci & JoJo, was released, June 4, 1996.[17] It was a Double A-side single to 'California Love' in America. The song reached number one on the Billboard Hot 100. There were three videos filmed for the song: two in the same set for the single in April 1996. The video was directed by Ron Hightower and produced by Tracy D. Robinson. These two are distinguished by MPAA rating (one is certified adult material). The video portrays a wild sex party with jacuzzi, mechanical bull riding, cage dancing and pole stripping. All actors and actresses are dressed in renaissance-age costumes, though all clothes are removed for the nude clip. The adult-material video also features numerous porn stars, including Nina Hartley, Heather Hunter, and Angel Kelly.[18] The limousine segment seen in the clean version is the same except no nudity.[19] The third one is the concert version, mostly them performing on stage. There are cameo appearances by K-Ci & JoJo, and fellow group member of Digital UndergroundShock G both in the concert and studio segments.[20]
'I Ain't Mad at Cha' featuring singer Danny Boy, was released shortly after Shakur's death as the final single from the album, on September 15, 1996. For the video the song was re-recorded with a live band. The new track was recorded at Can-Am Studios by Conley Abrams. The video was shot weeks before Shakur's death.[21]
Critical reception[edit]
Professional ratings | |
---|---|
Review scores | |
Source | Rating |
AllMusic | [22] |
Encyclopedia of Popular Music | [23] |
Entertainment Weekly | B+[24] |
Los Angeles Times | [25] |
NME | 9/10[26] |
Pitchfork | 9.4/10[27] |
Q | [28] |
Rolling Stone | [29] |
The Rolling Stone Album Guide | [30] |
Spin | 7/10[31] |
All Eyez on Me received widespread acclaim. Spin magazine gave it 7 out of 10 and said: 'As long as you don't expect philanthropy from Tupac, you'll find honesty and some pleasurably twisted scenarios.'[32] The record ranked No. 3 on Entertainment Weekly's list of Top 10 albums of 1996.[33]AllMusic stated, 'Maybe it was his time in prison, or maybe it was simply his signing with Suge Knight's Death Row label. Whatever the case, 2Pac re-emerged hardened and hungry with All Eyez on Me, the first double-disc album of original material in hip-hop history. With all the controversy surrounding him, 2Pac seemingly wanted to throw down a monumental epic whose sheer scope would make it an achievement of itself. But more than that, it's also an unabashed embrace of the gangsta lifestyle, backing off the sober self-recognition of Me Against the World. Sure, there are a few reflective numbers and dead-homiez tributes, but they're much more romanticized this time around'.'Despite some undeniable filler, it is easily the best production 2Pac's ever had on record'.[34] In the Los Angeles Times, Cheo Hodari Coker praised the album: 'All Eyez on Me, a 27-song, 133-minute gangster's paradise, finds the rapper even more venomous than he was before his 11-month incarceration for sexual abuse. He displays no remorse for his tough life, and even less feeling for his enemies. The only thing jail time did for 2Pac was make his creative fires burn even hotter—he raps here with a passion and skill matched in gangsta rap only by Snoop Doggy Dogg and the Notorious B.I.G. And with such producers as DJ Pooh, DJ Quik, Dr. Dre and Johnny J laying down the tracks, he finally has a musical team worthy of his talent.'[25]
'It's like a Cali thug-life version of Pink Floyd's The Wall – pure gangsta ego run amok over two CDs,' complained Rolling Stone. 'At that length, the album's all-hard-all-the-time tone approaches caricature.'[35] Nonetheless, the album was included in the magazine's essential recordings of the 1990s.[36]
Accolades[edit]
- The information regarding accolades attributed to All Eyez on Me is adapted from Acclaimed Music.[37]
- Asterisk (*) signifies unordered lists.
Publication | Country | Accolade | Year | Rank |
---|---|---|---|---|
FNAC | France | The 1000 Best Albums of All Time[38] | 2008 | 461 |
Rock & Folk | The Best Albums from 1963 to 1999[39] | 1999 | * | |
Babylon | Greece | The 50 Best Albums of the 1990s | 48 | |
Hip-Hop Connection | United Kingdom | The 100 Greatest Rap Albums 1995–2005 | 2005 | 35 |
The New Nation | Top 100 Albums by Black Artists | 64 | ||
Q | The Ultimate Music Collection | * | ||
90 Albums of the 90s | 1999 | * | ||
rap.About.com | United States | 100 Greatest Hip Hop Albums[40] | 2008 | 80 |
Best Rap Albums of 1996[41] | 1 | |||
Tom Moon | 1000 Recordings to Hear Before You Die | * | ||
Entertainment Weekly | The 100 Best Albums from 1983 to 2008 | 87 | ||
Ego Trip | Hip Hop's 25 Greatest Albums by Year 1980–98 | 1999 | 14 | |
Rolling Stone | The Essential Recordings of the 90s | * | ||
100 Best Albums of the Nineties[42] | 2010 | 50 | ||
Complex | The 90 Best Rap Albums of the '90s | 2014 | 10 |
Commercial performance[edit]
All Eyez on Me debuted at number-one on both the Billboard 200 and the Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums charts. It was the second album from 2Pac to do so,[43] selling 566,000 copies in the first week.[44]All Eyez on Me has shipped 10 million copies in the United States as of July 23, 2014, and has been certified Diamond by the RIAA, which makes it one of the best-selling albums in the US.[45][46] In the UK, BPI certified the album Silver (300,000 copies sold) on January 1, 1997, followed by Gold on July 22, 2013, and Platinum on November 14, 2014.[47] It has charted on Billboard 200 for 105 weeks in total.
All Eyez on Me is 2Pac's best selling album.[46] It was re-released in 2001 as enhanced CDs containing the 'California Love' music video. Both discs contained the same data track. It was also re-released as a Dual-Disc in 2005.
