#48, "Me Against The World," Tupac Shakur (feat. Dramacydal) (1995)

150 Favorite Songs: #48, "Me Against The World," Tupac Shakur (feat. Dramacydal) (1995)

I've always loved that Tupac put guest rappers on a track called "Me Against The World." You could snark on it, obviously—er, isn't it you, Yaki Kadafi, and E.D.I. Mean against the world, 'Pac?—but that's kind of the point: it's never really you against the world. When Kadafi drops his first line ("can somebody help me? / I'm out here all by myself"), the fact that you've got E.D.I. Mean coming in to pick up the verse is kind of a neat moment. We're never really as alone as we think.

Granted, I'm not sure that's really the point of the song, as Tupac's loyalty to Dramacydal—a group of rappers made up mostly of his childhood friends, who later changed their name to the Outlawz—had him put them on a lot of songs they might not really make sense on otherwise. (Sometimes it could be downright condescending; on “Hit ‘Em Up,” he declares to his foe, ”You ain't even on my level, I'm gonna let my little homies ride on you,” which isn’t exactly flattering to his, er, lil' homies). But whether it's intended or not, it's a cool thing to find in the song.

There’s a lot worth finding in “Me Against the World.” Tupac had bigger hits than this song, of course, and a lot of them are more fun to listen to in your car. I wouldn’t challenge the greatness of “Hail Mary” or “California Love” or “2 of Amerikaz Most Wanted” as pure head-nodders, but I don’t think those songs are why Tupac’s name has the cache it still carries thirty years later, great as they are. I think the reason Tupac continues to be a high-water mark for greatness is because he understood long before mainstream rap was ready for it that leading with vulnerability made everything you do land harder. The tough Tupac songs sound tougher because he was willing to write about loneliness and despair, the party songs sound more fun because songs like “Me Against the World” gave us a broader emotional context to understand where he was coming from, to know that there was another side to the joy of “California knows how to party,” that it meant something to picture him rolling because he was willing to be real in a way that was ahead of his time. It’s funny to think about now, in 2024, when hip hop has been shaped by Kanye, Kid Cudi, Drake, Kendrick, and other rappers who were comfortable leading with their feelings, but Tupac’s willingness to rap about his fears and weaknesses was groundbreaking in a way that it took other superstars years to really get comfortable with. But “Me Against the World” was the title track to a number-one album by the most important rapper in the world a decade before Kanye showed up.

I've always loved the tension in hip hop between braggadocio and vulnerability, and while it's always been present (there's a reason why "I've got so much trouble on my mind" is a line that’s been referenced by rappers across eras and movements), nobody really understood how to merge them the way Tupac did until he showed up. There's a first-person element to rap songs that isn't necessarily present in rock or pop music, and just like I've listened to "Hit 'Em Up" to feel strong when I was angry, I've listened to "Me Against The World" a million times to feel less alone when I was lonely. There've been an ocean of words spilled over Tupac, but he rarely gets enough credit for his determination to demonstrate both vulnerability and ferocity, often at the same time. It’s reassuring to hear that in Tupac’s voice, even all these years later.