A defining, larger-than-life final statement from an icon of ’90s rap.
All Eyez on Me
2Pac
62
In a recording career that lasted less than five years, hip-hop’s most complex figure showed us many sides. He was a political firebrand on 1993’s Strictly 4 My N.I.G.G.A.Z., an introspective diarist on 1995’s Me Against the World, and a temperamental hothead on his Makaveli project, released shortly after his death in September 1996. However, most of the 27 tracks on All Eyez on Me—the last album released during his lifetime—showcase 2Pac as a gangsta-rap tough guy, one of the reigning kings of ’90s G-funk on one of the genre’s most defining releases.
“I will always have that sense of reaching a certain standard as far as empathy and compassion toward a record the same way Pac approached music.”
Kendrick Lamar
Though All Eyez on Me has deeply personal tearjerkers (“Life Goes On”), incredibly filthy sex raps (“What’s Ya Phone #”), and evocative storytelling (“Shorty Wanna Be a Thug”), it’s best known for anthems of defiance like “Ambitionz Az a Ridah” and “Picture Me Rollin’,” in which one of music’s greatest writers embraces the combative, larger-than-life side that made him an icon of ’90s gangsta rap.