0012414163622. Pre-Owned: Good condition. CD. Recorded following his near-fatal shooting in New York and released while he was in prison Me Against the World is the point where 2Pac really became a legendary figure. Having stared death in the face and survived he was a changed man on record displaying a new confessional bent and a consistent emotional depth. By and large this isn t the sort of material that made him a gangsta icon; this is 2Pac the soul-baring artist the foundation of the immense respect he commanded in the hip-hop community. It s his most thematically consistent least-self-contradicting work full of genuine reflection about how he s gotten where he is -- and dread of the consequences. Even the more combative tracks ( Me Against the World Fuck the World ) acknowledge the high-risk life he s living and pause to wonder how things ever went this far. He battles occasional self-loathing is haunted by the friends he s already lost to violence and can t escape the desperate paranoia that his own death isn t far in the future. These tracks -- most notably So Many Tears Lord Knows and Death Around the Corner -- are all the more powerful in hindsight with the chilling knowledge that he was right. Even romance takes on a new meaning as an escape from the hellish pressure of everyday life ( Temptations Can U Get Away ) and when that s not available getting high or drunk is almost a necessity. He longs for the innocence of childhood ( Young Niggaz Old School ) and remembers how quickly it disappeared yet he still pays loving clear-eyed tribute to his drug-addicted mother on the touching Dear Mama. Overall Me Against the World paints a bleak nihilistic picture but there s such an honest self-revealing quality to it that it can t help conveying a certain hope simply through its humanity. It s the best place to go to understand why 2Pac is so revered; it may not be his definitive album but it just might be his best. ~ Steve Huey Rovi