One last trip to the store...

Tuesday: I had my Doubts
Written by JusHH

September 13, 1996, Tupac Amaru Shakur died after being shot several times in Las Vegas. This isn’t news to anyone but it set the stage for one of my most memorable album purchases ever. Shortly after he was pronounced dead, rumors began to circulate that 2Pac was alive and in hiding. Stories turned into urban legends. So when it was announced that Death Row was releasing 2Pac’s final album under the alias Makaveli, everyone was brimming with curiosity and anticipation. With so much controversy at the time of his death, you just had no idea what to expect. That hype and Pac being one of my favorite rappers at the time, made me rush to the stores and cop that joint.

But this post is about the album I didn’t buy that day…

After I bought the 2Pac album, I called my boy on my mom’s cell. (This was 1996 so that cell phone was the size of a PSP lol) I was walking back to the dollar van to go home and I told him that I bought the Makaveli album. The rest of our conversation went as follows (Obviously paraphrasing. My memory isn’t that good):

“Yo, I saw that Jay-Z dude’s album there too. Did you hear anything about it?”
“Son, you crazy.”
“Huh?”
“There’s no way you should have left the store without it.”

After that strong recommendation, the following week I went back to the store and purchased the album with the fly gangster cover. Without question, Reasonable Doubt has one of the best covers I’ve ever seen. I grabbed that cassette tape and headed home.

At the time, I only heard “Ain’t no N***a” and parts of “Dead Presidents” so I didn’t really know too much about him. That all changed over the next 60-65 minutes. Hearing him go to work on “Can’t Knock the Hustle” set the tone for the rest of the album. I knew I was in for something classic. (“high stakes, I got more in ‘steak’ than Philly”). Then I thought I was going to pass out when I first heard “Brooklyn’s Finest”. I remember thinking, “yo did this dude just out rap Biggie?”

“Too much west coast d**k lickin’, and too many n***as on a mission. Doin’ they best Jay-Z rendition.”

When I read the title, 22 Two’s on the end of Side A on the tape, I had an idea what I was about to listen to and it still exceed expectations. I would rewind it over and over trying to count if he actually fit 22 two’s in that song. (Note: It actually took nearly ten years and dozens of conversations for me to finally confirm it)

If that wasn’t enough, when he began talking on “Friend or Foe”, I thought it was an intro. Boy was I wrong. Slowly I started picking up on the flow and by the time he said, “chances slimmer than that chick in Calvin Klein pants”, I felt like I just stumbled upon a Pacino movie.

Listening to that album that day was more than music, it was an experience. When the beat to “Regrets” faded out, I became a lifelong fan. He went from virtually unknown to one of my favorite rappers in on single evening. Now I wait like a kid on Christmas everytime I hear he’s about to release a new album.

And to think…

I had my doubts.