1st Impression All Eyez On Me on first listen?

[TraceOneInfinite]

Did you realize its greatness on first listen or did it have to grow on you?  Which tracks hit you the hardest on first listen?

My scores are not how I score the track now but how I scored it on first listen in February 96'

1.  "Ambitionz of a Ridah"  People who were headz in 96 will remember that Pac wasn't actually the biggest rapper in hip-hop at the time—he was #2 and Snoop was number #1.  So I think the first thing I wanted to do was skipped to the Snoop track and for "2 of America's Most Wanted", but I saw he was also featured on Track 2 "All About You"--so I think I rushed through "Ambitionz of a Rider" and didn't even notice one of the greatest tracks ever recorded till another day or weeks later. 4/10

2.  "All About You"  was an instant class for me.  The Snoop outro was hilarious and was a laugh out loud on first listen, and it was great to hear Snoop and Pac and Nate all together on one track.   It was the signature Death Row sound like a "Big Pimpin" 9/10

3.  "Scandulous"  I didn't like and still consider one of the weakest tracks and least listened to track on the album.  I do remember that word really caught on at my jr. high school though.  It was actually the girls calling other girls "Scandulous" and stuff like that it was cool how the new slang would catch on in those days. 2/10

4.   "Got My Mind Made Up" - Dogg Pound had just gone double platinum and Dogg Food had been my most listened to album in the months leading to All Eyez On Me--so of course I loved this track instantly.  It's also stood the test of time even more than "All About U".  8/10

5.   "How Do You Want It"  -- This one I can't believe I missed.  It's an easy song to like and I didn't even notice the track until the video came out in the summer and it was one of my favorite songs of all rhyme.  I think I was too eager to skip to the Snoop track.  3/10

6.   "2 of America's Most Wanted" -- my expectations were so high for this joint I was underwhelmed on first listen.  I thought it was dope but not the mega-hit that it became.  Now of course, i love the track as much as everyone else did. 6/10

7.   "No More Pain" -- This track is so legendary.  The only R&B groups I listen to full albums of beginning to end are KC & JoJo/Jodeci and this was produced by Devante and even though he's an R&B producer this track is the best blend of hardcore gangsta shit by an R&B producer that you will ever find.  Somehow I also missed the greatness of this track on first listen.  4/10

8.  "Heartz Of Men" -- I liked this joint because when you are young you like the faster more upbeat kind of tracks like this jump out to you on first listen.  I didn't like the chorus though; my sense of humor wasn't actually that keen for most my life so I totally didn't get the standup routine shtick for the chorus. 7/10

9.   "Life Goes On" - This was my favorite track on the whole album on first listen.  I copied it onto a cassete tape and brought my walkman to 8th grade the next day just to play this track for everyone I talked to at school--to be like the first one to expose them to it.  That was big in those days, it was like being a neighborhood DJ you wanted to be the first to break a new track that nobody else had heard yet. 10/10

10.  "Only God Can Judge Me" - these were the happiest times in my life this track was too dark for me.  I would grow to love it the more depressed I became after Pac died.  I really liked Rap'n'4'Tay being on the album because I was big fan of "Playerz Club" and I'll be around the year prior. 4/10

11.  "Tradin War Stories" - I thought this was the worst song on the album and even it sounded good.  So it was one of those moments you realized it was a double album with no skippable tracks. 3/10

12.  "California Love" -   You bought albums in those days expecting to hear the single and the song you saw in the music video so I was disappointed over the non-video version being on there. 6/10

13.  "I Ain't Mad At Ya" -- Didn't give this song much of a chance on first listen--wasn't until Pac died and the video came out and then it was one of my all-time favorites. 2/10

14.  "What's Your Phone Number" - -- Another moment when you were like "wow this song might be the worst and it's still a track you won't skip" 2/10

Disc 2 I will do later, just want to get the convo started.

