Thug Life – Volume I

No complaints from me. Good job done by Optimal plant (not a given by any means) and a quiet and flat record. Sounds decent enough with it. The more i listen to this album the more i think its up with some of 2Pacs best work, yet it goes far less noticed.

No complaints from me. Good job done by Optimal plant (not a given by any means) and a quiet and flat record. Sounds decent enough with it. The more i listen to this album the more i think its up with some of 2Pacs best work, yet it goes far less noticed.

Like 90% of all IVC reissues this is a repress of existing metal parts. Someone at Interscope did their homework thankfully and decided to pull the 2019 EU plates and NOT the 2019 US plates.

As i stated before with the 2019 EU pressing, it's great in terms of sound and there is no drop off in quality here with the repress. Love the updated packaging and alt artwork previously from inside the CD booklet. In terms of final product, this is one of the best IVC reissues yet.

MILES better than the 2019 US pressing, absolutely worth the upgrade.

Just came in today, immediately spun it. They smartly used the Heino Leja cut and pressed it at Optimal, which was an already available cut done in 2018 I think. It sounds fantastic. Wax is quiet, the bass thumps, and the vocals are crisp. Color is great. Jacket is decent quality. Really happy with this one and hope that IVC starts using engineers like Leja and plants like Optimal for these instead of doing in house GZ/PRP cuts that they've been doing.

IVC just released this as Record of the Month for the 30 year anniversary. Hope it’s done justice.

This is definitely one of the best records under the aegis of the blessed 2Pac. Most people look at his solo stuff under his stage name and overlook a "side project". Some of the stuff here sounds rather like the early 90s, "Don't Get It Twisted" goes forward, "Shit Don't Stop" casually covers familiar Parliament territory, Johnny J once again contributed quality, "How Long Will They Mourn Me?" with a catchy hookline by Nate Dogg is probably the hit of the album, without wanting to disparage the rest, the East Coast has a rendezvous in the form of a sparkling Easy Moe Bee production and what's interesting is that the thing was engineered by none other than Mr. Motown Norman Whitfield! Really cool sound overall and my favorite 2Pac/non-2Pac record.

I took a gamble on this record after reading reviews on the US version. I couldn't pass up on the price for a sealed album marked 42% off the retail price in the discounted bins.

I thought my copy was ok with some audible noise here and there even with different cartridges. Volume dynamics are off and some track play louder than others. Some tracks you can hear audible surface noise when you really examine the sound quality. Overall, I'm satisfied with it and glad I didn'tspend the full retail price on it.

Really unfortunate that such a great album gets such a poor pressing. I'm not looking for an audiophile experience from my rap LPs but this pressing has constant noise, bass is lacking and overall the record sound lifeless- something you could never accuse 2Pac or Syke of.

US pressing is absolutely garbage. They screwed up Thug Life, they screwed up Strictly 4 My, and they screwed up Me Against The World. The only Pac.release I own that wasn't pressed by amatures is 2pacalypseNow. Shame they doing the man so dirty, does nobody take pride in their work anymore?

I was a professional DJ in the 90s and if I had bought these for routines I'd be pissed and demanding refunds.