Track listing[edit]
Disc 1: Book 1 | ||||
---|---|---|---|---|
No. | Title | Writer(s) | Producer(s) | Length |
1. | 'Ambitionz Az a Ridah' | Daz Dillinger | 4:39 | |
2. | 'All Bout U' (featuring Dru Down, Nate Dogg, Hussein Fatal, Yaki Kadafi & Snoop Dogg) | 4:37 | ||
3. | 'Skandalouz' (featuring Nate Dogg) | Daz Dillinger | 4:09 | |
4. | 'Got My Mind Made Up' (featuring Daz Dillinger, Method Man, Kurupt & Redman) |
| Daz Dillinger | 5:13 |
5. | 'How Do U Want It' (featuring K-Ci & JoJo) | Johnny 'J' | 4:48 | |
6. | '2 of Amerikaz Most Wanted' (featuring Snoop Dogg) |
| Daz Dillinger | 4:07 |
7. | 'No More Pain' |
| 6:15 | |
8. | 'Heartz of Men' |
| DJ Quik | 4:43 |
9. | 'Life Goes On' | Johnny 'J' | 5:02 | |
10. | 'Only God Can Judge Me' (featuring Rappin' 4-Tay) |
| 4:57 | |
11. | 'Tradin' War Stories' (featuring Dramacydal, C-Bo & Storm) |
| 5:29 | |
12. | 'California Love' (remix; featuring Dr. Dre & Roger Troutman) |
| 6:25 | |
13. | 'I Ain't Mad at Cha' (featuring Danny Boy) |
| Daz Dillinger | 4:54 |
14. | 'What'z Ya Phone #' (featuring Danny Boy) |
| 5:10 | |
Total length: | 1:10:55 |
Disc 2: Book 2 | ||||
---|---|---|---|---|
No. | Title | Writer(s) | Producer(s) | Length |
1. | 'Can't C Me' (featuring George Clinton) | Dr. Dre | 5:30 | |
2. | 'Shorty Wanna Be a Thug' |
| Johnny 'J' | 3:52 |
3. | 'Holla at Me' (featuring Jewell) | Bobby 'Bobcat' Ervin | 4:55 | |
4. | 'Wonda Why They Call U Bytch' |
| 4:18 | |
5. | 'When We Ride' (featuring The Outlawz) |
| 5:10 | |
6. | 'Thug Passion' (featuring Dramacydal, Jewell & Storm) |
| 5:08 | |
7. | 'Picture Me Rollin' (featuring Syke, C.P.O. & Danny Boy) |
| Johnny 'J' | 5:15 |
8. | 'Check Out Time' (featuring Syke & Kurupt) |
| 4:39 | |
9. | 'Ratha Be Ya Nigga' (featuring Richie Rich) | Doug Rasheed | 4:14 | |
10. | 'All Eyez on Me' (featuring Syke) |
| Johnny 'J' | 5:08 |
11. | 'Run tha Streetz' (featuring Michel'Le, Mutah & Storm) |
| 5:16 | |
12. | 'Ain't Hard 2 Find' (featuring E-40, B-Legit, D-Shot, C-Bo & Richie Rich) |
| 4:29 | |
13. | 'Heaven Ain't Hard 2 Find' (featuring Danny Boy) | QDIII | 3:59 | |
Total length: | 1:01:45 |
Original UK edition bonus track | ||||
---|---|---|---|---|
No. | Title | Writer(s) | Producer | Length |
14. | 'California Love' (short radio edit; featuring Dr. Dre & Roger Troutman) |
| Dr. Dre | 4:01 |
Total length: | 1:05:47 |
- Notes
- 'All Bout U' features additional vocals from Nate Dogg and Snoop Dogg and uncredited vocals from Dru Down.
- 'Life Goes On' features Stacey Smallie additional backgrounds Nanci Fletcher
- 'Tradin' War Stories' features uncredited vocals from CPO.
- 'California Love (Remix)' features background vocals from Barbara Wilson, Nanci Fletcher, and Danette Williams. The full original version can only be found on promo vinyl versions.
- 'Can't C Me' features additional vocals from George Clinton and Nanci Fletcher.
- 'Wonder Why They Call U Bytch' originally featured former Bad Boy Records singer Faith Evans, but her vocals were replaced.
- 'Check Out Time' features background vocals from Natasha Walker.
- 'Ratha Be Ya Nigga' features background vocals from Stacey Smallie.
- Tracklist, writing and production credits adapted from AllMusic review, MusicBrainz database and CD booklet[48]
Sample credits[edit]
|
|
Personnel[edit]
Credits for All Eyez on Me adapted from AllMusic and CD booklet.[72]
- 2Pac — associate producer, composer, primary artist, producer
- Suge Knight — executive producer
- Norris Anderson — production manager
- Delmar 'Daz' Arnaud — composer
- Dave Aron — engineer, mixing
- Big Syke — featured artist
- Larry Blackmon — composer
- David Blake — composer, mixing, producer, talk box
- B-Legit — featured artist
- Bobcat — composer
- Calvin Broadus — composer
- R. Brown — composer
- C-BO — featured artist
- Larry Chatman — associate producer
- Rick Clifford — engineer
- G. Clinton, Jr. — composer
- George Clinton — composer, featured artist, vocals
- Nanci Fletcher — featured artist, vocals
- Dorothy Coleman — background vocals
- W. Collins — composer
- Kenn Cox — composer
- CPO — featured artist
- Woody Cunningham — composer
- Tommy D. Daugherty — engineer
- Danny Boy — featured artist
- Dat Nigga Daz — featured artist, producer
- Robert Diggs — composer
- DJ Pooh — composer, mixing, producer
- Dr. Dre — composer, featured artist, mixing, producer
- Tha Dogg Pound — featured artist
- Nate Dogg — featured artist, vocals
- Dramacydal — featured artist
- Dru Down — featured artist
- Norman Durham — composer
- E-40 — featured artist
- Ebony — background vocals
- Bobby Ervin — composer, producer
- Fatal — featured artist
- Brian Gardner — mastering
- Michael Geiser — associate engineer
- Yaki Kadafi — featured artist
- Nathaniel Hale — composer
- C. Haskins — composer
- Johnny Jackson — composer
- Jewell — featured artist
- Johnny 'J' — mixing, producer
- Puff Johnson — background vocals
- Jojo the Elf — featured artist
- E. Jordan — composer
- Kurupt — featured artist
- Alvin McGill — associate engineer, engineer
- Method Man — featured artist
- Michel'le — featured artist
- Mike Mosley — assistant engineer, composer, mixing, producer
- Nanci Fletcher — featured artist
- Shirley Murdock — composer
- Ken Nahoum — photography
- Outlawz — featured artist
- J.P. Pennington — composer
- Prince — composer
- George Pryce — art direction, design
- QD3 — composer
- Rappin' 4-Tay — featured artist
