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Today in Hip Hop History: 2Pac Dropped His Third LP ‘Me Against The World’ 29 Years Ago

March 14, 2024 by newhiphopnews

On this day in Hip-Hop History, the late Tupac Shakur released his third studio LP, Me Against the World. This album came at one of the most pivotal times in ‘Pac’s life and career. Recorded shortly after his near-fatal assassination attempt in New York and released while he was in prison, this album marked a change in 2Pac as an artist and a man.

This album was nothing like the music that gave him his “thug life” gangster image and street credentials. This project’s subject matter and tone were a lot more serious and introspective than anything he had previously released. Much less high energy than the tracks from his previous album, Strictly 4 My N.I.G.G.A.Z…, this album showed genuine reflection on his life and career path as an artist, along with shining light on some of his struggles with paranoia and self-loathing.

The realism of this album brought a ridiculous amount of commercial success. Debuting at #1 on the Billboard 200 chart, the album has been certified double platinum selling over 3.5 million copies in the United States alone. Along with being #1 in the US, the album also ranked #23 in Germany and #20 in Sweden. The year after its release, the album received the Soul Train Music Award for Best Rap Album. The project was Tupac’s most positively reviewed album and has been called the magnum opus of his career.

The singles from the project “Dear Mama,” “So Many Tears,” and “Temptations” all made appearances on the Billboard Hot 100 chart. “Dear Mama” peaked at #9, “So Many Tears” hit #44, and “Temptations” claimed the#68 spot.

The post Today in Hip Hop History: 2Pac Dropped His Third LP ‘Me Against The World’ 29 Years Ago first appeared on The Source.

The post Today in Hip Hop History: 2Pac Dropped His Third LP ‘Me Against The World’ 29 Years Ago appeared first on The Source.

Tupac’s Thug Life: Where Are They Now?

March 6, 2024 by newhiphopnews

These days, Tupac Shakur earns widespread recognition as a legend for his profoundly artistic and socially conscious body of work, all created before his untimely death at the age of 25. Although primarily celebrated for his solo catalog, featuring hit albums like All Eyez On Me and Me Against the World, Tupac contributed to numerous group endeavors, releasing several popular records alongside his collaborators. One of his groups, Thug Life, released only one self-titled album before disbanding, which highlights some of Pac’s greatest lyrical performances.

Though short-lived, Thug Life represents an important era in Tupac Shakur’s life timeline, and the single album produced by the group remains a worthwhile listen to this day. Here’s a look at what the other four members of Thug Life have been up to since the group disbanded following Tupac’s untimely death in 1996.

Big Syke Tragically Passed Away In 2016

Big Syke was a frequent collaborator of Tupac, even joining the legendary rapper on several breakout tracks from the album All Eyez On Me. Syke was a member of both Thug Life and Tupac’s other rap group, the Outlawz, while also maintaining a solo career spanning four studio albums. In 2016, authorities found Big Syke dead in his California home at the age of 48. Despite his young age, they reported no foul play at the scene, stating that Syke perished of natural causes. The Inglewood-born rapper had suffered from health concerns regarding his heart in the years precipitating his passing.

Macadoshis And Morpheme Have Been Mostly Under The Radar

Macadoshis and Mopreme Shakur, Tupac’s stepbrother, founded Thug Life but now appear to no longer seek the spotlight. Like Big Syke, Mopreme was also a member of the Outlawz, and continued to make music for several years after Pac’s death. Preme’s most recent musical output seems to be a 2007 mixtape titled Black & Brown Pride which he released in collaboration with Los Angeles DJ Assassin. Mopreme maintains an official Instagram account which he previously used to sell NFT images and videos, though he has not posted on the social media app in nearly a year.

Likewise, Macadoshis seems to have quietly retreated from the spotlight, occasionally resurfacing to deliver interviews with rap-centric media outlets. In May 2023, Mac appeared on the YouTube series The Art Of Dialogue, to explain the history of Thug Life, including some never-before-shared behind-the-scenes details.

Read More: A Look At The Life Of Tupac Shakur

The Rated R Is Serving A Life Sentence In Prison

The final member of the Thug Life brand, The Rated R, has gone down a very different road than his peers in the years following the group’s split. The former Death Row signee has been serving a sentence in San Quentin State Penitentiary in California since 2004. While details regarding the case that led to R’s imprisonment are quite scant, sources across the web claim he is serving a life sentence for committing a double homicide.

Some supporters of The Rated R have expressed the belief that the rapper was acting in self-defense, though these claims cannot be verified. Since his arrival in San Quentin, R is said to have fully converted to Islam and renounced all forms of violence. Rated R was previously considered for bail in 2021, but ultimately denied, leaving his future uncertain at the time of this writing.

[Via] [Via]

The post Tupac’s Thug Life: Where Are They Now? appeared first on HotNewHipHop.

