All Eyez on Me | ||||
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Studio album by 2Pac | ||||
Released | February 13, 1996 | |||
Recorded | October 13–27, 1995 | |||
Studio | Can-Am Studios, Los Angeles, California | |||
Genre | ||||
Length | 131:39 | |||
Label | ||||
Producer |
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2Pac chronology | ||||
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Singles from All Eyez on Me | ||||
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Professional ratings | |
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Review scores | |
Source | Rating |
AllMusic | |
Encyclopedia of Popular Music | |
Entertainment Weekly | B+ |
Los Angeles Times | |
NME | 9/10 |
Q | |
Rolling Stone | |
The Rolling Stone Album Guide | |
Spin | 7/10 |
USA Today |
All Eyez on Me is the fourth studio album by American rapper 2Pac and the last one to be released during his lifetime. It was released on February 13, 1996, by Death Row Records and Interscope Records. The album featured the Billboard Hot 100 number one singles "How Do U Want It" and "California Love". It featured five singles in all, the most of any of Shakur's albums. Moreover, All Eyez on Me (which was the only Death Row release to be distributed through PolyGram by way of Island Records) made history as the first double-full-length hip-hop solo studio album released for mass consumption. It was issued on two compact discs and four LPs.
All Eyez on Me was the second album from 2Pac to hit number-one on both the Billboard 200 and the Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums charts, selling 566,000 copies in the first week. The album won the 1997 Soul Train R&B/Soul or Rap Album of the Year Award posthumously. Shakur also won the Award for Favorite Rap/Hip-Hop Artist at the 24th Annual American Music Awards. The album is among the most acclaimed hip-hop records of the 1990s. The album was certified diamond by the RIAA on July 23, 2014, almost 18 years after Tupac's death.
In October 1995, Suge Knight and Jimmy Iovine paid the $1.4 million bail necessary to get Shakur released from jail on charges of sexual abuse. At the time, Shakur was broke and thus unable to make bail himself. All Eyez on Me was released following an agreement between Knight and Shakur which stated Shakur would make three albums under Death Row Records in return for them paying his bail. Fulfilling part of Shakur's brand new contract, this double-album served as the first two albums of his three-album contract.