Bloggystyle -- The Greatest

I have to admit it. After last night's review of Loyal To The Game, I had to get that bad taste out of my mouth. I did so by reassuring myself that there are hundreds of great Pac tracks out there, which led to this review.

So why did I choose All Eyez On Me, out of the dozen plus official albums? Well there's the aforementioned reason above, but I also picked this one because I believe it's overrated. All Eyez On Me set a lot of precedents, being the first double rap CD of original material ever, and selling so much Pac had to mention it in a bunch of tracks. Everybody in America has heard California Love etc.

Yet All Eyez On Me isn't even one of Pac's best 2 albums. And like every other rap artist who has tried to do a double album, the results would have been better with one album. That's not to say this album isn't great, because it obviously is, and 95% of the rappers who have ever touched a mic could never and will never come close to All Eyez On Me.

Anyway, on to the review.

Book 1

Ambitionz As A Ridah

I won't deny it, this track's a straight banger. And if you don't believe me, ask Mike Tyson, who has this track play when he enters the ring. Unlike Tyson, this track has stood the test of time. Killa Cam is so obsessed with the beat that he had Daz do it for a Cam track, and Cam had the track play in 2 of his videos off "Come Home With Me." Fab's debut single had Nate sample the hook.

Ambitionz would have been the perfect intro track for a single album as well; this definitely makes the cut. This track alone is worth more than the new album.

All About U

Admit it, the hook is catchy. Obviously in terms of lyrics, this wasn't exactly classic, but it wasn't supposed to be. Fatal and Kadafi do verses on it, but most importantly we can witness the start of Snoop's ending on this track. Snoop must have been affected by some serious Dr. Dre-itis or something: he was too lazy to even do a verse on the outro, opting to mumble some incoherent sounding shit about hoes and videos. Come to think of it, it reminds me of 50 on Loyal To The Game, or 50 in general.


Skandalouz

It's hard to believe Daz had Ambitionz As A Ridah in him. This was more like it. As the title suggests, this track is about "scandalous bitches." Frankly, Nate and a nice beat aside, this track's an album filler. If we cut this album down to one CD (which I will do at the end of this review), this is one of the first tracks not to make it.

Got My Mind Made Up

This track brings Method Man and Redman, as well as some voice doubles on the outro from one of the other Clan members. Another Daz beat, except this track brings some intrigue. Apparently Pac was of the assumption that Dre did this beat and he ran to the guys with it wanting to do a track. Daz then corrected him and explained that it was his beat. This was one of the first signs of trouble between Pac and Dre. By Makaveli, when he was in full beef mode with Dre, Pac asserted that Dre was lazy and took credit for other people's work.

As for the track itself, it's a tight collaboration. Probably not among the top 13 tracks.

How Do You Want It

Pac's delivery is vintage Pac, and this coupled with California Love to create the huge single that also brought Hit Em Up. The video was made for Playboy, let's just leave it at that.

Anyway, I never cared for this track all that much, although plenty of people would definitely disagree with me.

2 of Amerikaz Most Wanted

The collaboration that was a long time in coming, the two labelmates on trial for felonies. 2 of Amerikaz Most straight from the West Coast.

Like How Do You Want It, this is a track I don't care all that much for, and Pac outshines Snoop convincingly.

No More Pain

DeVante from Jodeci laces this beat and it's a hard hitter. Yeah, I just put the words Jodeci and hard hitter in the same sentence. This beat is tight, and Pac unloads on it, with a long outro dissing Biggie for the first time on wax. Depending on your mood, this is the type of track you want to play.

Heartz of Men

Pac flows a lot like How Do You Want It, except this beat is tighter, and he's ridin on the subject matter. Everything about this track is tight.

Life Goes On

This might be Pac's greatest song ever. Pac is at his most emotional, his lyrics are sharp, the beat is good. In the last verse, Pac raps about what he wants at his funeral, which would come about 7 months to the day that this album dropped. Of course the guy was cremated, so all that shit about putting stuff in his casket didn't come into play.

