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I got Me Against the World yesterday. It's pretty great, but I wouldn't say it's awesome. Although the problem is that when I bought the album I had already heard all the "hits" on the album - the title song, So Many Tears, and Dear Mama. If I had bought gone into the album with no knowledge of those songs or hearing them a billion times I'd be way more blown away by the album. The hit songs I mentioned actually are placed towards the beginning of the album, while the middle part of the album moves slowly. It seems like some songs - such as Heavy in the Game - merely recycle the same themes from earlier tracks.
Yet the album goes off with a bang; the last 5 songs are all great. This block of songs starts with Can You Get Away, which is easily the best "lubby dubby" Tupac song I've ever heard. While it's a love song it's also a very serious take on domestic violence and is done great. The song that follows, Oldschool, is perhaps the best song on the entire album. Many rap artists have the standard shout out track where they namedrop various older rappers, but this stands out in every way. Tupac's wordplay on the song as well as his lyrics really draw you into the song and give you a vivid account of what he's talking about - Brooklyn during the beginning of rap's golden era.
Another interesting thing I noticed is the contradictions that fill some of the songs. On Young Niggaz, Tupac addresses the problems of gang violence and its effect on young black males - yet on the last song on the album, Outlaws, he gloats over the behavior he previously bashed while instructing the youth to "get that paper" at all costs.
From a production point the album features some rather lackluster beats, but Tupac brings the best out of all of them. Lots of the voice samples (from various movies including King of New York) used seem poorly implemented.
Overall it's still a very solid album which spawned many of Tupac's best songs
4/5