- Doug Rasheed — composer, producer
- Danny Ray — background vocals
- Redman — featured artist
- Richie Rich — featured artist
- Rick Rock — producer
- Patrick Shevelin — associate engineer
- Carl 'Butch' Small — percussion
- Stacey Smallie — background vocals
- C. Smith — composer
- Henry 'Hendogg' Smith — illustrations
- Snoop Doggy Dogg — featured artist, vocals
- Troy Staton — engineer
- D. Stevens — composer
- E. Stevens — composer
- D. Stewart — composer
- The Storm — featured artist
- DeVanté Swing — composer, mixing, producer
- Roy Tesfay — production co-ordination
- Rahiem Prince Thomas — composer
- S. Thomas — composer
- Sean 'Barney' Thomas — keyboards
- Larry Troutman — composer
- Roger Troutman — composer, featured artist, talk box, unknown contributor role
- Natasha Walker — background vocals
- Carlos Warlick — engineer, mixing
- Barbara Warren — stylist, unknown contributor role
- Bruce Washington — composer
- Danette Williams — background vocals
- Barbara Wilson — background vocals
- Nanci Fletcher — background vocals
- Keston Wright — engineer
Charts[edit]
Weekly charts[edit]
Chart (1996) | Peak position |
---|---|
Australian Albums Chart[73] | 19 |
Belgium Charts (Flanders)[74] | 44 |
Belgium Charts (Wallonia)[75] | 34 |
Dutch Albums Chart[76] | 11 |
French Albums Chart[77] | 15 |
German Albums Chart[78] | 16 |
New Zealand Albums Chart[79] | 15 |
Norwegian Albums Chart[80] | 14 |
Swedish Albums Chart[81] | 5 |
Switzerland Albums Chart[82] | 15 |
UK R&B Albums Charts[83] | 6 |
UK Albums Chart[84][85] | 32 |
US Billboard 200[86] | 1 |
US Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums (Billboard)[86] | 1 |
Chart (2002) | Peak position |
---|---|
UK Albums (Official Charts Company)[87] | 65 |
Chart (2003) | Peak position |
---|---|
Irish Albums Chart[88] | 62 |
UK Albums (Official Charts Company)[87] | 74 |
French Albums Chart[89] | 99 |
Year-end charts[edit]
Chart (1996) | Position |
---|---|
German Albums Chart[90] | 66 |
End of decade charts[edit]
Chart (1990–1999) | Position |
---|---|
U.S. Billboard 200[91] | 97 |
Certifications[edit]
Region | Certification | Certified units/Sales |
---|---|---|
Australia (ARIA)[92] | 3× Platinum | 210,000^ |
Austria (IFPI Austria)[93] | Platinum | 50,000* |
Canada (Music Canada)[94] | 2× Platinum | 200,000^ |
France (SNEP)[95] | Gold | 100,000* |
Germany (BVMI)[96] | 2× Platinum | 1,000,000^ |
Netherlands (NVPI)[97] | 3× Platinum | 300,000^ |
Poland (ZPAV)[98] | Gold | 50,000* |
Switzerland (IFPI Switzerland)[99] | Platinum | 50,000^ |
New Zealand (RMNZ)[100] | 2× Platinum | 30,000^ |
United Kingdom (BPI)[101] | Platinum | 300,000^ |
United States (RIAA)[102] | Diamond | 5,000,000^ |
*sales figures based on certification alone |
See also[edit]
References[edit]
- ^'Maxwell, Tupac Top Soul Train Awards'. E! Online. March 7, 1997. Retrieved December 10, 2011.
- ^'2Pac ♥ Wins 'R&B/Soul or Rap Album of the Year' [Soul Train Music Awards March 14, 1997]'. YouTube. Retrieved November 30, 2016.
- ^'Gold & Platinum'. RIAA. Archived from the original on January 4, 2013. Retrieved April 14, 2016.
- ^'Gold & Platinum'. RIAA. Archived from the original on January 4, 2013. Retrieved April 14, 2016.
- ^David Drake; Erik Ross; Lauren Nostro; Ted Simmons; Insanul Ahmed (April 5, 2013). '16 Label Changes That Shocked The Rap Game'. Complex. Retrieved November 30, 2016.
- ^San Miguel, Danielito (February 8, 2012). 'Tupac's official contract with Death Row Records. Confirmed by David Kenner and Suge Knight'. Truth About Tupac. Retrieved November 30, 2016.
- ^ abNamikas, Michael (February 11, 2016). 'All Eyez on Him: Celebrating 2Pac's Magnum Opus'. HipHopDX. Retrieved January 30, 2017.
- ^'Rare Tupac interview on Luke's Peepshow 1996 2Pac'. YouTube. Retrieved November 30, 2016.
- ^'Tupac Interview by Bill Bellamy 1996 (HQ)'. YouTube. Retrieved November 30, 2016.
- ^Nielson, Erik. 'Can't C Me': Surveillance and Rap Music.' Journal of Black Studies 40.6 (2010): 1254-274. Web.
- ^'2Pac - California Love'. AllMusic. Retrieved November 29, 2016.
- ^'39th Grammy Awards - 1997 held February 26, 1997'. Rock On The Net. Retrieved November 29, 2016.
- ^'2Pac - How Do U Want It / California Love'. RIAA. Retrieved November 29, 2016.
- ^'2Pac / Snoop Dogg - 2 of Amerikaz Most Wanted'. AllMusic. Retrieved November 29, 2016.
- ^Death Row Records (November 13, 2009). '2Pac - '2 of Amerikaz Most Wanted''. YouTube. Retrieved November 29, 2016.
- ^'Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Airplay – Issue Date: 1996-06-08'. Billboard. Prometheus Global Media. Archived from the original(requires registration) on January 15, 2013. Retrieved June 3, 2012.
- ^'2Pac - How Do U Want It'. AllMusic. Retrieved November 29, 2016.
- ^DJ Vlad (March 18, 2016). 'Heather Hunter Cries When Asked About 2Pac, 'How Do You Want It' Video'. YouTube. Retrieved November 30, 2016.
- ^'2Pac - How Do You Want It XXX'. YouTube. Retrieved November 29, 2016.
- ^'2Pac - How Do You Want It (Concert Version)'. YouTube. Retrieved November 29, 2016.
- ^Death Row Records (April 18, 2010). '2Pac Featuring Danny Boy - I Ain't Mad At Cha - Official Death Row Upload'. YouTube. Retrieved November 29, 2016.
- ^Huey, Steve. 'All Eyez on Me – 2Pac'. AllMusic. Retrieved May 21, 2014.
- ^Larkin, Colin (2011). The Encyclopedia of Popular Music (5th concise ed.). Omnibus Press. ISBN0-85712-595-8.
