Thug Life
Thug Life: Volume 1

Already back in '94, 2pac was considered a true force in made-in-cali rap. He hadn't yet reached the level of a mass idol that he would achieve later with Death Row, but with two successful and controversial albums, even discussed by the government, plus two movies, one of which (Poetic Justice) achieved more than decent success, he had definitely made a name for himself.

Tupac returned to the recording studio this time with a group behind him, Thug Life (Mopreme, Rated R, Big Syke, & Macadoshis), and from the recording sessions, about twenty songs were born. The demo with the songs was sent to Interscope, which rejected Notorious B.I.G., who was supposed to be a group member, and trimmed down the album to just ten songs that would make up the record. However, one shouldn’t be fooled by the small number of songs; in fact, "Thug Life Volume 1" is an album with balls, hitting the mainstream market with an underground sound and tackling themes that make more than half of Americans cringe.

Tupac, of course, is the group's pioneer, but the others are no less. It's in slow and deep songs like Pour Out A Little Liquor, Bury Me A G (sampling a soul piece by the Isleys), and the famous How Long Will They Mourn Me? with Nate Dogg that they bring out the best. Although from California, the album doesn't sound G-Funk; it's a meeting point between the sound of the West Coast and the East. As mentioned earlier, the album sounds very underground, and for this reason, it wasn't much considered by the media at the time, only achieving its deserved success after the shooting involving 2pac a few months after the album's release.

The album opens with Bury Me A G, a sampling of an old soul piece as mentioned above, continues with a track missing 2pac but doesn't suffer for it: Don't Get It Twisted. Then it's the turn of Shit Don’t Stop, a hip-hop piece with funky veins, followed by one of the classics in the album, Pour Out A Little Liquor, where 2pac alone tackles the theme of losing a loved one, followed by three more classics one after another: Stay True, a piece to listen to in the car, How Long Will They Mourn Me with Nate Dogg, as moving as few others, and finally Under Pressure, a street track with an aggressive beat where Tupac and Stretch alternate.
Street Fame suffers from the absence of Tupac, not terrible but doesn't shine either, a mediocre piece. After Cradle To The Grave, the most famous piece of the album, it's Str8 Ballin's turn, which closes the album and is the best track on it, with 2pac finishing the record with a track all his own without the rest of the group.

It may not be a Makaveli, a Me Against The World, an All Eyez On Me, but "Thug Life: Volume 1" is, in my opinion, the truest album 2pac has ever made.