Background · Letter 2 My Unborn
Tupac had no children. In Letter 2 My Unborn, he spoke to one nonetheless: he explained who he was, why he lived the way he did, and what he wanted to pass on. The song was created at Death Row in November 1995 and became the second single from Until the End of Time in 2001. In older fan sources and in this page's address, the title is still listed as "Unbourn"; the correct spelling is "Unborn."
Life Confession Over a Michael Jackson Sample
The song is half life confession, half legacy. In it, Tupac recounts violence, prison, and betrayal, while striving to pass on both pride and caution to the child. The producers backed his verses with a sped-up sample of Michael Jackson's Liberian Girl from the album Bad. On the same album, Words 2 My First Born (with Above the Law) serves as a thematically related track.
In the European Charts, Missing the Hot 100 in the US
In the US, the single stayed beneath the radar of the Hot 100, but it fared better in Europe: in Belgium (Flanders) it climbed to No. 2, and in the UK to No. 21. The B-side Hell 4 a Hustler comes from the 1999 album Still I Rise with the Outlawz.
The European Enhanced CD with Music Video
Shown here is the enhanced CD maxi 497 614-2 with the video included as a CD-ROM track.
The archive lists an edition with a British cover under Letter 2 My Unborn (UK).
