Loyal to the Game

In 2004, two hip-hop generations collided: Eminem, then the most successful rapper in the world, produced almost every track, shaping recordings from the early nineties into an album in the sound of 2004. No posthumous work by Tupac has sparked as much debate as Loyal to the Game. The result reached No. 1 on the US charts and produced a UK number-one hit with Ghetto Gospel.

A Letter to Afeni Shakur Opens the Archive

According to his own account, Eminem reached out by letter to Afeni Shakur, offering to work with unreleased material. Initial results appeared in 2003 on the soundtrack Tupac: Resurrection, including Runnin' (Dying to Live) featuring The Notorious B.I.G.

For Loyal to the Game, he was given access to recordings from the pre-Death Row Interscope era-spanning the years 1991 to 1994.

New Beats, Spliced Syllables, and Guests from Eminem's Circle

Eminem and his longtime keyboardist Luis Resto rebuilt every instrumental from scratch. To adapt Tupac's voice to the new tempos, they altered pitch and speed. In some places, they even spliced syllables together so that Tupac says words he had never recorded that way. These technical interventions remained the primary reason for the enduring criticism of the album.

The featured guests reflect Eminem's circle at the time: G-Unit on the title track, Obie Trice on Hennessey, Jadakiss on N.I.G.G.A., and Nate Dogg on Thugs Get Lonely Too. Eminem himself raps on Soldier Like Me and Black Cotton. The most successful became Ghetto Gospel, which is built on Elton John's 1971 song Indian Sunset. Elton John gave his explicit approval for it.

Platinum in the US, No. 1 in the UK

The album debuted at No. 1 on the Billboard 200 and was certified platinum in February 2005. Thugs Get Lonely Too served as a promotional single, while Ghetto Gospel was the actual commercial single.

In Europe, the single became a hit: the song stood at No. 1 on the UK singles chart in the summer of 2005 and reached No. 3 in Germany. In the US, it failed to enter the Hot 100.

Criticism of the Altered Vocals and Two Camps Among Fans

Reviews were mixed. AllMusic and Rolling Stone each awarded three out of five stars, Vibe three and a half. PopMatters (5 out of 10) and The Independent (2 out of 5) criticized above all the manipulation of the vocals.

Many fans consider the album an Eminem project with Tupac as a guest, while others value it precisely because of the new perspective. What is undisputed is the success of Ghetto Gospel: in Europe, the song remains one of Tupac's best-known tracks.