[WATCH] Mopreme Shakur: Notorious B.I.G. Was Going to Join Tupac’s ‘Thug Life’

August 7, 2023 by newhiphopnews

In previous rumors about the relationship between the Notorious B.I.G. and Tupac Shakur, it was suspected that the Brooklyn favorite was to be recruited into ‘Pac’s “Thug Life” conglomerate and Tupac’s brother Mopreme confirmed it in a conversation with AllHipHop.

When speaking of the relationship between the two, the elder Shakur said, “Before things fell apart, Pac was a uniter. We knew we were from New York. We knew we were from the East Coast. And Pac liked to work with the best talent around. So, there was a period, there was a time when we was all cool.” He went on to say, “There was a time when Pac wanted Biggie to be part of the East Coast faction of Thug Life ‘cause we was kicking it with each other anyway. Pac wasn’t just a hater just to be hating. He liked [Biggie].”

The post [WATCH] Mopreme Shakur: Notorious B.I.G. Was Going to Join Tupac’s ‘Thug Life’ first appeared on The Source.

The post [WATCH] Mopreme Shakur: Notorious B.I.G. Was Going to Join Tupac’s ‘Thug Life’ appeared first on The Source.

Tupac Wanted Biggie To Join Thug Life

May 27, 2023 by newhiphopnews

A member of Thug Life, Macadoshis, recently revealed in an interview that Tupac wanted Biggie to join Thug Life. He told The Art Of Dialogue that he remembers meeting and smoking with Biggie, sharing that he “[remembers] him being like, real down to Earth.” He also claimed that if the timing were different, he thinks Biggie could have definitely become part of the group.

We got an opportunity to meet Big,” Macadoshis revealed. “We went tour and we was doing the Thug Life tour. We started out at Jack the Rapper and ‘Pac actually bought Big up to the room. We was staying at the Marriott Marquis and Biggie came up to the room and he was hella cool, bro. I remember him being like, real down to Earth. He kicked it with everybody, smoked a blunt with him and we was just chilling with him,” he shared.

Macadoshis Thinks Diddy Prevented Biggie From Joining Thug Life

The artist continued, explaining what was going on with the group at the time that they met Biggie. “We was moving forward with the Thug Life album at the same time Big was with Puff. So, it was not a conflict of interest, but I don’t feel like Puff was tryna let Biggie really come over there and do no Thug Life shit at the time while he was working with him,” Macadoshis shared. He added, “He wanted to be the first to break him and bring him out. He only had ‘Party and Bullshit’ out during that time. So I think that’s what really kinda held it up.”

Macadoshis explained, “It’s just the timing was kind of off. I think if ‘Pac and Big would have got together before he got with Puffy then it definitely would have been a go. But at the time he was already with Bad Boy so I think that kind of like, put the stall on bro being apart of the group. But it was official though. It was definitely a thing. It was just bad timing.”

[Via]

Today in Hip-Hop History: 2Pac Dropped His Third LP ‘Me Against The World’ 28 Years Ago

March 14, 2023 by newhiphopnews

This album was nothing like the music that gave him his “thug life” gangster image and street credentials. The subject matter and tone of this project were a lot more serious and introspective than anything he had previously released. Much less high energy than the tracks from his previous album Strictly 4 My N.I.G.G.A.Z…, this album showed genuine reflection on his life and career path as an artist along with shining light on some of his personal struggles with paranoia and self-loathing.

The realism of this album brought a ridiculous amount of commercial success. Debuting at #1 on the Billboard 200 chart, the album has been certified double platinum selling over 3.5 million copies in the United States alone. Along with being #1 in the US, the album also ranked #23 in Germany and #20 in Sweden. In the year after its release, the album received the Soul Train Music Award for Best Rap Album. The project was Tupac’s most positively reviewed album and has been called the magnum opus of his career.

The singles from the project “Dear Mama,” “So Many Tears” and “Temptations” all made appearances on the Billboard Hot 100 chart. “Dear Mama” peaked at #9, “So Many Tears” hit #44 and “Temptations” claimed the#68 spot.

The post Today in Hip-Hop History: 2Pac Dropped His Third LP ‘Me Against The World’ 28 Years Ago appeared first on The Source.

Today in Hip-Hop History: 2Pac Dropped His Third LP ‘Me Against The World’ 27 Years Ago

March 14, 2022 by newhiphopnews

The realism of this album brought a ridiculous amount of commercial success. Debuting at #1 on the Billboard 200 chart, the album has been certified double platinum selling over 3.5 million copies in the United States alone. Along with being #1 in the US, the album also ranked #23 in Germany and #20 in Sweden. In the year after its release, the album received the Soul Train Music Award for Best Rap Album. The project was Tupac’s most positively reviewed album and has been called the magnum opus of his career.

The post Today in Hip-Hop History: 2Pac Dropped His Third LP ‘Me Against The World’ 27 Years Ago appeared first on The Source.