Subsequently, the record, completed while the West Coast rapper was still alive, naturally inherited an eerie feel. The 7 Day Theory, named after the condensed period it took to record and mix the album, was released on November 5 1996, less than two months after Shakur, 25, was murdered in a drive-by shooting on the Las Vegas strip, following close friend Mike Tyson’s fight with Bruce Seldon. Shakur, rapping under the alias of Makaveli due to his admiration for the dictatorial leadership ideals presented in Nicolas Machiavelli’s political treatise The Prince, presents sinister aggression ( Against All Odds) and liberating activism ( White Man’s World) side-by-side, acutely aware that a black man must wear many masks in order to survive in America. The atmosphere of dread that permeates through Tupac Shakur’s dark 1996 masterpiece The Don Killuminati: The 7 Day Theory is so heavy it can feel like you’re sinking in quick sand.
Artist Ronald ‘Riskie’ Brent went from airbrushing t-shirts at the Compton Swap Meet to designing the cover for Tupac’s darkest masterpiece…
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