loyal to the game

On December 12th, 2004, Loyal to the Game became Tupac Shakur’s ninth studio album and fifth posthumous album. It was notably produced by Detroit rapper Eminem who also featured on two tracks, “Soldier Like Me” and “Black Cotton”. The lead single, “Thugs Get Lonely Too,” preceded the album by three months, released in September of 2004.

Eminem’s involvement with Tupac’s work didn’t exactly come as a shock. One year prior, Eminem featured and produced “One Day at a Time,” a song from the Official Soundtrack to Resurrection, a documentary film put out by Afeni Shakur’s label, Amaru Entertainment. Around this same time, a personal correspondence letter written to Afeni Shakur from Eminem was leaked to the public, suggesting the two had both a personal and professional relationship.

The original versions of these songs are all outtakes recorded for 2Pacalypse Now, Strictly 4 My N.I.G.G.A.Z., and Me Against the World. They were then remixed using pitch and tempo altering techniques. Some of the original vocals were even chopped up and put back together to form wholly new words that 2Pac himself never said, such as “Obie Trice” and “G-Unit.”