Many music critics had difficulty categorizing 2Pac as an artist as he was considered to have a dual personality – one of social consciousness and another as one who conformed to gangsta rap trends. “Dear Mama” was certified platinum by the RIAA in July 1995, just five months after its release. The song was released as the lead single on the album and remained at the top spot on the Billboard Hot Rap Singles chart for five weeks – making it 2Pac’s first number-one single since his debut in 1991. With his help, Afeni eventually became sober from drugs and rectified the strained relationship with her son. He praises her as a single mother who raised him with integrity and awareness for his community – while he also addresses his childhood poverty and his mother’s drug addiction. In the song, he details he and his mother’s often complex and complicated relationship. “Dear Mama” is a tribute to 2Pac’s mother, Afeni Shakur. ‘Me Against The Wolrd’ featured 2Pac’s first number one single, “Dear Mama” It also broke major records for 2Pac as an artist and for the hip hop industry overall. The album has been praised as 2Pac’s best and most poignant album. In the final verse, he reassures his mother that "If you can make it through the night there's a brighter day," emphasizing his important message of staying strong and holding on.2Pac | Time Life Pictures/DMI/The LIFE Picture Collection via Getty Images It has a very comforting instrumental which is accompanied well by his heartfelt lyrics. "Dear Mama," one of Tupac's softest songs, deals with him thanking his mother for raising him. I think "So Many Tears" contains some of his best-written and most sincere lyrics on the whole album. The lyrics are also very solid because there is almost no slang, but rather clear, straightforward speaking of thoughts right from Tupac's heart. In his lyrics he reflects first on his hopeless past and how he feels he was cursed, and moves on to begging G-d to "take me away from all the pressure, and all the pain." The song gives off a dual feeling of not just sadness but also a type of inhuman spirituality surrounding the thoughts in Tupac's head as he keeps mentioning G-d. Opening with a unforgettable religious quote, and backed by hazy sounds, notes from a harmonica, and a hard-hitting beat, the instrumental gives off the sensation of a man feeling angrily desperate and turning to G-d as his only hope. "So Many Tears" is one song off the album which truly has its own sound unparalleled by anything else Tupac ever released. This part of the third verse is what makes this, in my opinion, possibly not only Tupac's greatest verse, but also the greatest rap verse of all time. By stressing that people try hard against all odds, don't settle for less, be grateful for blessings, and don't ever let society change who they are, he expresses one of his most powerful and moving messages. Although the first and second verses (the second featuring Dramacydal) speak from hopeless and pessimistic standpoints, Tupac in the last verse delivers a message of the exact opposite. The theme of the song, as can be assumed from the title, is about how Tupac feels that his chances for success in life are constantly up against the odds of failure, and the pressure and stress from the ghetto and the media. Utilizing a distorted guitar sample from Isaac Hayes' "Walk on By" and the beat from Minnie Riperton's "Inside My Love," the instrumental creates a sensation of hopeless self-destruction. The track of the same name of the album, Me Against the World, quite possibly has one of the best verses of Tupac's career. However, whenever I hear the famous Julius Caesar quote issued in the opening, I still get chills crawling up my spine. "If I Die 2Nite," the first song on the album, which contains somewhat strong lyrics, is unfortunately brought down by the lackluster instrumental.
On top of a gloomy and bleak background instrumental, the voices of different journalists, whether radio broadcasters or TV news anchors, are heard stating news reports about the controversy surrounding Tupac. Beginning with a short introduction track, which Tupac and many other rappers placed in their albums to set the mood of the album, the listener immediately is thrown into the drama surrounding Tupac's life at the time in early 1995.