2Pac Album: “All Eyez On Me (Koch) [Edited]”

Only every once and a while does a rap masterpiece like this come out (i.e. Biggies "Ready To Die", Eazy E's "It's on 187um killer etc.). This album was Tupac's first with Death Row and he did not dissapoint with songs to get you're head moving, or your brain thinking he did it all on two discs of pure west coast goodness. And I know this is going to get me alot of negative votes but...please let the man R.I.P., no more of these ... "hes alive" theories, he's gone and you have to accept it,sorry.

Tragically, the life of this poet and rapper has been cut short in its prime. Tupac prophesied his own early demise. And he moved toward that end with fatalism worthy of a Greek tragedy.

All Eyez on Me is a set of two CDs that are among the greatest rap has ever produced. Despite his outward insistence on thuggishness, Tupac was very sensitive, far more so than the average thug, or any average person for that matter. Sensitivity led to originality and an important cultural product. Tupac celebrates thug life, along with its pain and its doom.

The beats and the production on this album are great and go so well together with Tupac's rhymes. Tupac was a genius who made a commitment to live out his life as a thug and kept it. This was his mission, and he felt he needed to fulfill it, with all eyes staring at him, even those who refused to C him...

I purchased this album with the hopes of being able to enjoy it at home and also use it to DJ on-the-air and at school dances. Unfortunately, I am doing neither. Although the album itself is one of the greatest hip-hop records ever recorded, the new "edited" version makes it almost unlistenable.

Most times, I don't mind when an edited version "drops out" the offensive lyrics (while the backing track continues to play). However, on this album, the editors decided to reverse the curse words and the music together. This editing technique has been used quite frequently on songs with one or two offensive words. But when every few seconds 2Pac is dropping the "f" bomb, the edits become very annoying and really detract from the songs. You might get just as much enjoyment out of listening to the whole thing backwards.

If you want edited 2Pac, try the clean version of the "Greatest Hits" cd. It collects most of the original radio versions, with the exception of a few tracks that are poorly edited.

Bottom line: watch out for any of Death Row's "Remastered" edited cds. I had a similar bad experience with Snoop Doggy Dogg's "Doggystyle" (Remastered/Edited Version).

It is rare to be on a soap box like this but I have read about people dissing Tupac's album All Eyes on Me and saying that it is overrated but this is most likely to a generation gap. I can understand why some younger people feel he is overrated because there have been so many people using his style and iambic meter that the sound is sometimes not as exciting to the younger generation of hip hop fans (this is for the most part...but not always). But for a guy like me who was in his late teens/early twenties, the sound is so hip and fresh because it was new. Nobody sounded like him. When he dropped, nobody rapped with such emotion and embodied much of the struggle that many of us was going through...his raps more than empathized with our emotions. When I see evaluations of the album by people I wonder how old are they. Because the day his album dropped, every car that went by on my college campus was bumping that album! I was almost broke and my room mate and I scrapped up the money to both go in and buy it. A Person has to remember, when this album dropped, the now 17, 18, 19 year olds were 6, 7, 8 year olds and really couldn't understand what he meant to the Rap Game. So by the time many of that age group gets into hip hop really deep, they wonder, "what's the big deal with Tupac?" because they have been listening to people imitating his style for years. But in 1993-1996 he was the only one coming so provocative. Who was putting down sounds that rivaled his? People argue that Biggie did. OK that's fine. Now who else? Only one rapper was on his level. It is like comparing Steve Young or John Elway, who is better? You could argue either way so let's drop that for the moment (cause I like them both). So when people talk about how great this album was it is in reference to the emotion that he exuded. Nobody...I mean Nobody was screaming the word "Thug" before Tupac...Nobody! Now everyone is a thug? He changed the game. But this generation gap holds true with me. I liked some of the early rappers but I did not think them special and older guys (5-10 years older) think that I am crazy. They feel that those were the best rappers. Regardless, I feel Tupac was like Wilt Chamberlain to Basketball, and people loved the guy. He said what many of us wanted to say. That's why people are emotional about this album. Whether you like or hate Tupac, if you were in the mix (college campus or on the block) when this album dropped, you can clearly remember the buzz! I haven't seen that kind of a buzz since. Synopsis: the album is very good and emotional. If you really need a recommendation about 2upac's best album you probably missed the bus on this one. But if you miss the bus on the big deal, I can understand.

2Pac appeared as the all time best rapper.... and I can see why. Each of his albums sold great, he was the most realest gangster ever... he was just an awesome guy. He and his enemy, The Notorious B.I.G., were just the most awesome people in the thug history. They both started out in the early days,and didn't live the long lifes they should of. They were awesome. This album, All Eyez On Me, probably sold as the best selling rap album. Many songs "2 Of Amerikaz Most Wanted", "How Do You Want It" "all about u" made there way to blazing hits, and theye were unforgettable songs, and still are, eventhough 2pac is dead now. And it includes [the remix] of 2Pac's biggest hit "California Love" which the normail version was only released on 2Pac's greatest hits, which [might] of sold better than this one. But to the point, after the two kings of rap left this world, rap was just not the same. Rap IS still awesome, but just not the same. Those two really kept the game real, and I will always remember them. I hope everyone does. Even if there are some new kings of the rap game, forget them! keep 2pac and biggie in your heart! theye are the REAL kings. "hit Em' Up" [which is not on this album] really made me sad/mad. Why couldn't the two best rappers in the game get along. Which in the beggining of the game theye were. Did concerts together, but since Biggie copied 2Pac's stuff, theye were never the friends that theye were before.Puff daddy, and the whole BadBoy Records crew, were all enemys of 2Pac.It was a big rap battle. Later, in 1996, after 2Pac's death, Biggie Smalls was getting interviewed alot. More later, owner of death row records, Suge Knight, hired someone to kill Biggie. After that, the whole rap game was never like it was before. There is no one, as gifted as 2pac. His mother should be proud of what such talent her son was gifted with. He is just an awesome person. No one can match him. So, people, listen to what I said, take it to heart, that no matter what, 2pac will be in are hearts.