- ^Browne, David (March 8, 1996). 'All Eyez on Me'. Entertainment Weekly. New York. Retrieved May 21, 2014.
- ^ abCoker, Cheo Hodari (February 11, 1996). '2Pac: Bitter, Remorseless, Brilliant'. Los Angeles Times. Retrieved May 7, 2016.
- ^Morton, Roger (March 2, 1996). '2Pac – All Eyez On Me'. NME. London. Archived from the original on August 17, 2000. Retrieved July 11, 2016.
- ^Thompson, Paul A. (January 28, 2018). '2Pac: All Eyez on Me'. Pitchfork. Retrieved January 28, 2018.
- ^'2Pac: All Eyez on Me'. Q. London (178): 130. July 2001.
- ^Jamison, Laura (April 4, 1996). 'All Eyez on Me'. Rolling Stone. New York. Retrieved May 7, 2016.
- ^Tate, Greg (2004). '2Pac/Tupac Shakur'. In Brackett, Nathan; Hoard, Christian (eds.). The New Rolling Stone Album Guide (4th ed.). Simon & Schuster. pp. 830–32. ISBN0-7432-0169-8.
- ^Cummings, Sue (May 1996). '2Pac: All Eyez on Me'. Spin. New York. 12 (2): 106–07. Retrieved May 7, 2016.
- ^Spin (5/96, p. 106) – 10 (out of 10)
- ^Entertainment Weekly (12/27/96-1/3/97, p. 146) – Ranked #3 on Entertainment Weekly 's list of the Top 10 Albums And Singles Of 1996.
- ^All Eyez on MeAMG review
- ^Rolling Stone Yearbook, 26 December 1996–9 January 1997
- ^Rolling Stone (May 13, 1999, p. 74) – Included in Rolling Stone 's Essential Recordings of the 90s.
- ^'All Eyez on Me'. Acclaimed Music. Archived from the original on October 21, 2016. Retrieved February 21, 2017.
- ^'La discothèque idéale de la Fnac en 1000 disques'. Le Soir. November 27, 2008. Retrieved February 21, 2017.
- ^'Disco 2000 : 1963–1999 Les albums indispensables (décembre 1999)'. Rock&Folk. Retrieved February 21, 2017.
- ^Adaso, Henry. The Greatest Hip-Hop Albums of all Time. about.com. Retrieved September 6, 2010.
- ^Adaso, Henry. Best Rap Albums of 1996. about.com. Retrieved September 6, 2010.
- ^Hudak, Joseph. '2Pac, 'All Eyez on Me' - 100 Best Albums of the Nineties'. Rolling Stone. Retrieved April 14, 2016.
- ^'All Eyez on Me - 2Pac'. AllMusic. February 13, 1996. Retrieved December 10, 2011.
- ^Jerry, Crowe (November 14, 1996). 'All Eyes on Shakur's 'Don Killuminati''. Los Angeles Times. Retrieved November 30, 2016.
- ^Lamarre, Carl (August 1, 2014). 'Tupac's 'All Eyez on Me' Goes Diamond'. XXL. Retrieved February 21, 2017.
- ^ ab'Tupac Month: 2Pac's Discography'. XXL. September 16, 2011. Retrieved February 21, 2017.
- ^'Certified Awards'. BPI.
Input All Eyez on Me as the keyword, using the drop-down lists below switch the parameters as follows [from top]: Title, All, Album, then tick the Exact match checkbox and click Search.
- ^All Eyez on Me tracklist adapted from the AllMusic review
- ^'Ambitionz Az a Ridah by 2Pac'. WhoSampled.
- ^'All Bout U by 2Pac, Dru Down and Hussein Fatal feat. Nate Dogg, Snoop Dogg and Yaki Kadafi'. WhoSampled.
- ^'Got My Mind Made Up by 2Pac and Redman feat. Daz Dillinger, Kurupt and Method Man'. WhoSampled.
- ^'How Do U Want It by 2Pac feat. K-Ci & JoJo'. WhoSampled.
- ^'2 of Amerikaz Most Wanted by 2Pac feat. Snoop Dogg'. WhoSampled.
- ^'No More Pain by 2Pac'. WhoSampled.
- ^'Heartz of Men by 2Pac'. WhoSampled.
- ^'Life Goes On by 2Pac'. WhoSampled.
- ^'Only God Can Judge Me by 2Pac feat. Rappin' 4-Tay'. WhoSampled.
- ^'Tradin War Stories by 2Pac feat. C-Bo, Dramacydal and Storm (Donna Hunter)'. WhoSampled.
- ^'California Love (Remix) by 2Pac feat. Dr. Dre and Roger Troutman'. WhoSampled.
- ^'I Ain't Mad at Cha by 2Pac feat. Danny Boy'. WhoSampled.
- ^'What'z Ya Phone # by 2Pac feat. Danny Boy'. WhoSampled.
- ^'Can't C Me by 2Pac feat. George Clinton'. WhoSampled.
- ^'Shorty Wanna Be a Thug by 2Pac'. WhoSampled.
- ^'When We Ride by 2Pac feat. Outlaw Immortalz'. WhoSampled.
- ^'Thug Passion by 2Pac'. WhoSampled.
- ^'Picture Me Rollin by 2Pac feat. Danny Boy, Big Syke and C.P.O.'WhoSampled.
- ^'Check Out Time by 2Pac'. WhoSampled.
- ^'Ratha Be Ya Nigga by 2Pac feat. Richie Rich (Rapper)'. WhoSampled.
- ^'All Eyez on Me by 2Pac'. WhoSampled.
- ^'Run Tha Streetz by 2Pac'. WhoSampled.
- ^'Heaven Ain't Hard 2 Find by 2Pac feat. Danny Boy'. WhoSampled.
- ^'All Eyez on Me - 2Pac | Songs, Reviews, Credits'. Allmusic. Retrieved February 21, 2017.
- ^'australian-charts.com - 2 Pac - All Eyez on Me'. Australian-Charts.com. Archived from the original on October 23, 2012. Retrieved May 30, 2009.
- ^'www.ultratop.be - 2 Pac - All Eyez on Me'. ultratop.be. Archived from the original on August 14, 2011. Retrieved May 30, 2009.
- ^'www.ultratop.be - 2 Pac - All Eyez on Me'. ultratop.be. Archived from the original on August 12, 2011. Retrieved May 30, 2009.
- ^'dutchcharts.nl - 2 Pac - All Eyez on Me'. dutchcharts.nl. Archived from the original on October 25, 2012. Retrieved May 30, 2009.
