The title track is somewhat of an exception, though. Songs like "Letter 2 My Unborn," "When Thugz Cry," and the title track are just as heartfelt as "Keep Ya Head Up," "Dear Mama," and "I Ain't Mad at Cha" had been, but unfortunately they're marred by radio-oriented production that's too glossy for such stark, literate lyrics. All of this over-production obscures 2Pac's performances, which somehow remain remarkable no matter how deep into the vault Afeni Shakur and Suge Knight have dug. As with many of 2Pac's posthumous recordings, the songs here seem overdone, too often dressed up with layers upon layers of production, choruses of background vocals, and a seemingly endless parade of guests. The fourth album released in the wake of 2Pac's 1996 death, Until the End of Time certainly offers plenty of music, two discs' worth to be precise, yet doesn't offer too many highlights besides the chilling title track. “Everything They Owe” features what may be the first recorded pro-slavery-reparations verse, in which Pac warns, “In case you don’t know, ghetto-born black seeds still grow/We coming back, for everything you owe.” “When Thugz Cry” explores the jailhouse mind, asking, “How does it feel to lose your life over something that you did as a kid?” Unfortunately, whatever wisdom has been salvaged from the cutting-room floor is undermined by the slapdash beats that have plagued all of Pac’s posthumous collections, proving, if nothing else, that it was personality that made Pac a star, not production.Purchase and download this album in a wide variety of formats depending on your needs. On the better tracks, when Pac is unchained from posse-boasting purgatory, his keen sense of justice and fidelity - be it of the political or street variety - is at its sharpest.
Built partially upon unheard shards of Shakur’s verse, the double-disc Until is weighty without being deep, filled out as it is with heavy bluster from Pac’s Outlawz crew. He’s spoken from beyond the grave on seven albums since his 1996 murder, most recently on Until the End of Time, the offspring of the unholy alliance between mother Afeni Shakur’s Amaru Records and Suge Knight’s Death Row Records.
Death isn’t nearly the career hindrance it used to be in hip-hop.
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