I've never met anyone who didn't like this track, including old white people. Along with I Aint Mad At Cha, this track is the cream of the crop on this album.

Only God Can Judge Me

This might be the worst beat on the album. Nuttso's guest spot is somewhat questionable, but then again Pac worked with E-40, the only man on Earth corny enough to rhyme "rubber" with "whasupper." Anyway...

Tradin War Stories

If there's anything this track will teach you, it's that every track with just Pac on it is inherently better than any track without just Pac on it. This track reminds me of anything D12 crapped on 3 years ago.

California Love (Remix)

I'm not sure why they put the remix version on this album instead of the original. Perhaps they wanted to move more singles sales. Either way this album's sold over 10 million and the Cali Love/How Do You Want It single sold multi platinum too.

This track also fueled the Dre/Pac beef, as Dre had wanted to use this track as a single on his album. When Pac joined the label, that plan was off. Thank God.

I Ain't Mad At Cha

This track is a classic. People have tried to speculate who Pac was referring to. I have no clue, and my guess is that he wasn't referring to anyone in particular.

In the video, which came out only days after his death, Pac is shot and killed in a public place and raps in heaven alongside various dead celebs. People tried to make rumors out of that, but what they missed was an incredible "video version" with a verse totally different than the track on the album.

Whatz Ya Phone #

This is the definition of album filler if ever there was one. Without doubt this was one of the weirdest tracks Pac ever did, and most serious rappers don't put something like this out, but even Nas has his Dr. Knockboots.

Pac's delivery on this track is at a breakneck speed but most of the track is a phone sex conversation between Pac and some random hoochie. If you're really that hard up for something like this, may I suggest reading Kenneth Starr's Report on Monicagate.

Book 2

Can't C Me

This is a Dre beat originally done for a track with Dre and the Dogg Pound. Again, all bets were off when Pac showed up and the other version never came out. Of course, we didn't need an entire song from Pac telling Biggie and others that they can't see him.

Shorty Wanna Be A Thug

The beat kinda gets on my nerves. Pac also has a bunch of tracks about young kids who get caught up in gangbanging at a young age. When it comes to this type of track, Young Niggaz off Me Against The World is light years ahead of this one.

Holla At Me

This one's the hidden gem of All Eyez On Me. The up tempo beat lets Pac unleash on Biggie (without naming names) and the girl who accused him of rape in 94 with a fast delivery. In fact, if Hit Em Up was just a total onslaught of rage and venom, it still amounts to little more than doing Biggie's wife and saying fuck you.

This one's more personal. Here's an excerpt:

When me and you was homies
No one informed me it was all a scheme
You infiltrated my team and sold a nigga dreams
How could you do me like that?
I took ya family in
I put some cash in ya pocket
Made you a man again
And now you let the fear put your ass in a place
complicated to escape
It's a fools fate
Without your word you a shell of a man
I lost respect for you nigga
We can never be friends
I know I'm runnin' through your head now
What could you do?
If it was up to you
I'd be dead now
I let the world know nigga you a coward
You could never be live
Until you die
I see the mothafuckin' bitch in your eye

I'll take this over "How did Pac and Biggie get to Heaven? They both had Faith."

Wonda Why They Call You Bitch?

Most people take the title of this track when they're making the argument that Pac was a walking contradiction who could make Brenda's Got A Baby and then talk about hoes and bitches in the next track. While he did do some of that before, this track's not exactly that.

Pac specifically aims this one at a black Congresswoman, C. Delores Tucker. He also mentioned Delores Tucker on How Do You Want It ("Delores Tucker, you'se a motherfucker/Instead of trying to help a nigga, you destroy a brother"). To make a long story short, Delores Tucker called hip hop misogynistic and big negative words that rappers mostly don't understand or care to understand. She mentioned Pac's music explicitly by calling it "pornographic smut." Pac wanted to make a track explaining the difference between a woman and a bitch, so he makes this story.