- ^'Les albums classés par artistes'. Dominic DURAND / InfoDisc. Archived from the original on October 13, 2005. Retrieved August 20, 2015.
- ^'musicline.de - 2 Pac - All Eyez on Me'. musicline.de. Archived from the original on September 24, 2012. Retrieved May 30, 2009.
- ^'charts.org.nz - 2 Pac - All Eyez on Me'. charts.org.nz. Archived from the original on September 8, 2011. Retrieved May 30, 2009.
- ^'norwegiancharts.com - 2 Pac - All Eyez on Me'. NorwegianCharts.com. Archived from the original on November 2, 2012. Retrieved May 30, 2009.
- ^'swedishcharts.com - 2Pac - All Eyez on Me'. SwedishCharts.com. Archived from the original on July 28, 2011. Retrieved May 30, 2009.
- ^'2 Pac - All Eyez on Me - hitparade.ch'. hitparade.ch. Archived from the original on March 2, 2005. Retrieved May 30, 2009.
- ^Official R&B Albums Chart Top 40 | Official Charts Company
- ^'Search Results -- Albums'. chartstats.com. Retrieved May 24, 2009.
- ^'2PAC | Artist'. Official Charts. Archived from the original on August 9, 2011. Retrieved December 10, 2011.
- ^ ab'allmusic ((( All Eyez on Me - Charts & Awards - Billboard Albums )))'. Allmusic. Retrieved May 24, 2009.
- ^ ab'Chart Log UK: Numerals'. Zobbel.de. Retrieved December 8, 2011.
- ^'GFK Chart-Track'. Chart-track.co.uk. Retrieved April 14, 2016.
- ^'lescharts.com - 2 Pac - All Eyez on Me'. LesCharts.com. Retrieved May 30, 2009.
- ^'Top 100 Album-Jahrescharts' (in German). GfK Entertainment. Retrieved September 8, 2016.
- ^Mayfield, Geoff (December 25, 1999). 1999 The Year in Music Totally '90s: Diary of a Decade - The listing of Top Pop Albums of the '90s & Hot 100 Singles of the '90s. Billboard. Retrieved October 15, 2010.
- ^'ARIA Charts – Accreditations – 1997 Albums'. Australian Recording Industry Association.
- ^'Austrian album certifications – 2 Pac – All Eyez On Me' (in German). IFPI Austria. Retrieved November 5, 2017.Enter 2 Pac in the field Interpret. Enter All Eyez On Me in the field Titel. Select album in the field Format. Click Suchen.
- ^'Canadian album certifications – 2 Pac – All Eyez on Me'. Music Canada.
- ^'French album certifications – 2 Pac – All Eyez On Me' (in French). Syndicat National de l'Édition Phonographique.
- ^'Gold-/Platin-Datenbank (2Pac; 'All Eyez On Me')' (in German). Bundesverband Musikindustrie. Retrieved December 8, 2011.
- ^'Dutch album certifications – 2 Pac – All Eyez On Me' (in Dutch). Nederlandse Vereniging van Producenten en Importeurs van beeld- en geluidsdragers. Retrieved November 5, 2017.Enter All Eyez On Me in the 'Artiest of titel' box.
- ^'Polish album certifications – 2Pac – All Eyez On Me' (in Polish). Polish Society of the Phonographic Industry. Retrieved January 3, 2014.
- ^'The Official Swiss Charts and Music Community: Awards (2Pac; 'All Eyez On Me')'. IFPI Switzerland. Hung Medien. Retrieved December 8, 2011.
- ^'New Zealand album certifications – 2Pac – All Eyez on Me'. Recorded Music NZ. July 13, 1997. Retrieved December 30, 2017.
- ^'British album certifications – 2 Pac – All Eyez on Me'. British Phonographic Industry.Select albums in the Format field.Select Platinum in the Certification field.Type All Eyez on Me in the 'Search BPI Awards' field and then press Enter.
- ^'American album certifications – 2_Pac – All Eyez on Me'. Recording Industry Association of America.If necessary, click Advanced, then click Format, then select Album, then click SEARCH.
External links[edit]
- All Eyez on Me at AllMusic
- All Eyez on Me at Discogs (list of releases)
- All Eyez on Me at MusicBrainz (list of releases)
England's greatest rock band holds the top spot on the all-time ranking of best-selling artists by album sales, and it looks untouchable on a bizarre list filled with a number of surprising appearances.
It's somewhat shocking to find out, for instance, that smooth-jazz saxophonist Kenny G has sold more albums than Eminem, and that Garth Brooks has sold more than Elvis Presley and Michael Jackson.
We compiled this list by ranking the most successful acts in music history according to their total certified album units sold in the US, as provided by the RIAA.
We’ll tell you what’s true. You can form your own view.
From 15p€0.18$0.18USD 0.27 a day, more exclusives, analysis and extras.
Check out the 50 best-selling music artists of all time by album sales:
50. Dave Matthews Band -- 33.5 million units
49. Phil Collins -- 33.5 million units
48. Britney Spears -- 34 million units
47. Bon Jovi -- 34.5 million units
46. Queen -- 34.5 million units
45. Def Leppard -- 35 million units
44. Bob Dylan -- 36 million units
43. Tupac Shakur -- 36.5 million units
41. Backstreet Boys -- 37 million units
T39. Tim McGraw -- 37.5 million units
T39. Foreigner -- 37.5 million units
38. Rod Stewart -- 38 million units
37. Simon & Garfunkel -- 38.5 million units
36. Chicago -- 38.5 million units
35. Eric Clapton -- 40 million units
34. Reba McEntire -- 41 million units
33. Santana -- 43.5 million units
32. Alan Jackson -- 43.5 million units
T30. Eminem -- 44.5 million units
T30. Guns N' Roses -- 44.5 million units
T30. Bob Seger & The Silver Bullet Band -- 44.5 million units
29. Alabama -- 46.5 million units
28. Kenny Rogers -- 47.5 million units
T25. Shania Twain -- 48 million units
T25. Kenny G -- 48 million units
T25. Journey -- 48 million units
T23. Neil Diamond -- 49.5 million units
T23. Fleetwood Mac -- 49.5 million units
22. Celine Dion -- 50 million units
21. U2 -- 52 million units
20. Van Halen -- 56.5 million units
19. Whitney Houston -- 57 million units
18. Metallica -- 63 million units
17. Mariah Carey -- 64 million units
16. Madonna -- 64.5 million units
T13. Bruce Springsteen -- 65.5 million units
T13. Aerosmith -- 66.5 million units
T13. The Rolling Stones -- 66.5 million units
12. Barbara Streisand -- 68.5 million units
11. George Strait -- 69 million units
10. AC/DC -- 72 million units
9. Pink Floyd -- 75 million units
8. Elton John -- 78 million units
7. Michael Jackson -- 81 million units
6. Billy Joel -- 82.5 million units
5. Eagles -- 101 million units
4. Led Zeppelin -- 111.5 million units
3. Elvis Presley -- 136 million units
2. Garth Brooks -- 148 million units
1. The Beatles -- 178 million units
Read more:
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Read the original article on Business Insider UK. © 2017. Follow Business Insider UK on Twitter.
