Song Lyric Sunday #26

What do I have in my archives in response to Jim Adams’ prompt for this week’s Song Lyric Sunday Challenge which is Odd/Even? I know, what about one about Odds from the late Tupac Shakur?

Tupac (1971 – 1996) better known by his stage name 2Pac and by his alias Makaveli, was an American rapper and actor. He is considered by many to be one of the most influential rappers of all time. Much of Shakur’s work has been noted for addressing contemporary social issues that plagued inner cities, and he is considered a symbol of resistance and activism against inequality.

Born in Manhattan, he relocated to the San Francisco Bay Area in 1988 and then Los Angeles in 1993 to further pursue his music career. By the time he released his debut album 2Pacalypse Now in 1991, he had become a central figure in West Coast hip hop, introducing social issues in the genre at a time when gangsta rap was dominant in the mainstream. Shakur achieved further critical and commercial success with his follow-up albums Strictly 4 My N.I.G.G.A.Z… (1993) and Me Against the World (1995).

Shakur became heavily involved in the growing East Coast–West Coast hip hop rivalry between 1995 and 1996, as amply illustrated in the track.  His double-disc album All Eyez on Me (1996) became certified Diamond by the American Recording Association. On 7 September 1996, Shakur was shot four times by an unknown assailant in a drive-by shooting in Las Vegas; he died six days later and the gunman was never captured. The Notorious B.I.G., Shakur’s friend turned rival, was at first considered a suspect, but was also murdered in another drive-by shooting six months later. Five more albums have been released since his death, all of which have been certified platinum in the United States.

This track is the last one on the album The Don Killuminati: The 7 Day Theory (commonly shortened to The 7 Day Theory or Makaveli) his fifth studio album by American rapper albeit credited as the alias Makaveli, his only album released under this alternative stage name. The album peaked at number one on the Billboard 200, selling 664,000 copies within its first week. By 1999, it was certified 4× Platinum by the American Recording Association.

Shakur is one of the best-selling music artists of all time having sold over 75 million records worldwide. In 2002, he was inducted into the Hip-Hop Hall of Fame. In 2017, he was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in his first year of eligibility. Rolling Stone named Shakur in its list of the 100 Greatest Artists of All Time.

Outside music, Shakur also gained considerable success as an actor, with his starring roles as Bishop in Juice (1992), Lucky in Poetic Justice (1993) where he starred alongside Janet Jackson, Ezekiel in Gridlock’d (1997), and Jake in Gang Related (1997), all garnering praise from critics. Who knows what else he might have achieved…………………………

Lyrics: Against All Odds

2 Comments on “Song Lyric Sunday #26”

1. I have heard of Tupac, but I never listened to any gangster rap music.

   LikeLiked by 1 person

   Reply

   • Glad to have introduced you to the genre

     LikeLiked by 1 person

     Reply

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Enter your comment here...

Fill in your details below or click an icon to log in:

Email (required) (Address never made public)

Name (required)

Website

You are commenting using your WordPress.com account. ( Log Out /  Change )

You are commenting using your Facebook account. ( Log Out /  Change )

Cancel

Connecting to %s

Notify me of new comments via email.

Notify me of new posts via email.

Δ

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.