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Only God Can Judge Me: The Many Lives of Tupac Shakur
Only God Can Judge Me: The Many Lives of Tupac Shakur | Jeff Pearlman
2 posts | 1 read
New York Times bestselling author Jeff Pearlman turns his sharp eye and meticulous storytelling to one of pop culture's most enduring and enigmatic figures--Tupac Shakur--presenting the definitive retelling of his life, complete with explosive new details. Scrutinized in life, mythologized in death, Tupac Shakur remains a subject of immense cultural significance and speculation nearly thirty years after his murder. Despite a multitude of books, documentaries, and even a feature film, much about Tupac's story remains shrouded and misunderstood. Like many icons who died tragically young, Tupac the man has long been obscured--his edges sanded down, his complexity numbed--by the competing agendas that surround his legacy.In Only God Can Judge Me, accomplished biographer and cultural historian Jeff Pearlman tackles his most nuanced subject, telling the definitive story of Tupac Shakur in unprecedented depth. In this authoritative look at Tupac's life, Pearlman skillfully recreates West Coast hip hop in all its glory, going inside Death Row Records and on the sets of movies like Juice and Poetic Justice to offer the most clear-eyed rendering to date of the man who still casts a shadow over modern hip hop. But more than just a biography of a complicated figure, Only God Can Judge Me also captures the time and place in which Tupac rose, a singular moment in music history when West Coast hip hop became a phenomenon and transformed popular music.Featuring nearly seven hundred original interviews and never-before-published details from every corner of Tupac's life, the result offers a truly singular portrait of one of modern pop culture's most towering figures. Guided by the voices of those who knew and lived life alongside him, Only God Can Judge Me captures the layers of a man who, even thirty years after his death, remains as elusive as ever.
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ChaoticMissAdventures
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This book is dripping with misogyny and violence. A lot like Shakur's public persona. It is also filled with contradictions. I thought the things Pearlman did well here he did very well - showing Pacs two sides, explaining how they developed, showing the trauma of his early life and how it led to his inevitable end. But I think there are some not great things here also, it almost felt like Pearlman bought into 👇

ChaoticMissAdventures The misogyny. He for sure used terms that were not needed to be repeated over and over 30 years on. I think he was trying to carry the tone of 2Pac (outward gangbanger persona) while I wish he had tried more to pull from the sensitivities of Tupac (inner side that his friends and women saw behind closed doors). Pearlman continued to mention his "accused" assaults even after talking about the prison time he served for those crimes fostering ? 5d
ChaoticMissAdventures The misogyny on the page. (I also thought the author focused too much on Pac's sex life) While also painting the real and believable picture of Pac as wildly different in different situations. I still think if you can handle his constant use of derogatory terms towards women this is a good book on the time, scene, and vibes surrounding his life. Even with its faults I would rec this for us 80s children 5d
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ChaoticMissAdventures
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Reading this new biography on Tupac Shakur, so of course #TuesdayTunes with @TieDyeDude has to be him. Thinking about “Battle of A Dead Soulja“

What a chaotic person, caused mostly by his chaotic upbringing. The book so far has been a bit long, and a bit too detailed but over all I am engrossed and enjoying it. It is defiantly giving me a side of him I was not aware of (mostly a softer side).

Expected publication October 21, 2025

TieDyeDude Nice. I haven't listened or read much about him or that era of hip-hop. 2d
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