Over the weekend, the website for PBS' "NewsHour" posted a story announcing that Tupac Shakur was alive and well, living in New Zealand.
To veteran hip-hop heads, the piece was clearly a prank--reports of Shakur's continued existence have become as common as tabloid reports of a living Elvis--and indeed, hacker collective LulzSec soon claimed responsibility, citing its disappointment with PBS' recent portrayal of WikiLeaks.
Lost in the news buzz is the fact that Shakur is earning money like he's still alive. The late rapper’s estate took in about $3.5 million last year, by our estimates. Shakur has sold over 75 million records worldwide, with the bulk of that coming after his death; seven of his 11 platinum albums were released posthumously. As recently as 2007 Shakur’s estate banked $9 million--more than Eminem or 50 Cent made last year.
Shakur's vast library of unreleased material–over 153 songs in all–has been dwindling of late. His estate now makes more money hawking Shakur’s likeness than it does from his music, thanks to strong demand for the rapper’s Makaveli-branded sneakers, t-shirts and even sweaters. Last year was the first time in ages that Shakur's annual earnings wouldn't have been enough to qualify him for our Hip-Hop Cash Kings list, which ranks rap's top 20 earners.
That may change in the coming year, as long-rumored Tupac biopic is finally slated to start filming this summer. Shakur will have a long way to go to catch the top-earning dead celeb: Michael Jackson raked in $275 million last year from beyond the grave.
To veteran hip-hop heads, the piece was clearly a prank--reports of Shakur's continued existence have become as common as tabloid reports of a living Elvis--and indeed, hacker collective LulzSec soon claimed responsibility, citing its disappointment with PBS' recent portrayal of WikiLeaks.
Lost in the news buzz is the fact that Shakur is earning money like he's still alive. The late rapper’s estate took in about $3.5 million last year, by our estimates. Shakur has sold over 75 million records worldwide, with the bulk of that coming after his death; seven of his 11 platinum albums were released posthumously. As recently as 2007 Shakur’s estate banked $9 million--more than Eminem or 50 Cent made last year.
Shakur's vast library of unreleased material–over 153 songs in all–has been dwindling of late. His estate now makes more money hawking Shakur’s likeness than it does from his music, thanks to strong demand for the rapper’s Makaveli-branded sneakers, t-shirts and even sweaters. Last year was the first time in ages that Shakur's annual earnings wouldn't have been enough to qualify him for our Hip-Hop Cash Kings list, which ranks rap's top 20 earners.
That may change in the coming year, as long-rumored Tupac biopic is finally slated to start filming this summer. Shakur will have a long way to go to catch the top-earning dead celeb: Michael Jackson raked in $275 million last year from beyond the grave.
For more on the business of music, check out my Jay-Z biography, Empire State of Mind: How Jay-Z Went From Street Corner to Corner Office. You can also follow me on Twitter @zogblog.
Who Was Tupac Shakur?
Tupac Shakur (June 16, 1971 to September 13, 1996) was an American rapper and actor who came to embody the 1990s gangsta-rap aesthetic, and who in death became an icon symbolizing noble struggle. He has sold 75 million albums to date, making him one of the top-selling artists of all time.
A sensitive, precociously talented and troubled soul, Tupac was gunned down in Las Vegas on September 7, 1996 and died six days later. His murder has never been solved. Tupac began his music career as a rebel with a cause to articulate the travails and injustices endured by many African-Americans. His skill in doing so made him a spokesperson not just for his own generation but for subsequent ones who continue to face the same struggle for equality.
In life, his biggest battle was sometimes with himself. As fate drove him towards the nihilism of gangsta rap, and into the arms of the controversial Death Row Records impresario Suge Knight, the boundaries between Shakur's art and his life became increasingly blurred — with tragic consequences.
Cause of Death
Tupac died on September 13, 1996 of gunshot wounds inflicted six days prior.
On September 7, Tupac was in Las Vegas with Suge Knight to watch a Mike Tyson fight at the MGM Grand hotel. There was a scuffle after the bout between a member of the Crips gang and Tupac.
Knight, who was involved with the rival Bloods gang, and members of his entourage piled in. Later, as a car that Tupac was sharing with Knight stopped at a red light, a man emerged from another car and fired 13 shots, hitting Tupac in the hand, pelvis and chest. He later died at the hospital. His girlfriend Kidada and his mother Afeni were both with him in his final days.
Tupac's body was cremated. Members of his old band, Outlawz, made the controversial claim that they had smoked some of his ashes in honor of him. His mother announced she would scatter her son's ashes in Soweto, South Africa, the 'birthplace of his ancestors,' on the 10th anniversary of his murder. She later changed the date to June 16, 1997 — Tupac's 26th birthday as well as the anniversary of the 1976 Soweto uprising.
On March 9, 1997, six months after Tupac died, Biggie Smalls was killed in a drive-by shooting in Los Angeles; his murder has never been solved, either.
Is Tupac Alive?
Tupac Shakur died of gunshot wounds in 1996. However because his murder has never been solved, conspiracy theories have raged ever since. Fans have speculated that Tupac faked his death. On his album Life Goes On, Tupac rapped about his funeral; his song “I Ain’t Mad at Cha” was released two days after he died. There have been several reported potential Tupac “sightings” since his death, including in 2012 by Kim Kardashian.
In September 2017, Suge Knight hinted that Tupac might be alive in an interview. 'When I left that hospital me and 'Pac was laughing and joking. I don't see how someone can go from doing well to doing bad,' said Knight, adding that “with Pac you never know” if he could be alive and living in secret somewhere.
In early 2018, BET aired an episode of Death Row Chronicles in which former Crips member Duane 'Keffe D' Keith Davis admitted that he was riding in the car with the man who killed Shakur; he declined to identify the shooter in the interview, revealing only that the shots 'came from the back seat,' though he had earlier told federal investigators that the gun was in the hands of his nephew Orlando Anderson (now deceased).
