Trueschool Monday #33

"Shed tears as we bury niggaz close to heart
What was a friend now a ghost in the dark, cold hearted bout it
Nigga got smoked by a fiend, tryin to floss on him
Blind to a broken man's dream, a hard lesson..."

"To Live & Die in L.A." is a single by rapper 2Pac (who at the time went by the name Makaveli) from his album The Don Killuminati: The 7 Day Theory. The song samples "Do Me, Baby", a song by Prince from the early '80s. It starts with an interview originally performed on KKBT's Street Science program; The host asks a man what he thinks of 2Pac's new album and he responds by saying he loves it. He then expresses that his music heightens the East/West Coast Feud, most likely referring to 2Pac's personal attack song toward The Notorious B.I.G., Hit 'Em Up. The song then starts as 2Pac reflects on his life, with Val Young singing the chorus. The song peaked at #10 on the UK Singles chart. It is unknown, however, if the song did peak at #10 on the U.S. Rap chart. It was later included on 2Pac's Greatest Hits album in 1998.
This video was filmed a month before Tupac's death and is one of the last videos the rapper filmed. The video for this song features Tupac at various locales around the Los Angeles area, mostly in South Central. Most notable is the Baldwin Hills-Crenshaw Plaza which was used as a major film location. Tupac can be seen rolling up to the mall in his Jaguar convertible, and walking inside. He is also seen singing with a group of teenagers dancing around him.
The Don Killuminati: The 7 Day Theory is the fifth and final studio album by Tupac Shakur, under the new stage name Makaveli, finished before his death and the first to be released after his death. The album was completely finished in a total of seven days during the month of August 1996. The lyrics were written and recorded in only three days and mixing took an additional four days. These are among the very last songs he recorded before his fatal shooting on September 7, 1996.
Although The Don Killuminati: The 7 Day Theory was released almost two months after his death, on November 5, 1996, it is not a true posthumous album in the way that the later 2Pac albums are since he completed the album before his death.