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A way into the work of Tupac

Five studio albums, a flood of posthumous ones, films, poems. The mystery of his death remains unsolved, and it hardly matters: what is certain is the work. This is a listening guide to cross it, not one more biography.

Where to start

1971, New York · 1996, Las Vegas

  1. Listening guides

    Album by album: the context, a guided listen, the production taken apart, the edition to buy.

  2. On screen

    Bishop in Juice, Lucky opposite Janet Jackson: Tupac the actor, and the documentaries that matter.

  3. The writings

    The Rose That Grew from Concrete, the early poems, and the books that tell the man without the gilded legend.

  4. The legacy

    The posthumous records sorted honestly, the sociology beneath the songs, the East-West war without the folklore.

Nine records, one tape

Scroll to wind the tape forward.

  1. 2Pacalypse Now

    1991

    Read the guide

  2. Strictly 4 My…

    1993

    Read the guide

  3. Thug Life: Volume 1

    1994

    Read the guide

  4. Me Against the World

    1995

    Read the guide

  5. All Eyez on Me

    1996

    Read the guide

  6. The Don Killuminati

    1996

    Read the guide

  7. R U Still Down?

    1997

    Read the guide

  8. Greatest Hits

    1998

    Read the guide

  9. Until the End of Time

    2001

    Read the guide

Close readings

One song, one complete reading: the context, the construction, the imagery, the moral stakes. Without reproducing a single lyric, and without softening anything.

  1. California Love, a full reading: the triumphant return

  2. Life Goes On, a full reading: the elegy in the middle of the party

  3. Dear Mama, a full reading: the debt that cannot be settled

  4. Changes, a complete reading: the circle and the accusation

  5. 2 of Amerikaz Most Wanted, a full reading: the party under warrant

  6. All Eyez on Me, a full reading: the gaze as an open-air prison
All the readings

The trajectory

Five cities, twenty-five years

EAST HARLEM, NEW YORK 1971 birth, the Panther inheritance BALTIMORE 1986 School for the Arts: theatre, poetry MARIN CITY, CALIFORNIA 1988 the Bay, Digital Underground LOS ANGELES 1991 the albums, the films, Death Row LAS VEGAS 1996 September 7, the silence

The climate of a body of work

  • Street art mural "2Pac and Eazy-E 4 Life": painted portraits of Tupac Shakur and Eazy-E on an urban wall
    Street art mural "2Pac and Eazy-E 4 Life": painted portraits of Tupac Shakur and Eazy-E on an urban wallJim Kelly (photographie du mural) · CC BY 2.0
  • Black Panther Party activist holding up a Revolutionary People's Constitutional Convention banner in front of the Lincoln Memorial, June 19, 1970
    Black Panther Party activist holding up a Revolutionary People's Constitutional Convention banner in front of the Lincoln Memorial, June 19, 1970Thomas J. O'Halloran et Warren K. Leffler (U.S. News & World Report) · domaine public
  • Harlem street in the early 1970s, brick buildings and passersby, photograph from the Documerica program
    Harlem street in the early 1970s, brick buildings and passersby, photograph from the Documerica programChester Higgins, Jr. (EPA, Documerica) · domaine public
  • Western Avenue in South Central, Los Angeles: residential street, low houses and lanky palm trees against the sky
    Western Avenue in South Central, Los Angeles: residential street, low houses and lanky palm trees against the skyOmar Omar (Flickr) · CC BY 2.0
  • The Las Vegas Strip in 1995: the illuminated Mirage sign and the neon lights of the night
    The Las Vegas Strip in 1995: the illuminated Mirage sign and the neon lights of the nightChristian Schmitt · CC BY 2.0
  • E-mu SP-1200 sampler, cult machine of 1980s-1990s hip-hop production, front panel with pads and faders
    E-mu SP-1200 sampler, cult machine of 1980s-1990s hip-hop production, front panel with pads and faders2xUeL (Wikimedia Commons) · domaine public

Period and context images, free licenses verified one by one: credits.

Speaking Tupac

Thug Life, ridah, Makaveli, Westside: every word of the repertoire points back to its songs.

Thug LifeRidah / riderHomieGOGWestside

The full glossary

Latest articles

An independent tribute, written by an enthusiast. Records, films, texts, and well-argued reasons to spend time with them.

Selim Rochat · tupacworld.com