The revelation fueled the launch of a change.org petition that called for the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department to declare the case 'cleared.' It also led to rumors that new arrest warrants were pending, but the LVMPD shot down those rumors in July, saying that they were reviewing the details of what 'remains an open homicide case.'
Tupac Shakur: Songs and Albums
Tupac has released a total of 11 platinum albums: four during his career, with seven more released posthumously. To date, Tupac has sold more than 75 million records worldwide.
As of September 2017, the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) listed Tupac as the 44th top-selling artist of all time by album sales and streaming figures.
Michael Jackson Total Album Sales
'2Pacalypse Now'
Tupac's first album as a solo artist was 2Pacalypse Now. Although it did not yield any hits, it sold a respectable 500,000 copies and established Tupac as an uncompromising social commentator on songs such as 'Brenda's Got a Baby' — which narrates an underaged mother's fall into destitution — and 'Soulja's Story,' which controversially spoke of 'blasting' a police officer and 'droppin' the cop.'
The song was cited as a motivation for a real-life cop killing by a teenage car thief called Ronald Ray Howard, and was condemned by the then-U.S. Vice President Dan Quayle. 'There is absolutely no reason for a record like this to be published,' Quayle said. 'It has no place in our society.' With those words, Shakur's notoriety was guaranteed.
'Strictly 4 My Niggaz'
Tupac’s second album, Strictly 4 My Niggaz, dropped in February 1993. It continued in the same socially conscious vein as his debut. On the gold-certified single 'Keep Ya Head Up,' he empathized with 'my sisters on the welfare,' encouraging them to 'please don't cry, dry your eyes, never let up.'
The video featured a cameo from his good friend, actress Jada Pinkett-Smith, whom Tupac had met in high school at the Baltimore School for the Arts in Maryland.
The album also featured contributions from Tupac's step-brother, Mopreme. Mopreme became a member of the hip-hop group Thug Life, which Tupac started and which released the album Thug Life: Volume 1 in 1994.
'Me Against the World'
When Tupac's third solo album came out on March 14, 1995, he was in jail. Its title, Me Against the World, could not have been more apt. It reached No. 1 in the Billboard 200 chart and is considered by many to be his magnum opus — 'by and large a work of pain, anger and burning desperation' wrote Cheo H. Coker at Rolling Stone.
But there was vulnerability, too — lead single, 'Dear Mama,' was a tear-jerking tribute to his mother, Afeni, that hit number 9 on the Billboard Hot 100 in April 1995.
'All Eyez on Me'
Tupac's debut for Death Row, the double-length album All Eyez on Me, came out in February 1996. With his new hip-hop group Outlawz debuting on the album, All Eyez on Me was an unapologetic celebration of the thug lifestyle, eschewing socially conscious lyrics in favour of gangsta-funk hedonism and menace.
Dr Dre, who had pioneered g-funk with NWA, produced the album's first single, 'California Love' — which went to No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100, and remains Tupac's best-known song. The third single from the album, 'How Do You Want It,' also reached No. 1. Within two months of its release, All Eyez on Me had been certified five-times double-platinum. It would eventually become diamond certified.
'How Do U Want It'
Released as a single in June 1996, “How Do You Want It” was more famous for its B track, “Hit ‘Em Up,” which aired Tupac’s West Coast feud with East Coast Bad Boy rivals. On the inflammatory song, Tupac spat venom at artists including Biggie Smalls, Lil Kim, Junior M.A.F.I.A. and Prodigy of Mobb Deep. The track seemed to chillingly presage Tupac’s death and the ensuing conspiracy theories:
“Grab ya Glocks, when you see Tupac; Call the cops, when you see Tupac, uh; Who shot me, but ya punks didn't finish; Now ya bout to feel the wrath of a menace,” he rapped.
'Don Killuminati: The Seven Day Theory'
Tupac's fifth album, Don Killuminati: The Seven Day Theory, was released in November 1996, just eight weeks after his death. It also reached No. 1 on the charts. Tupac recorded a total of six studio albums released posthumously, up to and including Pac's Life in 2006.
Net Worth
Tupac signed a $3.5 million contract with Death Row records in 1995 and, although he had sold $60 million in records, it was rumored he was in debt to the label at the time of his death.
Since his death, however, Tupac has continued to sell millions of records. Forbes magazineestimated that Tupac’s estate took in $9 million in 2007 and $3.5 million as recently as 2010. Celebrity Net Worth estimates Tupac’s estate’s net worth as of 2017 to be $40 million.
Movies
Along with his music, Shakur had appeared in several films by the time of his death, among them starring roles alongside Janet Jackson in 1993's Poetic Justice and Mickey Rourke in 1996's Bullet.
A biopic on Tupac Shakur’s life, All Eyez on Me, directed by Benny Boom and starring Demetrius Shipp Jr., was released in 2017. Tupac’s close friend Jada Pinkett-Smith, who is featured in the movie, later told reporters that she was a drug dealer when she met Tupac and that she found the “reimagining” of their relationship in the film “very hurtful.”
'It wasn't just about, oh, you have this cute girl, and this cool guy, they must have been in this — nah, it wasn't that at all. It was about survival, and it had always been about survival between us,' she said.
On November 21, 2017, A&E aired the six-part Biography Presents: Who Killed Tupac?, which followed civil rights attorney Benjamin Crump on his investigation into key theories behind Tupac's 1996 killing.
Poems and Book
Before Tupac became a rapper, he wrote poetry. 7.1 surround sound test download. “The world moves fast and it would rather pass u by / than 2 stop and c what makes you cry,' is one verse he wrote as a teenager that would eventually be published in the 2000 book, The Rose that Grew from Concrete.
Did Tupac Have a Wife or Kids?
Tupac was not married and had no children. At the time of his death he had a girlfriend, Kidada Jones, who is the daughter of Quincy Jones.
Birthday
Tupac Shakur was born on June 16, 1971, in Harlem, New York.
Real Name
Tupac was born as Lesane Parish Crooks. After joining the Black Panther party, his mother changed his first name to Tupac Amaru, after an 18th-century Peruvian revolutionary who was killed by the Spanish. Tupac later took his surname from his sister’s Sekiya's father, another Panther called Mutulu Shakur.
