The Rose That Grew From Concrete, Volume 1

Tupac Shakur was a study in contradictions—a tenacious street thug prone to violence and an introspective thinker aware of the myriad dangers of thug life. This collection focuses on the latter of these personas, as 24 of Shakur’s poems are interpreted by a wildly varied cast of MCs, musicians, actors, and poets. The poetry itself is hardly as crackling or insightful as Tupac’s mom (who organized the shindig) probably thinks it is. The very nature of the project lends itself to sentimental mythologizing, not to mention some preposterously pretentious performances. That said, in the hands of some of the more inspired artists here, this stuff doesn’t suck. Not surprisingly, the writing holds up best when put into a more musical context, whether re-envisioned as conscious hip-hop by Mos Def and the Outlawz, Jamaican dancehall by Red Rat, or smooth, ethno-soul by Providence and RasDaveed El Harar. It’s not enough to convince us Tupac was heir to Rimbaud, but maybe heir to KRS-One.