A Great Hip Hop Album: 2Pac's Greatest Hits

Tupac Shakur was a talented poet and rapper. His most memorable songs like "Dear Mama" and "Changes" were released on his Greatest Hits album in 1998.

Tupac Shakur, also called 2Pac, was an extremely talented poet and lyricist who is considered as one of the greatest artist of the 1990's. His violent and untimely death in 1996 did not bring a halt to the release of his music and in 1998, his Greatest Hits album was released via Death Row Records Interscope Records. Some of the songs were released on 2Pac's earlier albums and others such as "Changes" were unreleased at that time. 2Pac's lyrics are sometimes explicit but his music tells his story. On Greatest Hits, this superb artist collaborates with Snoop Dogg, Nate Dogg, Shock G from Digital Underground, K-Ci & Jojo originally of Jodeci and other artists. 2Pac's music was definitely influenced by classic soul because several of the tracks on Greatest Hits contain samples from songs like the Zapp's "Computer Love" and Cameo's "Candy."

2Pac's 1990's Albums from 2Pacalypse Now to Makaveli

His first album was 2Pacalypse Now in 1991 with the popular songs being "Brenda's Got a Baby" and "Trapped." The next album Strictly 4 My N*** was released in 1993 and 2Pac's biggest tracks on this album were "Keep Your Head Up" and "Holla If You Hear Me." Thug Life was the next album is 1994 with the hit song "How Long will They Mourn Me." Me Against the World was the 1995 album and the title song was a big hit for 2Pac.

Then All Eyez On Me was released in 1996 with the hits "California Love," "Picture Me Rollin" and "Life Goes On." Makaveli was released after 2Pac's death and this album included songs like "Me and My Girlfriend," "To Live and Die in L.A." and "Hail Mary."**Songs on 2Pac'sGreatest Hits** Tupac Shakur's Greatest Hits album has twenty-six of this artist's best loved hits. Lyrically, the songs express pain and struggle while still conveying lighter and happier messages in some songs.

• "Brenda's Got a Baby": Hip Hop fans would remember this early release from 2Pac after seeing him perform with Digital Underground in that group's music videos. "Brenda's Got a Baby" conveyed strong messages about teenage pregnancy, child abuse and prostitution. "I hear Brenda's got a baby but Brenda's barely got a brain/ a damn shame/ the girl can't even spell her name" starts off 2Pac in this powerful track. He speaks of Brenda who was a young girl who fell in love and got pregnant by a man who did not care about her. After making the difficult decision to keep the baby, to feed her child, Brenda resorted to selling crack and eventually turned to prostitution. The song ends with 2Pac saying "prostitute found slain and Brenda's her name/ she's got a baby."
• An Anthem for the Women is "Keep Ya Head Up": Written by 2pac, Roger Troutman of Zapp, D. Anderson and Stan Vincent, this song shares positivity to women. "I wonder why we take from our women/ why we rape our women" are examples of the lyrics. The "ooh child" in the chorus is an interpolation from the original song "Ooh Child" written by Stan Vincent and the instrumental is sampled from Zapp's "Be Alright."
• "Changes" is a Powerful Song: 2pac poured his heart out in this song as he talks about different struggles and how people can unite to make positive change. His interpolation from Bruce Hornsby's "The Way It Is" rings in the chorus, "that's just the way it is, some things will never change." In this previously unreleased track, 2Pac makes the statement that he "wouldn't live to see a black president" and he did not live to see Barack Obama elected the President of the United States in 2008.
• Tupac's Ode to California is "To Live and Die in L.A.": This song begins with an interesting intro where a reporter is asking someone how he feels about 2Pac's new record. Although the interviewee shares that he likes 2pac's music, the reporter interrupts rehashing some of the more negative lyrics from previous albums. In this song, 2Pac raps about his love for California despite the hard times and difficult days. Val Young sings the hook in this song which was written by 2Pac, Q. Jones III and Miss Young. "I love Cali like I love women" and "we might fight amongst each other but I promise you this, we'll burn…if you get us pissed" are some of his emphatic lyrics on his love for his hometown.

The Greatest Hits album from Tupac Shakur has a title that speaks well for its content. The songs are raw poetry even though some are explicit. Tupac was killed in 1996, but his legacy lives on through the Tupac Amaru Shakur Foundation. His music remains socially and musically relevant because through his talent, he was able to share his life's story.