Strictly 4 My N.I.G.G.A.Z. [PA] by 2Pac

Tupac Shakur is easily one of the most widely debated characters ever in the history of popular music. Brilliant MC or overrated average one who simply got elevated to the level he did because there were bullets in Vegas with his name on them? A good argument can be made for both sides. Was he the greatest MC ever? The G O A T? No way. His flow wasn't always the best and his rhyming could be off at times. Plus there were times where his lyrics could be a tad too generic. Even his rival Notorious BIG was a better MC. But was Tupac talented. He certainly was.

But I came here to praise the fallen brother and my personal favorite album by him: 1993's Strictly 4 My N.I.G.G.A.Z. Notice I said personal favorite. This does not mean that it is his best (that honor goes to 1995's Me against the World, which has better production and songs). But it does mean that it is the one Tupac disc I would take to a desert island (after voting Jeezy off the island).

Strictly was Tupac's second album after 1991's 2pacalypse Now. That album spun off a couple minor hits with "Trapped" and the poignant teenage pregnancy number "Brenda's got a Baby". That album was inconsistent, yet the good moments (including the aforementioned singles) showed that there was talent at work.

Strictly represented an advance in terms of consistency and production. The album has more standout songs and the beats, while not quite stellar, are a massive improvement on the ones used on 2pacalypse.

I've seen it noted in some other reviews of this album that it is getting hard to find these days. While not totally out of print, copies of Strictly are rarer than those of most of Tupac's other albums (including the countless mediocre posthumous material that has been released since September 1996). When I decided to pick up a copy of it for my collection (to replace the long lost tape copy I acquired when the album came out) I couldn't locate it at the local Best Buy or Borders Books and Music (where I buy most of my CDs). I then checked out the FYE at the local mall, where they had a few copies, although copping one did eat up $19.35. But it was worth it.

At the time it was released, Strictly was one of the angriest rap albums on the market. The fact that it managed to come out on the heels of Ice Cube's The Predator and Paris's Sleeping With The Enemy and beat both in terms of pure fury should offer some indication as to how pissed off Tupac was.

And he had good reason to be angry. At the time of the album's release, he had come off of some run-ins with the police; specifically the Oakland PD. Plus there was also the matter of being attacked by then VP-notorious misspeller Dan "Potatoe" Quayle. Apparently VP Potato Head felt that the lyrical content of 2Pacalypse had inspired a Texas 19-year old to shoot and kill a state trooper. That was later proven false. But Quayle went on TV and pronounced the album as having "no place in our society" and demanded that it be pulled off of record store shelves. This was of course around the same time that Mr. Potato Head went after Murphy Brown for having a baby out of wedlock. But I digress.

Back to the album itself.

Strictly opens with the hard-hitting "Holler If Ya Hear Me" Complete with a sample from George Clinton's "Atomic Dog", this song announces that Tupac's back and it's no more Mr. Nice Guy. This song has a high level of energy that will get you moving and the lyrics show off his toughness quite well. No, the punk police will not fade him. This is one of his more forgotten ones that should be better known.

After the skippable interlude "Pac's Theme" (which incorporates excerpts from that aforementioned Quayle speech), we continue on with Tupac taking the finger pointed at him and flipping it right back at his detractors in "Point The Finger". In fact, that's the prominent theme of this album, Tupac taking on everyone who tried to keep him down and showing them that he's never going down.

Highlights in that regard include "Souljah's Revenge”, the excellent Ice Cube-Ice-T collaboration "Last Wordz" and parts of the all-star jam closing track "5 Deadly Venomz". The songs are good, even if the police bashing does get to be a bit too repetitive.

Lest you think this album is all unbridled rage at cops and the government, guess again. There are moments of genuine vulnerability scattered throughout the album. On "The Streetz R Deathrow" (not a reference to the label) he reflects on the hellish aspects of growing up in the inner city over a Barry White Sample. "Papa'z Song" is an angry rant at the absentee father he barely knew that lets you feel the pain of parental abandonment.

Then there's "Keep Ya Head Up". One of Tupac's most emotionally affecting songs, this ode to black women shows off the caring side of Shakur the best. Over a slow funk sample, he warns his fellow men against mistreating women and offers encouragement to the single mothers and women on welfare. If you ever have someone claim that rap is all nihilistic violence and misogyny, have them listen to this song. I played it for my late mother once (she was not a rap fan at all) and she liked it.

Ironically, she also liked "I Get Around", which shows off the other side of Tupac: the player side. Easily the most purely fun song on this grim album, this one will always sound great at a party.

Not to say that Strictly is strictly perfect. There are a couple of forgettable tracks "Peep Game" and "Guess Who's Back"). Some of the themes (bad cops (watch Tupac piss on their doughnuts), censorship, and bad government) do get repetitive at times. Also, the two unnecessary interludes should've been ditched.

Those complaints aside, Strictly 4 My N.I.G.G.A.Z works well as Tupac's toughest, angriest album. It's better than the under produced 2Pacalypse and way ahead of the filler cluttered All Eyez On Me. Again, it isn't his best. But it's the only one of his I would save from a drug squad raid.