The Don Killuminati: The 7 Day Theory

For this release, Tupac Shakur adopted the pseudonym "Makaveli" in honor of the philosopher Machiavelli, author of the devious politician's handbook The Prince. Contractually his final effort for Death Row, it was recorded in seven days and was released on schedule in October 1996, despite Shakur's death a month earlier. Shakur was unparalleled at balancing the upbeat and the morbidly grim, and tracks like "Toss It Up" are such wonderfully catchy pop songs that the nasty lyrical digs at his then-current crop of enemies seem almost subliminal. Not so with album closer "Against All Odds," in which Shakur spells out very explicitly who he thinks was responsible for his ambush shooting in New York City. Overall, the Makaveli album feels so much like one man's complete exorcism of an overload of pent-up personal and professional pressures that it's hard not to believe that Shakur had all eyes on a new direction for the future.