Interscope 92399
Producers: Tony Pizarro, Easy Mo B., SoulShock & Karlin, D-Flizno Production Squad, Moe Z.M.D. and Le-morrious “Funky Drummer” Tyler, Mike Mosley & Sam Bostic, and Brian G
Track listing: Intro / If I Die 2Nite / Me Against the World / So Many Tears / Temptations / Young Niggaz / Heavy in the Game / Lord Knows / Dear Mama / It Ain’t Easy / Can U Get Away / Old School / F* * * the World / Death Around the Corner / Outlaw
April 1, 1995
4 weeks
Elvis sang “Jailhouse Rock,” and Johnny Cash of San Quentin topped the album chart, yet 2Pac’s combination of pop music and prison was truly unique. When Me Against the World hit Number One, the album title likely mirrored 2Pac’s feelings all too well. The rap artist, whose real name is Tupac Shakur, celebrated his first Number One album while in prison at the Clinton Correctional Facility in Dannemora, New York, serving up to four and a half years for sexual abuse. It earned 2Pac a dubious place in the history books as he was the first artist to have an album go to Number One on The Billboard 200 while serving time behind bars.
The New York-born, Oakland, California-bred rapper first gained notice as a member of the funky and funny hip-hop troupe Digital Underground. By 1991, 2Pac had set out on his own with his solo debut, 2Pacalypse Now, which reached number 64. In 1993, 2Pac captured an even larger audience with Strictly 4 My N. I. G. G.A. Z…., which included the rap, R&B, and Hot 100 hits “I Get Around” and “Keep Yo Head Up.” That album peaked at number 24.
Meanwhile, 2Pac was also making himself known on the big screen, appearing in the 1992 film Juice and starring opposite Janet Jackson in 1993’s Poetic Justice.
The rapper was also gaining notoriety for his non-artistic endeavors. In 1993, he spent 10 days in jail for swinging a baseball bat at a rival rapper. Later that same year, a 19-year-old woman alleged that 2Pac and three friends sodomized and sexually abused her. In 1994, he returned to jail for 15 days for assaulting film director Allen Hughes.
His legal troubles, however, didn’t stop 2Pac from recording. In 1994 he released Thug Life’s Volume I in his own Out Da Gutta label. The album, by the group consisting of 2Pac, his brother MoPreme, Syke, Macadoshis, and The Rate R, reached number 42.
2Pac also found time to record the aptly titled Me Against the World. “When 2Pac writes songs, he writes very quickly,” says Tom Whalley, the Interscope Records artist and repertoire executive who signed 2Pac in 1990 and is credited for A&R direction on Me Against the World. “Sometimes he can cut five songs in an evening.”
Me Against the World took shape before and during 2Pac’s highly publicized sexual abuse trial in late 1994. The first single from the album, “Dear Mama,” was originally scheduled to come out on Mother’s Day 1994. Yet 2Pac wanted to ensure that Me Against the World was up to snuff. “We had 30 songs to choose from,” says Whalley. “We just wanted to take the best and then we had some sound and mix issues to deal with.” All told, it took two years to complete the album.
“Dear Mama,” an ode to his own mother, a former Black Panther named Afeni Shakur, became 2Pac’s first top 10 pop hit as Me Against the World entered the chart at the summit. “The first time he played [‘Dear Mama’] for me, I thought it was a hit record,” says Whalley. “But that was one of the songs that I had to convince 2Pac to put on the record.”
To the casual listener, it may appear that 2Pac is obsessed with death in such songs as “If I Die 2Nite” and “Death Around the Corner.” On November 30, 1994, he had his own brush with death, as he was shot four times and robbed at a New York recording studio. Two bullets actually hit 2Pac in the head, but failed to pierce his skull.
Never one to shy away from controversy, 2Pac opted to open Me Against the World with “Intro,” a series of simulated audio news clips about his various legal troubles and his shooting. “The original idea was to use actual news pieces and headlines from his trial,” says Whalley. Including the actual news footage, however, would have required Interscope to obtain permission from the news organizations involved. Instead, the label opted to recreate their own soundbites.
THE TOP FIVE
Week of April 1, 1995
1. Me Against the World, 2Pac
2. Greatest Hits, Bruce Springsteen
3. Hell Freezes Over, The Eagles
4. Cracked Rear View, Hootie & the Blowfish
5. The Lion King, Soundtrack