[Sccit]

i remember bumping disc 1 a lot more than disc 2

but in retrospect, they’re equally classic .. disc 1 simply had the catchier radio hits

[Dee Tha AK]

I was too young to appreciate the greatness but when I grew older, definitely sick album w dope lineup

[HighEyeCue]

I loved it upon 1st listen...pretty much thought all the tracks were dope but Disc 1 definitely got more play early from me

as I got older appreciated Disc 2 more and more..."When We Ride" was my jam

[TraceOneInfinite]

I was too young to appreciate the greatness

That's the part I want to hear.. exactly why didn't you appreciate it fully at first.  Just not paying attention?  The lyrics was over your head?  Production didn't hit you at first? 

Why exactly you didn't get it at first?

[TraceOneInfinite]

I loved it upon 1st listen...pretty much thought all the tracks were dope but Disc 1 definitely got more play early from me

as I got older appreciated Disc 2 more and more..."When We Ride" was my jam

yeah man same like Sccit said and I think same for me.   There was just so much dopeness to take in I think 2nd disc was too much to digest at first but when Pac died and it came around to realizing that that may be all we ever get from Pac the second disc became like the Holy Grail.

I do remember getting into "Picture Me Rollin" once I finally dug into the second disc around fall of 96'.. before that in summer 96' I remember also for the little mixtapes I used to make for myself recorded from CD to blank tapes I kept dubbin the part on "Run The Streets" where he rapped, "The say money don't make the man but damn I'm makin money" for some reason I really loved that opening line and verse in 96'.  Looking back it was not anymore special really than other verses on the album but for the mind of a 14 year old and who I was trying to be with girls in the neighborhood

A lot of the older heads seniors at the highschool used to catchphrase "Shorty Wanna Be A Thug"

[TraceOneInfinite]

This forum is dead

[Dee Tha AK]

That's the part I want to hear.. exactly why didn't you appreciate it fully at first.  Just not paying attention?  The lyrics was over your head?  Production didn't hit you at first? 

Why exactly you didn't get it at first?

English

[TraceOneInfinite]

English

I'm an English literature major and currently teach English in the Arab Gulf. 

...what part did you not understand?  In your first reply you said you didn't realize how great the album was when you first listened to it.  The question is—why?   What was one of the highlights of the album that escaped your attention on first listen?  For example, was it something in the production?  Was it something in the lyrics?  Was it a particular track on the album?

Is that English too complicated for you? 

[Sccit]

I'm an English literature major and currently teach English in the Arab Gulf. 

...what part did you not understand?  In your first reply you said you didn't realize how great the album was when you first listened to it.  The question is—why?   What was one of the highlights of the album that escaped your attention on first listen?  For example, was it something in the production?  Was it something in the lyrics?  Was it a particular track on the album?

Is that English to complicated for you?

lol

i think he was saying he didn’t understand english

he’s not american

[TraceOneInfinite]

lol

i think he was saying he didn’t understand english

he’s not american

yeah you're probably right.  He's a good homie.   But I still went back and edited my "to" into a "too" just in case.

[Dee Tha AK]

yeah you're probably right.  He's a good homie.   But I still went back and edited my "to" into a "too" just in case.

Sccit is right

[Rubinho]

Lmao

[heyyou]

All Eyez On Me is a bit of a strange album to rate for me.

Individually the songs are excellent and consistently has many bangers/hits over 2 dics (some are weaker/stringer than others) and the cultural/historic impact in terms of defining a time period for hip-hop can't be denied, but as an album - the way it's put together and flows from one track to the next, I found it was quite poor.
It seems like it was randomly slapped together, no cohesiveness.
I found Makaveli and Me Against The World were better 'albums'. Hell I think even Until the End of Time was better put together (not saying the individual tracks were better the AEOM).

[TraceOneInfinite]

All Eyez On Me is a bit of a strange album to rate for me.

Individually the songs are excellent and consistently has many bangers/hits over 2 dics (some are weaker/stringer than others) and the cultural/historic impact in terms of defining a time period for hip-hop can't be denied, but as an album - the way it's put together and flows from one track to the next, I found it was quite poor.
It seems like it was randomly slapped together, no cohesiveness.
I found Makaveli and Me Against The World were better 'albums'. Hell I think even Until the End of Time was better put together (not saying the individual tracks were better the AEOM).

That's not what the thread is about.  I wasn't asking you to review All Eyez On Me.  That has been done a million times.

The question was what was your first impression on first listen back in February 1996 or whenever you first listened.