About 30 years ago, around September 1996, when I was 12 years old, I purchased the CD single I Ain’t Mad At Cha by 2Pac, new, from a store in Lincoln, Lincolnshire, England. I’m pretty sure it would have cost me either £2.99 or £3.99 when I bought it (that’s not adjusted for inflation). I really, really liked the song I Ain’t Mad At Cha, which I discovered whilst watching MTV, at home, back in 1996. In particular, the Radio Version of the song, which is the version that played on MTV back then, and which is listed on the CD case you can see below as ‘I Ain’t Mad At Cha (Edit)’. The ‘LP Version’ of the song (which, unfortunately, is the version on the 2Pac Greatest Hits album, and which is also the more prominent of the two versions on YouTube) is nowhere near as good as the Radio Version. Also, for some weird reason, the brilliant Radio Version is not on Spotify, but the rubbish ‘LP version’ is. I have attached 2 photos of this CD case below, which I found on the internet. The CD single I purchaded in 1996 looked just like that.
About 3 years later I purchased the 2Pac Greatest Hits double cassette album. In mid-2000 I was forced to work, full-time, in a horrible chicken factory, in a job which had a long commute. I would listen to the 2Pac Greatest Hits tape cassettes on my Sony Walkman, whilst walking to and from the bus stop during my commute, Monday to Friday. I listened to that album a lot, probably for more than 50 hours in total. 2Pac’s music was so freaking good. It was amazing. 2Pac, to this day, 30 years after he left this realm, is still regarded by many, many hip-hop enthusiasts as the best rapper ever. He was my favorite artist for a long time, and remains one of my favorites.
My favorite songs of Tupac are Krazy (released when 2Pac was known as Makaveli), Ain’t Hard 2 Find, Open Fire, and a bunch of others.
One thing that I have noticed after watching YouTube videos about 2Pac is that he was able to write lyrics for his songs very, very quickly. And when I say quickly, I mean REALLY quickly. Unless I’m mistaken, ‘Pac was only was a solo act for 5 years, and, apparently, he made over 700 songs in that time. Like, that’s literally impossible. And numerous rappers have commented on how ‘Pac was able to write lyrics super-fast. It’s almost as though he was some kind of deity of music.
2Pac was a real gangster – he would get into fights all the time. If he saw a guy on the street who was selling bootlegged/counterfeit 2Pac tapes/CDs, he (2Pac) would go over there and beat his ass. But, even though 2Pac would put an ass-whuppin’ on his enemies, that does not mean he was a bad person. He was a violent person, but he was an ETHICAL violent person. He wouldn’t just pick on someone for no reason.
Earlier today, at 06:17am on Tuesday 1st September 2026, I saw that the only surviving person who was responsible for Tupac Shakur’s death had been convicted of first-degree murder for the killing of Tupac in 1996. All the other people who were in the shooter’s car, that night, are apparently dead. I’m glad that 2Pac is finally getting justice.
Rest in peace Tupac Amaru Shakur
June 16, 1971 – September 13, 1996
