Hip Hop Appreciation Week; Day 1

It's Hip Hop Appreciation Week. This week, I'll be mentioning a few of my favorite Hip Hop artists and giving you at least 1 of my favorite albums by them. Lesss Gooooo!!!

Day 1: Tupac Shakur

2Pac - All Eyez on Me

Released Feb. 13, 1996

1. Ambitionz Az a Ridah
2. All About U {Nate Dogg, Yaki Kadafi, Kastro, Hussein Fatal}
3. Skandalouz {Nate Dogg}
4. Got My Mind Made Up {Daz Dillinger, Kurupt, Method Man, Redman}
5. How Do You Want It {Jodeci}
6. 2 of Amerikaz Most Wanted {Snoop Dogg}
7. No More Pain
8. Heartz of Men
9. Life Goes On
10. Only God Can Judge Me
11. Tradin War Stories {C-BO, Outlawz, Storm}
12. California Love [Remix] {Dr. Dre, Roger Troutman}
13. I Ain't Mad at Cha {Danny Boy}
14. What'z Ya Phone No. {Danny Boy}

So here's my intro to Hip Hop:

I grew up on the likes of Prince, Anita Baker, Stevie Wonder, and all things Gospel. My parent's generation. I wasn't introduced to Hip Hop til I was about 5 or 6, late 80's, early 90's. What initially started my love for Hip Hop was that radio stations during this time would incorporate the music of my parents with this "new" movement. The grooves, the rhymes, the energy, it all appealed to me. Of course the Internet and technology then wasn't like it is now so my main source for discovering Hip Hop was the radio. Up until High School, every chance I had, I created what is now highly publicized as the "mixtape". I'd record the radio for hours on end onto a cassette tape to listen to on my walkman that would get taken away from me 2-3 times in a month's span at school.

Moving on. In 1996, I fully fell in love with 2Pac. All Eyez on Me came out and it spoke to me in a way that I had never experienced before. I can't remember where I heard it from but this is the best explanation of 2Pac as an artist that I've ever heard:

"I believe Pac pulled from MLK, Malcolm X. That singing it & meaning it, pouring those words out because it was from the heart..."

Or as expressed by Radio Personality, Devi Dev, in a recent interview:

"The way that he spoke to people, he knew how to invoke every emotion humanly possible in you. Be it greed, anger, generosity, love, hate, empowerment, inspiration or degrading, he knew how to do that. It showed me the power we have as speakers to touch a lot of people's lives..."

With his ability to make me feel things I've never felt or experience situations that I never knew existed, 2Pac open my eyes to the world. To something outside of my little Valley Girl bubble. And that is why I listed him first in my Hip Hop Appreciation Week.

I'll see you tomorrow for Day 2.