Library of Congress and the Vatican: “Dear Mama” and “Changes”

In fan lists, the two tracks often appear as “honors by state and church”: in 2010, Dear Mama was inducted into the Library of Congress’s National Recording Registry, and in 2009, Changes landed on the playlist “Alma Mater: Music From the Vatican.” That a rapper with a prison sentence on his résumé is mentioned in the same breath as a US library and the Vatican seems absurd at first glance.

Yet the two cases are fundamentally different: one is an official induction into a state archive, the other a musical selection on a website. Both events reveal a great deal about Dear Mama and Changes, and it is worth looking closely at what actually happened in each instance.

Preserved for Posterity: Dear Mama in the National Recording Registry

On June 23, 2010, the Library of Congress announced the 25 new entries to the National Recording Registry. Among them was Tupac’s Dear Mama, released in 1995 on Me Against the World. The registry is maintained by the Librarian of Congress in conjunction with the National Recording Preservation Board. Each year, 25 recordings are added that must be at least ten years old and culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant. Sound & Vision counted 325 titles in the registry following the induction.

In the 2010 class, alongside Tupac, were Patti Smith’s Horses, The Band’s second album, Willie Nelson’s Red Headed Stranger, and Loretta Lynn’s Coal Miner’s Daughter. According to Rolling Stone, Dear Mama was only the third hip-hop recording in the registry, after “The Message” by Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five and Fear of a Black Planet by Public Enemy.

The Library justified the choice by stating that the song is a moving and eloquent tribute to Tupac’s own mother and to all mothers struggling to hold their families together against addiction, poverty, and societal indifference. Afeni Shakur said, according to reports, to the effect that it could have been any song, but she was honored that it was Dear Mama. Sources sometimes refer to the “2009 registry” because the selection was made the previous year; the announcement took place in June 2010.

The entry is an archival status, not an award: it is about preservation for posterity.

4.6 Million Clicks in Advent: Changes on the Vatican Playlist

In December 2009, the Vatican published a playlist called “Alma Mater: Music From the Vatican” on its official MySpace page. It included Tupac’s Changes, released posthumously in 1998 on the Greatest Hits album. ABC News reported on December 7, 2009, that the track had been listened to on the site more than 4.6 million times within two days. Other tracks, according to Flavorwire, came from Muse, Fleet Foxes, Shirley Bassey, and Mozart.

Here, precision is important: Pope Benedict XVI stood at the head of the list, but he did not compile it. It was assembled by Father Giulio Neroni, artistic director of the church publishing house Saint Paul’s Multimedia. The Vatican explained that while the genres were very different, all the artists sought to reach the hearts of good people. There was no official statement regarding Tupac and no papal honor; whether the Pope knew the songs is not known. In the reports from December 2009, there is no mention of the Vatican newspaper L’Osservatore Romano.

The ABC author interpreted Changes as an Advent song against racism, police brutality, and drug addiction. More on Tupac’s relationship to faith: Tupac and Religion.

Statutory Mandate vs. Web Campaign: Two Unequal Tributes

The two honors are very unequal. The Library of Congress is an agency of the US legislative branch and decides according to established rules, permanently and verifiably. The Vatican playlist was a curated selection that began as a press release. Yet both have something in common: they concern two songs that deal with a mother and with change, not the gangster image. They are listed alongside the other honors on the page Awards.

As of October 2026, no changes to either entry are known. Induction into the registry is designed to be permanent; the playlist was a campaign from December 2009.