Note: This review was written in May of 2018.

This album was released on February 16th in the year of our lord 1993. It’s the second album in Tupac’s discography. The album cover is dope af. It reminds me of Denzel Curry’s 32 Zel/Planet Shrooms cover. This project came out two years after his debut album, 2Pacalypse Now, so I was expecting a lot of growth to be exhibited.

Hollar If You Hear Me produced by Stretch
Pac’s Theme Interlude produced by The Underground Railroad
Point the Finga produced by Big D the Impossible
Something 2 Die 4 Interlude produced by 2Pac & Big D the Impossible
Last Wordz featuring Ice Cube & Ice-T produced by Bobcat & Jam Master Jay
Souljah’s Revenge produced by Bobcat
Peep Game featuring Deadly Threat produced by DJ Bobcat
Strugglin’ featuring Live Squad produced by Live Squad
Guess Who’s Back produced by Special Ed
Representin’ 93 produced by Truman Jefferson
Keep Ya Head Up featuring Dave Hollister produced by DJ Daryl
Strictly 4 My N.I.G.G.A.Z. featuring Pacific Heights produced by Lay Law
The Streets R Deathrow produced by Stretch
I Get Around featuring Shock G & Money-B produced by The D-Flow Production Squad
Papa’z Song featuring Wycked & Poppi produced by Big D the Impossible
5 Deadly Venomz featuring Treach, Live Squad & Apache produced by Stretch

The production on the first track sounds really dated, but I liked the Public Enemy sample they flipped for the hook. I honestly wasn’t really feelin’ the song as a whole. Nothing about it is particularly bad, but it doesn’t have much replay value for me. Pac’s flow was kinda cool, but aside from that I wasn’t impressed. Pac’s Theme was kinda cool. The production was nice. It’s just an interlude, so it doesn’t have any rapping. The scratches were nice though. The sample of Dan Quayle saying “THERE IS ABSOLUTELY NO REASON FOR A RECORD LIKE THIS TO BE PUBLISHED. IT HAS NO PLACE IN OUR SOCIETY” reminded me of the Geraldo Rivera sample in Kendrick Lamar’s DNA. Something 2 Die 4 is another great interlude. The production is really nice, and 2Pac was saying a lot of smart shit in the background. Ice Cube killed his verse at the beginning of Last Wordz. I could’ve done without the F bomb though. I really liked the record scratches between each verse. Ice-T’s verse was alright. I liked Pac’s diss to Dan Quayle, but nothing else about his verse really stood out to me. I guess it was cool lyrically, but his flow didn’t really impress me. Souljah’s Revenge is the first non-interlude that I could see myself coming back to. It’s a sequel to Souljah’s Story, which was on 2Pacalypse Now. Pac continued the theme of black liberation & police accountability on this album. I definitely fuck with the message of the song, but it didn’t blow me away sonically. It’s a cool track though. The next four songs were all pretty underwhelming to me. I wasn’t moved by the beats, and I honestly just don’t really like Pac’s flow. The Live Squad feature was cool. I definitely like Stretch more than Majestic, but they’re both pretty good rappers.

Keep Ya Head Up is Pac’s famous message to black women. He goes in about the way women are disrespected & treated poorly in black communities. It’s got a great message, and one of the better beats on the album. The title track is another standout song. I really liked the chaotic production. It’s more of the same lyrically. A lot of the content on this album is just more of what was on 2Pacalypse Now. I think it was done better on that album though. The Streets R Deathrow was pretty boring to me. I liked the horns that came in during the hook, but aside from that the song didn’t stand out to me.

I Get Around is a classic single. It has the most accessible beat on the album. I love that sample that The Game flipped for Step Up. It’s pretty much just about how 2Pac likes to have casual sex. I normally wouldn’t really like a song about this kind of activity, but it’s too good sonically for me to have a problem with it. The features from Shock G & Money-B were good too. It’s dope af. Papa’z Song is a diss to 2Pac’s father. I feel like it’s pretty common for black men to resent their fathers, which is unfortunate. It’s a pretty solid track. It doesn’t have any replay value for me personally, but I enjoyed it on the first listen. The vocals from Wycked were good. The closer, 5 Deadly Venoms, is another standout track. He ended the album on a strong note. Treach easily had my favorite verse, but they all did their thing. It’s a dope song.

This album is okay. I appreciated the continued theme of black liberation, but most of the beats were just too outdated for me. I’ve also never really considered Pac to be that great of a lyricist despite his empowering content. There are a lot of tracks I didn’t particularly care for, but none of them are actually bad. It’s a decent album.

Favorite Song: I Get Around
Least Favorite Song: Peep Game

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