Maps of Music

Loyal to the Game (2004)

Where the lyrics of Loyal to the Game take you, and where it was really made.

This posthumous Tupac album is the only one with no original production: every track is a remix built by Eminem.

Key places

Recording location listed in the data (2004)

Recording site 54 Sound — Linked to this album as a recording location in the place data. The source does not name the building, so its exact position is not confirmed here. Google Maps · Apple Maps

How to get there: See the map for directions.

Album story

Overview

• Loyal to the Game: ninth studio album and fifth posthumous studio album by American rapper Tupac Shakur
• First posthumous Tupac album released by his mother, Afeni Shakur, through her label Amaru Entertainment
• Released without the involvement of Suge Knight or Death Row Records
• Produced by Eminem; consists of remixes of previously unreleased music recorded before Tupac's death in 1996
• Released in the United States on December 14, 2004
• Debuted at number one on the US Billboard 200 chart

Background

• Eminem wrote a letter to Afeni Shakur after being moved by Tupac's life and work, asking her to consider letting him produce his next album
• Shakur agreed; Eminem also produced three new songs for the 2003 soundtrack Tupac: Resurrection
• All songs were recorded before Tupac became involved in the East Coast-West Coast hip-hop rivalry
• Second posthumous album of material from that period, after 1997's R U Still Down? (Remember Me)
• Title track was previously released on the 1994 Above the Rim soundtrack cassette

Recording

• Eminem changed the pace and pitch of Tupac's voice to suit the instrumentals he produced
• Vocals were cut and pasted to create words of the time, such as G-Unit, Obie Trice and Em
• Style fit more closely with a Shady/Aftermath release than with any earlier Tupac posthumous album
• Loyal to the Game is the only posthumous Tupac album with no original production

Sources: en.wikipedia.org · es.wikipedia.org

Tracklist

Sources: musicbrainz.org

Artist

Early life

• Born June 16, 1971 in East Harlem, New York City, to Black Panther Party members Afeni Shakur and Billy Garland.
• Raised by his mother; moved to Baltimore in 1984 and attended the Baltimore School for the Arts.
• Moved to Marin City, California in 1988.

Career

• Debuted as 2Pac on Digital Underground's 1991 single "Same Song" under Interscope Records.
• Debut album 2Pacalypse Now (1991) established him as a central figure in West Coast hip-hop.
• Strictly 4 My N.I.G.G.A.Z... (1993) and Me Against the World (1995) brought critical and commercial success.
• All Eyez on Me (1996), the first hip-hop double album, produced two Billboard Hot 100 number-one singles, "California Love" and "How Do U Want It".
• Also acted in films including Juice (1992), Poetic Justice (1993), and Above the Rim (1994).
• Died September 13, 1996, after a drive-by shooting in Paradise, Nevada; the 2026 trial convicted Duane Davis of orchestrating the murder.

Legacy

• Record sales exceed 75 million worldwide.
• Inducted into the Hip-Hop Hall of Fame (2002) and the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame (2017).
• Awarded a posthumous star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame in 2023.

Sources: en.wikipedia.org

Reception

At release

• Debuted at number one on the US Billboard 200 chart, the first Tupac posthumous album to reach that position with new material from the pre-rivalry period
• Released in the United States on December 14, 2004, after Tupac's death in 1996
• Built entirely from remixes, so the album sounds closer to an Eminem-produced release than to earlier Tupac posthumous albums

Records

• Certified platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) on February 15, 2005, for sales of over one million copies in the US
• United Kingdom: certified gold
• France: 13,700 copies sold
• Spanish-language wiki records the same platinum and gold certifications for the US and UK

Sources: en.wikipedia.org · es.wikipedia.org · fr.wikipedia.org

Trivia

• 'Ghetto Gospel' was first recorded for the 1992 Christmas compilation A Very Special Christmas 2 before legal issues led to its removal
• The 'Ghetto Gospel' version on the album is much faster in tempo and contains a third and fourth verse absent from Eminem's remix
• The title track 'Loyal to the Game' was previously released on the 1994 Above the Rim cassette and as the B-side of 'Regulate'
• 'Ghetto Gospel' samples 'Indian Sunset' by Elton John; 'Don't You Trust Me?' samples Dido; 'N.I.G.G.A.' samples Curtis Mayfield
• The album includes four bonus remixes by Scott Storch, Red Spyda, Raphael Saadiq, and DJ Quik

Sources: en.wikipedia.org · pt.wikipedia.org

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