Today marks the 15th anniversary of Tupac Shakur's untimely death and with this in mind, it seems only appropriate that one of his albums gets the #365 treatment. I would like to say that the idea to review a Tupac album was mine but that honor goes to @Kev_Bradshaw_82, cheers for the idea.
For me, Tupac's legacy has been tarnished by multiple sub-par posthumous album releases full of songs with poor production and extremely questionable guest appearances. Fortunately for me, I don't fuck with those albums and strictly stick to his studio albums.
The Don Killuminati isn't the first Tupac album I ever owned (I already had 'Me Against The World' and the double tape 'All Eyez On Me'), but this album is probably my favorite. The album kicks off with 'Bomb First', a relentless diss track throwing shots at Nas, Jay-Z, Mobb Deep, Biggie, Diddy (during his Puff Daddy days) and a slew of other prominent New York rappers. This song must have been recorded when 'pac was seriously annoyed, it doesn't go as personal as 'Hit 'em Up' from 'All Eyez On Me' but I can guarantee that some feelings were seriously hurt by it. This is then followed up by 'Hail Mary', 'Toss It Up' and 'To Live and Die in L.A.' all of which have come to be known as classics form 'pac's back catalog.
Another highlight is 'Just Like Daddy' which is a song all about fucking. The reason that this song is memorable to me is that in year eight of school, I bought the cassette single of 'To Live and Die in L.A.' and 'Just Like Daddy' was the B-Side. I remember being sat in the mini-bus on the way home and listening to it in the tape deck on the bus, now there was a radio of 'To Live and Die in L.A. on the tape, but 'Just Like Daddy' didn't have a censored version. The face on Ms Rawlings was a classic when the line 'Screamin' like you're dyin' every time I'm fuckin' you' came on is something I will never forget.
Me and my girlfriend was reworked by Jay-Z and Beyonce and entitled '03 Bonnie & Clyde' and it's got nothing compared to Tupac's love letter to his gun. That's not an unusual in hip-hop to hear an MC giving an inanimate object human tendencies but it's rarely done well, on this occasion it is.
The album closer 'Against All Odds' is not a cover of the popular Phil Collins song, but another warning to East Coast MC's that 'Pac is not one to be fucked with. Unfortunately, Tupac Shakur was killed two months before this album got released.
I often wonder what would have happened if Tupac didn't get murdered. Would he have left Death Row Records (as this has been rumored to have been the reason that he was assassinated) and left his aggression behind and gone back to the socially conscious rapper that he was in his pre Death Row days? Would he be considered one of the best of all time if he was still alive? Would he have re-built his bridges with Biggie, Nas, Jay-Z and even Dr Dre? Imagine a song with those MC's over a Dre beat. Ultimately I guess we'll never know, I just know that he left behind a fine body of work in The Don Killuminati: The 7 Day Theory.
Until tomorrow.....
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