BLACK HISTORY MONTH
“All Eyez on Me” Made Tupac Shakur a Pop Icon
25 years later, the album remains a classic
There are several moments on All Eyez on Me, the diamond-certified double CD by Tupac Shakur, in which the volatile artist sounds joyful. Maybe it’s because he loved rapping his incredible lyrics into a microphone to be preserved for posterity.
Maybe it was because he felt reborn after being signed to the infamous label, Death Row Records. Or maybe, Shakur was just happy as hell to once again have his freedom after nearly nine months in lockup.
Whatever the reason, that happiness and joy produced an essential hip-hop recording and contributed to the controversial star becoming a pop culture icon. All Eyez on Me, released 25 years ago today, became the final album released during ‘Pac’s lifetime.
Exactly seven months later, he died from gunshot wounds suffered six days earlier in a drive-by shooting.
But Shakur, who recorded as 2Pac, brought a different energy to that album (as compared to his previous ones) and enlisted a list of hip-hop luminaries to feature on many of the album’s 27 tracks.
The seeds of greatness for this LP were sown in the early months of 1995. That’s when the star was incarcerated at…
