The Don Killuminati: The 7 Day Theory (commonly shortened to The 7 Day Theory or Don Killuminati and sometimes called Makaveli) is the fifth studio album by Tupac Shakur. Released under his new stage name Makaveli, it was his first studio album to be posthumously released. The album was completely finished in a total of seven days during the first week of August 1996. The lyrics were written and recorded in only three days and mixing took an additional four days. These are the last songs Shakur recorded before his fatal shooting on September 7, 1996. The album was originally due for release in March 1997, but due to his death, Suge Knight released it four months earlier.
George “Papa G” Pryce, Former Head of Publicity for Death Row, claimed that “Makaveli which we did was a sort of tongue-in-cheek, and it was not ready to come out, [but] after Tupac was murdered, it did come out… Before that, it was going to be a sort of an underground.”
Though Shakur had been using the new name Makaveli or Makaveli Tha Don as far back as All Eyez On Me, the Makaveli album was conceived as a sort of introduction for Shakur’s alternate stage name. Thus, the album’s sleeve contains the text, “Exit 2Pac, Enter Makaveli”. The Don Killuminati: The 7 Day Theory was recorded and mixed in 7 days in August 1996.
Before his death, Shakur wanted to start his own record label, which he envisioned as Makaveli Records. Shakur fulfilled his three-album obligation to Death Row quickly in order to move on from Death Row Records and start Makaveli Records. According to personal bodyguard Frank Alexander, Shakur didn’t like Death Row. Artists slated to be on Makaveli Records included not only himself, but the rest of The Outlawz, as well as Storm, Bad Azz, One Nation, Bobby Brown and Greg Nice among others.
While All Eyez on Me was considered by Shakur “a celebration of life”, The Don Killuminati: The 7 Day Theory is a much darker album. Shakur’s style of rapping is still emotional, but is intensified throughout this album. Some songs on the album contain both subtle and direct insults to Shakur’s rivals at the height of the East Coast–West Coast feud. Rappers insulted on the album include The Notorious B.I.G., Puff Daddy, Jay-Z, Mobb Deep, Q-Tip, De La Soul, Dr. Dre & Nas.
Although Shakur insulted rapper Nas on “Intro/Bomb First (My Second Reply)” and “Against All Odds”, rapper Young Noble, who appeared on several songs on The 7 Day Theory, stated in an interview that the Nas song “I Gave You Power” served as a main inspiration for Shakur’s “Me and My Girlfriend”. (by wikipedia)
Released only eight weeks after Tupac Shakur died from gunshot wounds, Death Row released this posthumous album, The Don Killuminati: The 7 Day Theory, under the name of Makaveli, a pseudonym derived from the Italian politician Niccolo Machiavelli, who faked his own death and reappeared seven days later to take revenge on his enemies. Naturally, the appearance of Don Killuminati so shortly after Tupac’s death led many conspiracy theorists to surmise the rapper was still alive, but it was all part of a calculated marketing strategy by Death Row. All Eyez on Me proved that Tupac was continuing to grow as a musician and a human being, but Don Killuminati doesn’t improve upon that image; instead it concentrates on G-funk beats and East Coast/West Coast rivalries. If Tupac had survived to complete Don Killuminati, it is likely that the record would have been even better. (by Stephen Thomas Erlewine)
Okay, this another record in this blog … from the category “this is not my kind of music” … but many fantastic colors of music should be a part in this blog …
Personnel:
Majaveli
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many, many musicians from the rap/hip hop scene
Tracklist:
01. Intro/Bomb First (My Second Reply) (Edi/Makaveli/Noble) 4.56
02. Hail Mary (2Pac/Fetal Embrace/Kastrouni/Makaveli/Noble) 5.09
03. Toss It Up (Hailey/Hall/Makaveli/Moore) 5.06
04. To Live & Die In L.A. (Makaveli/Young) 4.33
05. Blasphemy (Makaveli/Wrice) 4.38
06. Life Of An Outlaw (Edi/Kastrouni/Makaveli/Napoleon/Noble) 4.55
07. Just Like Daddy (Edi/Makaveli/Noble/Wrice) 5.07
08. Krazy (Bad Ass/Makaveli) 5.15
09. White Man’z World (Makaveli) 5.38
10. Me And My Girlfriend (Makaveli/Rouse/Wrice) 5.08
11. Hold Ya Head (Makaveli/Wrice) 3.58
12. Against All Odds (Makaveli/Tyrone) 7.09
ManyFantasticColors 