Delores Tucker would go on to sue Pac's estate after he died, claiming that the mentions of her name on How Do You Want It and Wonda Why They Call You Bitch ruined her sex life. If this is the case, this should certainly be considered one of Pac's greatest accomplishments and a lasting legacy that everyone with an imagination can be thankful for.

When We Ride

D12 and Marshall basically took this entire theme for their own collaboration When the Music Stops on the Em Show. This track's better, although there's way too little Pac on it.

Fatal, probably the best Outlaw, drops a tight verse on this track. That's all there is to hear on this track.

Thug Passion

When I initially went through Book 2, I totally missed this track while doing the review. How fitting.

This would be a decent party song, except most of the album is inundated with party songs that are just as good as this one, which makes this track rather obsolete.

Picture Me Rollin

Pac was rarely outclassed on a track, especially by the likes of Syke, but this track (which made the Greatest Hits CD) might be it. This is one of those ultimate car ride tracks, as the title implies. This was Big Syke's "AZ on Life's A Bitch" moment of his career.

Pac's outro is entertaining too.

Check Out Time

This track's a total album filler. Even the topic is retarded. With that said, Pac does all his rhymes in threes, which is an interesting changeup. Kurupt and Syke mail their verses in.

Rather Be Ya N.I.G.G.A.

This is a chill song, but it doesn't belong on a Pac album. Richie Rich is featured on this track, but it was a different Richie Rich and Pac track that made a splash in November 1996. Released right on the heels of Makaveli was Richie Rich's album Seasoned Veteran, and Pac's featured on the track Niggaz Done Changed, on which he raps "I've been shot and murdered, can't tell ya how it happened word for word, but best believe that niggas gone get what they deserve."

Of course, Pac says something to the same effect on this album, but alive theories are/were more fun than the dead ones.

All Eyez On Me

This beat is pretty tight, and Pac comes pretty strong on it. The most well known part of this track is the hook, as well as the way Pac sings All Eyez On Me. A few of the dregs over at Shady Records have been trying hard not to let us forget it by sampling it on their own tracks.

Run Tha Streetz

Man this track sucks. I don't think Pac doing this track by himself could have saved this one. That chorus almost makes me wish for a Marshall hook. ALMOST.

Ain't Hard 2 Find

Here are the lyrics I was talking about in the Rather Be Ya NIGGA blurb:

I heard a rumor I died, murdered in cold blood dramatized
Pictures of me in my final stage
You know mama cried
But that was fiction, some coward got the story twisted
Like I no longer existed, mysteriously missing
Although I'm worldwide, baby I ain't hard to find

Do I really need to review this track?

Fine. It's got E-40 on it. That should just about settle this one.

Heaven Ain't Hard 2 Find

This track would have been perfect as one of the studio scraps added to a posthumous album. As it is, Pac put this track on the album to do Quincy Jones's son (QDIII), who produced the track, a favor.

The track itself is a decent effort out of Pac, but Danny Boy will leave you wondering if he's ever going to hit puberty. At the very least he'll make you understand why Boy is part of his moniker.

So that's the entire album, something like 28 tracks or something. I'll cut it down to 12 tracks, which was the length of Makaveli.

Ambitionz As A Ridah
Holla At Me
No More Pain
California Love
Can't C Me
All About U
Heartz Of Men
All Eyez On Me
Picture Me Rollin
I Ain't Mad At Cha
Life Goes On
Heaven Ain't Hard 2 Find

The hardest hitting tracks flow into the party tracks. Then Heartz of Men through Picture Me Rollin lead into the soft introspective tracks.

Would this single CD have been better than Me Against The World? Maybe. Better than the double disc? Certainly. Better than Makaveli, my favorite rap CD? Well I think I answered that myself.

Regardless, it's a lot more fun thinking about the early 96 period than it is thinking about Loyal To The Game. And this was likely an exercise in futility, given that anybody who actually reads this page has heard this album more times than necessary.

Then again, when I consider today's alternatives, I "just lose it."