On April Fool’s Day 1995, just two and a half weeks after its release, Tupac Shakur’s third album, Me Against the World, reached No. 1 on the Billboard 200. When it did, the rapper was sitting in a cell at the Clinton Correctional Facility in Dannemora, New York, an Adirondack town 20 miles from the Canadian border. The notorious prison, which opened in 1845, once held mobster Lucky Luciano and “Son of Sam” killer David Berkowitz. Now it was holding the first recording artist to hit No. 1 while in jail.
Unseating Bruce Springsteen’s Greatest Hits and holding the top spot for four weeks, Me Against the World is quintessential Tupac, a mix of heartfelt ballads and confessional gangster raps, including “If I Die 2Nite.” A tender ode to his…
