How many 2Pac fans actually listened to him when he was alive?

[Eddz]

I was 14 when he died and my first 2Pac album I got was Strictly For My N.I.G.G.A.Z. It's still a personal classic for me.

[Davizz]

I was 14, Italy, no Internet... "California Love" was a huge hit and the first 2Pac song I've ever heard, he even came to Milan but I didn't know.
I became a fan a couple of years later with "Changes".

[HighEyeCue]

I have to admit until he came to Death Row I wasn't a huge fan of his music. While he was still alive in that short period of time I started listening to his older stuff like Me Against The World

[midwestryder]

damn...i was 18 when he died, 12 when same song dropped, and owned brenda's got a baby/b side when my homies call 12' on vinyl, (bought it new), along with 2pacalypose now on cassette....and im not even one of these huge fans, but i did bump his music back then fo sho

the exact same here except for i had the 2Pacalypse Now cd instead of the cassette tape . i got into 2pac threw same song like you  & owned brenda's got a baby/b side when my homies call on maxi-cassette single.i never stopped listening to 2pac . i cried the night he died & he was very big thing after he got shot first time . so if you did not notice 2pac by tine he got shot first time then your were not hip hop fan at the time like spice 2 . 
  no spice 2, 2pac was already being treated more then rapper by me against the world & first time he got shot .

[The "Untouchable" DJR]

Started listening to Pac when Strictly 4 My N.I.G.G.A.Z. came out and been a fan ever since.

[Raphael]

I heard Same Song on the radio in 1991 and i was immediately blown away. I remember thinking "this guy could probably go 9x platinum".

[V2DHeart]

I knew about 'I get Around' because it was on a lot on MTV, and a year later I knew that I recognised a guy in Above the Rim when it was showing on "the movie channel" -  Which was Only one of 2 movie channels available in the UK at that time, and I liked the music on it, but didn't really check him out other than getting a taped copy of the Me Against the world album out at the same time through mere chance. No internet, no 20 music video stations, no multiple genre radio stations, nothing really out there to check out other than 1/2 Music TV stations, and a monthly magazine. That was it!!!! People had to go out to their music stores on a weekly basis and stay glued to MTV late night, and regular times to have an idea of what was going on in the mainstream.

Here in the UK, I get Around, & California Love were his 2 biggest hits getting good radio/TV spin. The other videos like Dear Mama did as well, but not as much as the other 2 mentioned. Never really bought All Eyez On Me when released because it was £23.99 at my local music shop when it was first out but I always wanted to get it. I made by with the Thug Life album which was around £14 if I remember right I was 12 at the time, and that CD was just too expensive, so I had that and a copy of Me against the world, then eventually strickly before I eventually got All Eyez On Me that Christmas with birthday money. I Didn't work, and I got around £5/10 a week, didn't buy Makaveli, but bought R U Still Down, and probably became a 'proper' fan of his music since I bought that CD.

People take today for granted... Today theirs easier access to artists, producers, label staff, tons of Music channels and radios, internet web sites, blogs, forums, Twitter/Facebook/Myspace, digital downloads, youtube, more concerts, awareness and global distribution today than back then for Hip Hop and Rap. You know what the hells going on without even trying lol. It's a lazy mans era, and it kinda shut the whole local "music" store, and experience down

[Giesuz]

i was 19 when he died and became fan after listening to the thug life album back in 94 when i was 17. I recognised him first when i heard the S4MN album the year before

[Jimmy H.]

I heard Same Song on the radio in 1991 and i was immediately blown away. I remember thinking "this guy could probably go 9x platinum".

I saw him perform as MC New York and could recall thinking, "This guy is the future of the THUG LIFE movement" and boy, did I call it.

[al3000]

Damn I'm old ass fuck...hahaha...but I grew up on Pac...and for me his best album will always be 2pacolypse now.

[Raphael]

ahhh i remember that movie Juice. Pac goes crazy and shoots all his friends

spoiler alert

[bouli77]

ahhh i remember that movie Juice. Pac goes crazy and shoots all his friends

spoiler alert

lmao that movie was terrible IMO. i never understood the laudatory comments about pac's performance. his character was preposterous. but i really loved the early 90's swag so pervasive in the movie. same for above the rim, weak movie IMO but timeless soundtrack.

[wowitsnick]

Was 11 when Pac died. I Get Around got me on Pac but I didnt become a huge fan till So Many Tears came out. That was and still is fire. I remember when Above the Rim came out and my grandma had to buy us movie tickets cause we wanted to go see it lol. I miss the 95-96 era.

[gio™fugahoo]

i was 16 when he died 
and bumbing pac since strictly 4 my niggaz

[B.A.]

i was 16 when he died  
and bumbing pac since strictly 4 my niggaz

Same here, 16 when he died and I got into him when "strictly 4 my niggaz" dropped (I had heard his 1st album but didn't have it, I guess I never really cared for it). Pac is dope but he wasn't my favorite, Eazy-E has always been my all-time favorite. Here's a funny story...I was about 15-16 and "Eternal-E" had barely came out and "Me Against The World" had aready been out but was still fairly new. My best homeboy's favorite rapper was Pac and mine was E, he had just bought "Eternal-E" and my older brother had "Me Against The World". One night, I was talking to my homie on the phone and somehow we got on the subject of the 2 albums (I'm sure I brought it up cuz I wanted Eternal-E). Anyway, long story short, I ended up walking and meeting him halfway and traded my brother's "Me Agains The World" for his "Eternal-E"; my brother never knew, he just thought he had lost it . Yeah, I know, that was pretty fucked up, but my boy wasn't trying to let his new Eazy-E cd go unless it was for Pac's. Shortly after, I ended up buying "Me Against The World" used at the Warehouse so my bro' and I had it again and it was all good. When I remember about bumpin' Pac back in the day I always remember that, the shit's funny to me.