All Eyez on Me is 2Pac the thug icon in all his brazen excess, throwing off all self-control and letting it all hang out even if some of it would have been better kept to himself. Sure, there are a few reflective numbers and dead-homiez tributes, but they're much more romanticized this time around. But more than that, it's also an unabashed embrace of the gangsta lifestyle, backing off the sober self-recognition of Me Against the World.
With all the controversy surrounding him, 2Pac seemingly wanted to throw down a monumental epic whose sheer scope would make it an achievement of itself. Whatever the case, 2Pac re-emerged hardened and hungry with All Eyez on Me, the first double-disc album of original material in hip-hop history. Maybe it was his time in prison, or maybe it was simply his signing with Suge Knight's Death Row label. Dre track “California Love” became a huge house-party hit, but what unifies the album, through an array of different producers and guest stars, is Pac’s charisma and his struggles with morality: “It’s similar to Rhythm Nation, but thugged out - forgive me, Janet.” In the course of 27 songs and two discs, Pac empties his brain of the contradictory impulses. On his fourth (and final) album, he briefly gets it.
2Pac wanted it all: credibility and success, “murderous lyrics” and voice-of-a-generation gravitas.
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