'Me Against The World'

All things considered, Biggie's first album is substantially better than Tupac Shukar's marquee release that helped put him on the map.

Tupac's a bit to R&B for my taste. Too much single and even some atonal, irritating songs that split between Shukar's dark lyrics, mostly about getting shot and dying.

Clearly, he knew the route in life he was on. He had no misgivings. What I don't understand is what he died for? Was it a gang thing? Territory? Unless he was assassinated because he's the antichrist, war criminal or pedophile, I can't imagine a reason why Shukar's death was worth anything.

I guess he was "keeping it real" and I'm sure that was very important to him and all the guys just like him that consider this element of respect.

Remember, Shukar died riding in an expensive car in Las Vegans en route to spending an obscene amount of money at a club. Shukar wasn't on the corners. He wasn't still living the "thug life" or slinging crack. He was more than likely going to things (gamble, drink, get with a lot of girls) that your regular thug on the street would not dream of doing.

Maybe he came from that sort of life, but why he had to maintain it for the sake of getting shot to death makes zero sense. It's the definition of senseless.

Shukar, post-mortem, has somehow re-worked his image a bit. You can hardly read a world about him without referring to his reading and library of books left after his death.

I don't doubt he read these texts. I just wonder if he really understood them. Did he digest these books as a gang member and someone that would die to young or did he consider the books based on a life of peace and, well, living.

One of his favorites is Machiavelli's The Prince. If he'd read harder maybe he'd be here today.