“Dear Mama,” which paid tribute to his mother, Afeni Shakur, painted a sweet ode to her over a looped sample of Joe Sample‘s “In My Wildest Dreams.” Then there’s the balmy “Temptations” which flipped elements of “Computer Love” to weave a lusty web of sex and wanting that served as a darker, more personal take on the player persona ‘Pac presented on “I Get Around.” He later flipped that persona on its head, though, with the tender “Can U Get Away,” with the rapper laying his heart on the line to play the knight in shining armor to a woman who can’t seem to get out of an abusive relationship. 2Pac also felt the need to pay tribute to the many forces in his life that helped shape him. The song’s melancholy feeling surprisingly utilized a sample of Stevie Wonder‘s joyous “That Girl,” turning its bright harmonica and perky musical refrain into an elegiac dirge as the rapper lists the many things weighing on his mind.īut all his thoughts weren’t steeped in morbidity.
And then there was single “So Many Tears.” Produced by Easy Mo Bee (best known at the time for his work with Biggie), it found ‘Pac somberly contemplating the value and trajectory of his life. Death was obviously on his mind with songs like “If I Die 2nite” and “Death Around the Corner” addressing his fears and fearlessness concerning meeting his maker. It served as an omen of what was to come for most of the album, as many of the remaining 14 tracks reference that moment in some way. ‘Pac decided to open the album with an intro that consisted of spliced together news reports of the attempted robbery and shooting at Quad City Studios. These events informed Me Against the World with a sense of paranoia, world weariness and need for self-reflection that provided a lens through which the album was focused.
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The year leading up to the album’s release included a trial and subsequent conviction for a sexual assault charge, another assault charge for attacking Menace II Society co-director Allen Hughes and an attempted robbery at New York’s Quad City Studios that ended with him being shot five times (and would eventually lead to a rift between he and The Notorious B.I.G., which would stoke the flames of the East Coast/West Coast hip hop beef).
Perhaps that was due to the storm brewing around him at the time. But by the arrival of his third album, Me Against the World, it seemed that ‘Pac was finally able to truly marry his two warring personalities.
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