Only God Can Judge Me

The Many Lives of Tupac Shakur

De: Jeff Pearlman

Narrado por: James Shippy

“Jeff Pearlman breaks down Tupac’s life like a veteran sportswriter examining a dynasty. This detailed look at his life is the work of a writer who understands the ego of greatness.”—Chuck D

“Pearlman delivers rich, engrossing, and fascinating new details about Shakur’s life and legacy—not just once or twice—but throughout each lively page...This is the type of needed journalism, reporting, and biography that finally and deservedly provides the definitive historic account on Shakur.”—Jonathan Abrams, author of The Come Up: An Oral History of the Rise of Hip-Hop

Scrutinized in life, mythologized in death, Tupac Shakur remains a subject of immense cultural significance and speculation nearly thirty years after his murder. Despite a multitude of books, documentaries, and even a feature film, much about Tupac’s story remains shrouded and misunderstood. Like many icons who died tragically young, Tupac the man has long been obscured—his edges sanded down, his complexity numbed—by the competing agendas that surround his legacy.

In Only God Can Judge Me, accomplished biographer and New York Times bestselling author Jeff Pearlman tackles his most nuanced subject, telling the definitive story of Tupac Shakur in unprecedented depth. In this authoritative look at Tupac’s life, Pearlman skillfully recreates West Coast hip hop in all its glory, going inside Death Row Records and on the sets of movies like Juice and Poetic Justice to offer the most clear-eyed rendering to date of the man who still casts a shadow over modern hip hop. But more than just a biography of a complicated figure, Only God Can Judge Me also captures the time and place in which Tupac rose, a singular moment in music history when West Coast hip hop became a phenomenon and transformed popular music.

Featuring nearly seven hundred original interviews and never-before-published details from every corner of Tupac’s life, the result offers a truly singular portrait of one of modern pop culture’s most towering figures. Guided by the voices of those who knew and lived life alongside him, Only God Can Judge Me captures the layers of a man who, even thirty years after his death, remains as elusive as ever.

Supplemental enhancement PDF accompanies the audiobook.

Well research 2pac bio

Been a big fan of Jeff since the SI days and was very excited to see him working on my favorite artist’s biography. As expected Jeff thoroughly researched 2pac, his life, his words, his career with over 600 interviews and provided a true 360 degree profile on this enigmatic rapper’s life, career and death. Highly recommend this book for anyone interested in learning more about 2pac and legacy.

Jeff Pearlman did the damn thing!!

Jeff Pearlman does a WONDERFUL job of retelling the man’s life. Traces his steps from NYC to Baltimore to Marin City to Oakland and LA. Really builds the world with which he came up in and you understand his mother’s trauma, his trauma and how those things shaped him. You get anecdotes from a host of friends, family, teachers and former classmates. The author talked to as many people as possible to give the reader a full look at the man. Given how he lived and the way with which he died, the myth of Tupac has superseded the actual person. The author fills in gaps and as a result tempers down the outsized myth a bit. You’ll walk away from this book understanding that above all, Tupac Shakur was a young man figuring shit out on the fly. Trial and error. His ups, downs, contradictions, bouts of immaturity and bad choices. Only difference is that his exploits were for the world to see.

Reads like a novel

I am a fan of Pearlman's writing so I read this without being a Tupac fan. The details in the writing paired with the life events of Tupac read just like a novel. I never knew what was coming next.

Great book!!

Learning about Tupac's very rough childhood and home life was very eye opening and informative about who he truly was as a person. Very interesting that he chose to portray an image that was not him, and one that most people living the "Thug life" actually want to get away from. Jeff Pearlman did a great job interviewing different people who knew Tupac at different stages of his life, providing so much great insight and detail.

Effing Brilliant

An in-depth look at the life of a brilliant artist and true poet of our time!

Transcendent storytelling

Since I heard this was in the works a year ago, I’ve been waiting for this one. Remembered the release date. Preordered it. Anticipated it.

I knew Jeff Pearlman doesn’t do anything halfway. I knew it would be loaded with the untold stories and jaw dropping revelations his books are known for. I knew he
would manage to once again take an overfamiliar subject and somehow make it so unfamiliar, you walk away feeling as if you hadn’t known the subject at all (the best kind of storytelling).

Tupac Shakur is by far one of the single most interesting and extraordinarily complex people we’ll ever see. I don’t know how I’ve never seen a biography on him until now. But I’m glad it was Pearlman who took this project on. He’s at his absolute best telling this story.

This is the biography of the decade.

The telling was beautifully done.

I feel like I know TuPac much better now. The good, bad and the ugly and love him even more than before.

Perfectly titled

As a lover of Tupac's music, I grew to dislike his persona. You never knew what was real or fake in those times & the stories were awful. I found myself reserving judgement as I listened to this well researched book & understanding that humans are always more complex than any one story. I hope his soul is at rest.

No lies told of this story

I felt the book wz spot on; although every depiction of Tuac's life can't be told but enough wz scribed and spoken to see and feel that he wz indeed a confused, yet amused, at times a people pleaser, giver by nature, empathetic towards others all the while a scared man/child growing up. I LOVED this.
By the time I got into Tupac his dble album "ALL EYES ON ME" had come out, I felt how deep his mental wz and I purchased a book of poems he wrote "The Rose That Grew Frim Concrete " by then he wz fatally demised of this world. I am a fifty-something yr young woman and I really connected to what he wz about.
GREAT AUDIBLE/READ. THANK U

EXCELLENT!!!!!!

I picked this book because it was written by one of my favorite authors, but I, admittedly, knew next to nothing about Tupac Shakur before listening.

This is factual and straightforward look at one the most-gifted musical talents of the last 50 years, written by one of the country’s best researchers and writers. It shares details of his highest highs (pardon the pun) and his lowest lows, with first-hand interviews to back up what happened before, during, and after Tupac’s life.

I hope you enjoy it as much as I did.