Loyal to the Game

Loyal to the Game
Studio album by 2Pac
Released	December 12, 2004 (2004-12-12) (see release history)
Recorded	1991-1994 (2Pac's vocals) 2003-2004 (Production, guest vocals, and mixing)
Genre	West coast hip hop, gangsta rap
Length	64:56
Label	Amaru, Interscope
Producer	Afeni Shakur (exec.), Eminem (also exec.) Scott Storch, Red Spyda, Raphael Saadiq, DJ Quik, Luis Resto
2Pac chronology
2Pac Live (2004) Loyal to the Game (2004) Pac's Life (2006)
Singles from Loyal to the Game
"Thugs Get Lonely Too" Released: September 23, 2004 "Ghetto Gospel" Released: January 21, 2005

Professional ratings
Review scores
Source	Rating
Allmusic	link
Los Angeles Times	link
PopMatters	link
RapReviews	(8/10) link
Rolling Stone	link
Vibe	link
MusicBox
Xtam4 RTC

Loyal to the Game is the tenth studio album and fifth posthumous studio album by Tupac Shakur. It contains remixes of previously unreleased music recorded by Shakur before his death in 1996. Released in the United States on December 14, 2004 (December 12 in the United Kingdom), Loyal to the Game was produced by Eminem.

Background

According to an interview with MTV, Eminem was so moved by Tupac's life and work that he wrote a letter to Tupac's mother, Afeni Shakur, asking her to consider letting him produce the album. Shakur agreed, giving Eminem the go ahead.^[1] The album featured two singles- "Thugs Get Lonely Too" featuring Nate Dogg and "Ghetto Gospel" featuring Elton John.^[2]

Production

Eminem used various unusual production techniques during the creation of this album, namely modifying the pace and pitch of Tupac's voice to better suit the beats produced.^[3] There were also various uses of the cutting and pasting of vocals to produce new words synonymous with current rap culture, such as saying "G-Unit", "Obie Trice" and "Em" instead of "LG", the original producer of "Out On Bail".^[3]

The original title track was recorded in 1993 by 2Pac, Treach and Riddler for the film Above The Rim (1994) and was produced by Reginald Heard. DJ Quik made a remix, the tempo of which is the same as the original, that was added as a bonus track; DJ Quik also suggested to Tupac's mother, Afeni Shakur, that the title track be known as "Loyal to the Game".

The original versions of the songs were originally recorded for 2Pac's debut album 2Pacalypse Now (1991), for his second album 'Strictly 4 My N.I.G.G.A.Z (1993), for Thug Life: Volume 1 (1994, with his group Thug Life) and for Me Against The World (1995), but were cut. In 1993 2Pac recorded a track named "Po Nigga Blues"" with a rapper named The Govenor. Later 2Pac's producer Shock-G produced a remix of the song, which is still unreleased. However Scott Storch made a remix of the song, which was added as a bonus track.

Reception

Loyal to the Game debuted on the US Billboard 200 at number one with sales of over 330,000 copies in its first week. It was later certified platinum in the US.^[4]

It has sold 1,204,124 copies in the United States of America as of 2011.^[5]

Track listing

Sample credits

• "Ghetto Gospel" contains a sample of "Indian Sunset" performed by Elton John
• "Don't You Trust Me?" contains a sample of "Do You Have a Little Time" performed by Dido
• "N.I.G.G.A." contains a sample of "(Don't Worry) If There's a Hell Below, We're All Going to Go" performed by Curtis Mayfield

Unused Tracks

• "Don't You Trust Me (Stereo-Types Remix)" Feat. Keyshia Cole
• "Thug 4 Life (Jelly Roll Remix)" Feat. Jelly Roll
• "Thug 4 Life (Johnny J Remix)"
• "Deadly Combination (Ron G Remix)" Feat. Big L, The Notorious B.I.G. & Stretch
• "Tears Of Clown (Mike Mosley Remix)"

Release history

Album chart positions

Certifications

References