Me against the world

[LyricalDisguise]

I was reading Inside a thug's heart again, what was during pac's prison time and he's also talking about his Me Against the world release.

On page 59 there's a letter where pac wrote: As 4 me it's still "me against the world" and they all out to do me but as always I'm Ready 4 whatever and my Only fear of death iz comin back 2 this fucked up world reincarnated. And the letter also contains a poem titled: If heaven has a ghetto

It's written a few days ( 1 or 2 days) before the release of Me against the world. I know originally a lot of songs of RUSD should be on this. But does this mean that tupac didn't change tracklist himself and some1 else (record label) did it and did he really thought that MATW would contain these RUSD tracks?

 

[JarG]

he only wrote like that cause i wonder if heaven...is from 92 or something, same with only fear of death its from 92/93 maybe 94?

 

[alleyezonme12]

the album wouldnt have been changed only 1 or 2 days before the release

 

[Dante]

the bulk of matw was thug life session tracks that were left over.

 

[big man]

the bulk of matw was thug life session tracks that were left over.

how do you know?

 

[LyricalDisguise]

^^ I know these tracks were from '93 - '94......
But that's not my question, it's this:
How is it possible that tupac is speaking of these tracks 1 day before the release of Me Against The World, when the O.G tracklisting was changed. That means Tupac didn't know of the tracklisting of MATW, plus he didn't change it himself, plus he wasn't even informed about the whole changing in tracklist.

 

[*suspect#1*]

^^ I know these tracks were from '93 - '94......
But that's not my question, it's this:
How is it possible that tupac is speaking of these tracks 1 day before the release of Me Against The World, when the O.G tracklisting was changed. That means Tupac didn't know of the tracklisting of MATW, plus he didn't change it himself, plus he wasn't even informed about the whole changing in tracklist.

well my friend in the big scheme of things....pac or any rappers that are signed to majors,dont really decide what ends up on the final product, the record company makes those desicions, the album is submitted by the artist, then the record company pulls off what they want, adds on what they want, or instructs the artist to make changes that they feel will make the album sell better...look at the final thug life album as a perfect example of that...plus he was locked up whne the album dropped so he prolly had no control over what the final product was....and it would have been impossible for the record company to change the cd 1 day before it dropped, it gets pressed months and months before it drops, not to mention shipped early to record stores, they just cant put it on the shelf until the release date, but they always have them stocked and ready to sell in the back of teh store

 

[LyricalDisguise]

^^ Thanx for the reply suspect but, I asked it also because Pac said in a interview after his prison release that he had to switch the tracklisting of MATW, because 'Biggie took his style'.
So it seems that the record company changed the tracklisting (with the RUSD tracks) and not pac... so why would he lie about that?

 

[*suspect#1*]

^^ Thanx for the reply suspect but, I asked it also because Pac said in a interview after his prison release that he had to switch the tracklisting of MATW, because 'Biggie took his style'.
So it seems that the record company changed the tracklisting (with the RUSD tracks) and not pac... so why would he lie about that?

well i think one can only speculate on that, i mean you can take me against the world and r u still down and peice together almost an identical album to ready to die, same concepts and song themes, and im sure biggie was around when alot of those songs pac did were recorded....so that may very well be, but in the end the artist rarely gets to control what actully gets released, the companys only mission is to make money

 

[Dante]

how do you know?

because i have heard thug life session tapes pac dubbed off for family and friends. yes indeed, most of matw consisted of these songs.

 

[Hellrazor1978]

^^^I find that hard to believe.

1. MATW and Thug Life are two very different albums. If most of MATW was from those sessions, how come Mopreme, Rated R, Syke etc aint on MATW??

2. The songs dont even sound alike to be from the same sessions. Production on both albums was very different from one another. Both albums had a distinct sound, and both were very different.

 

[jaguardre]

well i trust dante is telling the truth but yes matw does have a very different feel than thug life and most of rusd for that matter, other than do 4 love and when i get free, i dont feel like many of rusd would have been meant for matw but thug life cuts instead

 

[Dante]

^^^I find that hard to believe.

1. MATW and Thug Life are two very different albums. If most of MATW was from those sessions, how come Mopreme, Rated R, Syke etc aint on MATW??

2. The songs dont even sound alike to be from the same sessions. Production on both albums was very different from one another. Both albums had a distinct sound, and both were very different.

you're free to your opinion, but my own ears have heard tapes 2pac himself dubbed off with the thug life lp versions, along with my block, can u get away, and others. just because they were thug life sessions, doesn't mean that they are thug life group tracks per se. obviously the thug life tracks were selected because they are very common among the lot. likewise, thug life sessions don't necessairly denote the album - more like the era. there were tracks that would have been amazing (like the 11 minute intro) that didn't make it, but such is life. anyway, fully half of matw was recorded before matw began to take shape officially. if you take a look at matw time, pac had very little opportunity to record in comparison to earlier and later times. anyway, i'm just trying to share my experience of sitting down to listen to these tracks so we all can get a little deeper appreciation as to the origin of the "matw era" tracks.

in some ways 1993-4 was just as productive a time as pac's death row days. ...and to think that rusd was all "scraps." incredible.

 

[Hellrazor1978]

^^^I see, thanks for clearing that up.

So it seems both Thug Life and MATW were recorded over a period of time, and kinda overlaped one another?? I think the fact he was so prolific during his Death Row era makes us forget sometimes that he was before then as well, its just that he wasnt making albums in 1 or two weeks lol.

RUSD kinda feels like a mixture of both albums. "Only Fear of Death", Do 4 Love, Hellrazor, and Hold On/Be Strong would have been right at home on MATW......then Ready 4 Whatever and Losin It sound like the coulda been on Thug Life.

 

[jaguardre]

yeah i suppose the content of pacs lyrics on both thug life and matw are similar so i can believe it, but i guess he was just fuckin with different producers for matw or somethin so thats why they sound so different...