Tupac Shakur's estate is celebrating the 25th anniversary of his third studio album, Me Against The World, by releasing an exclusive range of merchandise. It's been a quarter of a century since the legendary late rapper dropped MATW, which he recorded and released in prison in 1995. The line includes items like vinyl copies of the critically acclaimed project, as well as three different graphic T-shirt designs and a pullover hoodie, all with the album's tracklist emblazoned on the back. The products range from $30-$96, the latter price applying to a bundle offer for an "exclusive and limited" tan-coloured 2LP of the album along with the hoodie. Everything is available for pre-order on Pac's online store, and is expected to ship next month.
Me Against The World has been praised by fans and critics alike ever since it was released. The album famously marked his return to music after declaring his "retirement" due to his incarceration for a first-degree sexual assault charge. Tupac on to become the first artist at the time to record and release a #1 album while imprisoned. "Me Against the World was really to show people that this is an art to me," Pac said in an interview during his time in prison. "That I do take it like that. And whatever mistakes I make, I make out of ignorance, not out of disrespect to music or the art. So Me Against the World was deep, reflective. It was like a blues record. It was down-home. It was all my fears, all the things I just couldn’t sleep about. Everybody thought that I was living so well and doing so good that I wanted to explain it. And it took a whole album to get it all out. It’s explaining my lifestyle, who I am, my upbringing and everything. It talks about the streets but talks about it in a different light. There’s a song on there dedicated to mothers, just a song I wrote just for my mother. And it digs deeper like that. I just wanted to do something for all mothers. I’m proud of that song. It affected a lot of people."