Full Title: The Rose That Grew From Concrete Vol. 1.
Personnel includes: 2Pac, Q Tip, Mos Def, Outlawz, Geronimo Pratt, Dead Prez, Tre, K-Ci & Jo Jo, 4th Avenue Jones, Babatunde Olatunge, Danny Glover, Quincy Jones, Russell Simmons, Nikki Giovanni, Sarah Jones, Malcolm Jamal Warner, Sonya Sanchez, Lamar Antwon Robinson, Rha Goddess, Dan Rockett, Mac Mall.
Producers include: Jamal Joseph, QD3, Eric Rico, Voza Rivers, Mos Def.
Engineers include: Tyson Leeper, Michael Dunston, Denis Degher.
Includes liner notes by Afeni Shakur.
Tupac Shakur's work and iconic importance have attracted an even greater degree of respect and attention after his death than they did during his lifetime. Unparalleled in the hip-hop world, Tupac's posthumous fame finds its precedents in rockers like Jimi Hendrix and Jim Morrison, bad boys whose message was deeper than their hedonistic image suggested. The Tupac legacy continues apace with THE ROSE THAT GREW FROM CONCRETE. Essentially a various artists collection, it finds a wide variety of artists contributing spoken word performances of Shakur's poetry. Dashes of jazz, reggae, funk, and hip-hop accompany rapper Mos Def, poet Nikki Giovanni, actor Danny Glover, and others as they interpret the prose of the late rapper. Despite Shakur's gangsta image, most of his poems reflect a belief in positive social change through the efforts of an enlightened community that he sought to encourage.
What the critics say...
Rolling Stone (12/21/00, p.172) - 3 stars out of 5 - "...Shows a more sensitive Tupac....shining light on a side of [him] that often gets forgotten."
Entertainment Weekly (11/24/00, p.82) - "...The rapper's poetry as spoken-word performances, hip-hop rhymes, reggae grooves, and country ditties....leaving listeners assured of [his] poetic gifts and saddened by his death..." - Rating: A-
Q (1/01, p.121) - 3 out of 5 stars - "...The music covers a broad spectrum from hip hop to country rock and theatrical readings with jazz and African backgrounds....Thoughtful but unpretentious."
Melody Maker (12/5/00, p.57) - 3.5 stars out of 5 - "...A homely, organic collection with plentiful standout tracks..."
NME (Magazine) (11/18/00, p.43) - 8 out of 10 - "...A bravura effort..."
