Today in Hip-Hop — November 12: 2Pacalypse Now Turns 35, the Debut a Digital Underground Roadie Built

November 12, 1991. 2Pac released 2Pacalypse Now, his debut solo album, through TNT and Interscope, with EastWest/Atlantic handling distribution. It turns 35 today. Here’s the first jewel: the executive producer on the album, Atron Gregory, was Digital Underground’s manager. Gregory signed Tupac and in 1990 put him on the road with the Underground as a roadie and backup dancer. His first verse on wax came in January 1991 on DU’s “Same Song.” Ten months later he had his own album.

The Underground Railroad

The production on this record came from the same Bay Area crew. Shock G produced “Words of Wisdom,” “Tha’ Lunatic” and “Rebel of the Underground.” Big D the Impossible did “Brenda’s Got a Baby,” “Soulja’s Story” and “If My Homie Calls.” Pee-Wee, Raw Fusion, Live Squad and J-Z handled the rest. Discogs credits the whole collective as The Underground Railroad, and Pac is listed as co-producer.

The writing credits show what they were digging through. “Young Black Male” credits seven members of War plus George Clinton. Herbie Hancock is a writer on both “Words of Wisdom” and “If My Homie Calls.” Isaac Hayes is on “Soulja’s Story,” and Stevie Wonder is on “Part Time Mutha.” The hook on “Brenda’s Got a Baby,” a story about a 12-year-old mother written as straight reportage, has a then-unknown Dave Hollister on background vocals.

“No Place in Our Society”

It came out slowly. The album debuted at No. 197 on the Billboard 200 and didn’t peak (No. 64 pop, No. 13 R&B) until early 1992. Then a Texas defense attorney blamed the record for the killing of a state trooper, and Vice President Dan Quayle said: “There’s no reason for a record like this to be published. It has no place in our society.” Police brutality, poverty and teen pregnancy were the subjects that got a sitting vice president to go after a debut rap album. It went Gold in 1995. For the other end of his catalog, see our Don Killuminati at 30 post from last week.

Five years to the day later, on November 12, 1996, a Detroit kid released his own debut, Infinite, on the Bass Brothers’ WEB Entertainment. He started writing it inspired by Pac’s Me Against the World and Nas’s Illmatic. Mr. Porter produced it with him, and according to The Way I Am he sold roughly 70 of about 1,000 copies, out of his car trunk. The full run is in our Eminem albums in order guide.

Wear It

Before 2Pacalypse Now, Pac was the young dancer standing behind Shock G. We made a vintage Digital Underground tee featuring Tupac and Shock G for the heads who knew him before the bandana.

Also Today in Hip-Hop

• 1996: Snoop Doggy Dogg, Tha Doggfather (30 years). His first album without Dre. DJ Pooh, Daz Dillinger, Soopafly and L.T. Hutton produced it, and it debuted at No. 1. The cover was drawn by his cousin Darryl “Joe Cool” Daniel, who also drew Doggystyle. The closing “Outro” features Pac as Makaveli.
• 1996: The Space Jam soundtrack (30 years). “Hit ‘Em High (The Monstars’ Anthem)” put B-Real, Busta Rhymes, Coolio, LL Cool J and Method Man on one Trackmasters beat. The album reached No. 2 behind Aerosmith and went 6x Platinum by 2001.
• 2004: Eminem, Encore (22 years). His fifth album came out on the same date as Infinite, eight years later. It went No. 1 in the U.S., the U.K. and seven other countries, and “Like Toy Soldiers” and “Mockingbird” have aged better than anything around them.

Stay creative — The Custom Creative Team

Jon Jones