Tupac’s Mother, Father and Sister
Tupac’s mother, Alice Faye Williams, was the daughter of a North Carolina maid and a high-school dropout. She became pregnant with her son in 1970 while on bail after being charged with conspiring to set off a race war. Afeni was acquitted the following year after successfully defending herself in court, displaying a gift for oration that her son would inherit.
She changed her name to Afeni Shakur after becoming actively involved with the Black Panther Party. Afeni died in May 2016 at the age of 69.
Biggie Smalls Total Album Sales
Tupac's father, Billy Garland, was also a Panther but lost contact with Afeni when Tupac was five years old. The rapper would not see his father again until he was 23. 'I thought my father was dead all my life,' he told the writer Kevin Powell during an interview with Vibe magazine in 1996. 'I felt I needed a daddy to show me the ropes and I didn't have one.'
Afeni gave birth to a daughter, Sekiya, two years after Tupac. However Sekiya’s father, Mutulu Shakur, did not stick around, either.
From Drug Dealer to Promising Hip Hop Artist
A single mother of two children, Tupac’s mother Afeni struggled for money. The family moved homes often, sometimes staying in shelters. After they moved to Baltimore, Tupac enrolled at the prestigious Baltimore School for the Arts, at which he felt 'the freest I ever felt.'
Their neighborhood, however, was riven by crime, so the family moved to Marin City, California, which turned out to be a 'mean little ghetto' according to Robert Sam Anison's comprehensive posthumous feature on Tupac for Vanity Fair in 1997. It was in Marin City that Afeni succumbed to crack addiction — a drug her son, Tupac, would sell on the same streets where his mother bought her supply.
But Tupac's love for hip hop would steer him away from a life of crime (for a while, at least). At 17, in the spring of 1989, he met an older white woman, Leila Steinberg, in a park. They struck up a conversation about Winnie Mandela. Steinberg would later recall 'a young man with fan-like eyelashes, overflowing charisma, and the most infectious laugh.'
By the time they met, Tupac was obsessively writing poetry and convinced Steinberg, who had no music-industry experience, to become his manager.
Steinberg was eventually able to get Tupac in front of music manager Atron Gregory, who secured a gig for him in 1990 as a roadie and dancer for the hip hop group Digital Underground. He soon stepped up to the mic, making his recording debut in 1991 on Same Song, which soundtracked the Dan Aykroyd comedy Nothing but Trouble. Tupac also appeared on Digital Underground's album Sons of the P in October that year.
After the band's manager, Gregory, took over from Steinberg, he landed Tupac a deal with Interscope Records. A month after Sons of the P hit the stores came 2Pacalypse Now, Tupac's debut album as a solo artist.
Tupac often complained that he was misunderstood. 'Everything in life is not all beautiful,' he told journalist Chuck Phillips. 'There is lots of killing and drugs. To me a perfect album talks about the hard stuff and the fun and caring stuff. .. The thing that bothers me is that it seems like a lot of the sensitive stuff I write just goes unnoticed.'
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Legal Drama and Serving Jail Time
In August 1992, Tupac was attacked by jealous youths in Marin City. He drew his pistol but dropped it in the melee. Someone picked it up, the gun fired, and a 6-year-old bystander, Qa'id Walker-Teal, fell down dead.
While Tupac was not charged for Walker-Teal's death, he was reportedly inconsolable. (In 1995, Walker-Teal's family brought a civil case against Shakur, but settled out of court after an unnamed record company — thought to have been Death Row — offered compensation of between $300,000 to $500,000.)
Tupac did go to jail for 15 days in 1994 for assaulting the director Allen Hughes, who had fired him from the set of the movie Menace II Society for being disruptive.
In October 1993, Tupac shot and wounded two white off-duty cops in Atlanta — one in the abdomen and one in the buttocks — after an altercation. However, the charges were dropped after it emerged in court that the policemen had been drinking, had initiated the incident, and that one of the officers had threatened Tupac with a stolen gun.
The case illustrated the misrepresentation of African-American males, and the attitude of some police toward them, which Tupac had been talking about in his music. What was portrayed as gun-toting 'gangster' behavior by a lawless individual turned out to be an act of self-defense by a young man in fear of his life. All the while, Tupac's star continued to rise.
Tupac vs. Biggie Smalls (aka The Notorious B.I.G.)
Before Tupac released his third album, there was more trouble. In November 1994, he was shot multiple times in the lobby of a Manhattan recording studio, Quad, by two young black men.
Tupac believed his rap rival Biggie Smalls was behind the shooting, for which nobody has ever been charged. (Smalls always denied he knew anything; in 2011 Dexter Isaac, a New York prisoner serving a life sentence for an unrelated crime, claimed he was paid to steal from Shakur by the artist manager and mogul James 'Henchman' Rosemond, and had shot the rapper during the robbery).
Months later, in February 1995, Tupac was sentenced to between one and half and four and a half years of jail time for sexually abusing a female fan. The case related to an incident that had taken place in Tupac's suite in the New York Parker Meridien hotel in November 1993.
Tupac maintained that he had not raped the girl, although he confessed to the Vibe magazine journalist Kevin Powell that he could have prevented others who were present in the suite at the time from doing so. 'I had a job [to protect her],' he said, expressing his sorrow, 'and I never showed up.'
Death Row Records
While Tupac was in prison he was visited by Suge Knight, the notorious label boss of Death Row records. Knight offered to post the $1.3 million dollar bail Tupac needed to be released pending his appeal. The condition was that Tupac sign on to Death Row. Tupac duly signed and was released from the high-security Dannemora facility in New York in October 1995.
At the same time as he was glorifying an outlaw lifestyle for Death Row, Tupac was financing an at-risk youth center, bankrolling South Central sports teams, setting up a telephone helpline for young people with problems — all noted in Robert Sam Anson's Vanity Fair article, published after Tupac's death.
But when he was still alive, the wider world seemed most enthralled with Tupac in the role of the bad man. And Tupac kept playing to the gallery. In June 1996 he released a diss track, 'Hit 'Em Up,' aimed at Biggie Smalls and his label boss at Bad Boy Records, Sean 'Diddy' Combs — ratcheting up the tension between East and West Coast rap, in what was fast becoming hip hop's most famous — and ugliest — beef. Within three months, Tupac was murdered.
Car and Rock and Roll Hall of Fame
Total Album Sales By Artist
In February 2017, the BMW in which Tupac was riding when he was fatally shot went on sale on the memorabilia site Moments in Time, priced at $1.5 million.
On April 7, 2017, Tupac Shakur was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, one of music's highest honors - a worthy inclusion for a rapper hailed by many to have been the greatest of all time.