The Don Killuminati: The 7 Day Theory

The Don Killuminati: The 7 Day Theory is the last album completed before 2Pac's death, under the new nickname Makaveli, and the first to be released after his death. On the album cover Tupac appears on the cross like Christ, symbolizing how the media has crucified him. The album was completed in seven days (the lyrics were written and recorded in three days and production only took four more days) during the month of August 1996, and these songs are among the last that the rapper recorded before his death in September of that same year.

Although The Don Killuminati: The 7 Day Theory was released almost two months after his death, it is not a truly posthumous album as others would later be, as it was completed before his death.. It is considered a classic among critics and fans.

In 2005, MTV.com ranked The Don Killuminati: The 7 Day Theory at #9 on the list of the best rap albums of all time. The emotion and anger showcased on the album has been admired by a large portion of the hip-hop community, including other rappers. The album debuted at #1 on the Billboard 200 chart and sold 663,000 copies in its first week.

Concept

Tupac chose to release this album under the name 'Makaveli', a pseudonym obtained from the Italian political writer Niccolo Machiavelli. Tupac was inspired by the works of Machiavelli, including The Prince, which he read while in prison. Tupac decided to create the pseudonym to express "raw emotion".

While All Eyez on Me was considered by Tupac "a celebration of life", The Don Killuminati: The 7 Day Theory is a Much darker album, considered one of the great classics, not only in Tupac's discography, but also in rap, as it had a profound impact on the social and cultural aspects of hip-hop. Makaveli's rapping style is still emotional, but it intensified throughout this album. Some songs on the album contain subtle and direct insults to his East Coast rivals, such as The Notorious B.I.G., Puff Daddy, Mobb Deep, Nas and Jay-Z. Although he insulted Nas in 'Intro / Bomb First (My Second Reply)' and 'Against All Odds', Tupac told Nas that the disputes between the two were over. It has been said that Tupac was going to delete the insults to Nas and instead include a collaboration with him on the album, but he was murdered days later in Las Vegas. Rapper Young Noble, who appeared on several songs from The 7 Day Theory, noted in an interview that the song "I Gave You Power" by Nas served as Tupac's main inspiration for "Me and My Girlfriend". In the first three seconds of "Intro/Bomb First (My Second Reply)", Tupac says " 34;Shoulda shot me", which has been incorrectly interpreted by a large part of rap fans as "Suge shot me" ("Suge shot me") due to low voice volume. Producer Shock G stated:

In the studio, we were working. We talked about music, and he was very excited to show his new Shit!I was trying to tell you what I liked about All Eyez on Me And he said things like, "Yeah, yeah, I did that for Suge. Makaveli. He looked in his eyes, he didn't want to talk about it anymore.

Recording sessions

Six months after the release of the successful All Eyez on Me, Tupac began working on The Don Killuminati: The 7 Day Theory. The album was written and recorded in three days in August 1996 at Can-Am Studios in Tarzana, Los Angeles, California. During those three days, 20 songs were completed, 12 of which made it onto the album. This does not include All Eyez on Me's stellar list of guest artists. It only featured the collaboration of the group Outlawz and the rapper Bad Azz in the song "Krazy". Young Noble of The Outlawz recalled:

We were supposed to collaborate on that song, but it took us the verses too long. Bad Azz was there with us. 'Pac liked Bad Azz, had a great flow. And 'Pac gave Bad Azz the verse and I'm glad he did it, because Bad Azz did it really well. It's also one of the classic songs of 'Pac. "Time goes by puffing on the drop a nigga going crazy..." We started writing the song and it was a long time. 'Pac said something like, "Who has anything? Bad Azz, do you have something?" and fit perfectly, so Bad Azz had to be in that song. We had already been in a million songs of 'Pac. That was their way of motivating us, something like "If they're not ready, they don't do the song." That's why in some songs one of us can be heard, or two or three. Because when the song is almost done, if blacks don't have a verse, they don't come out in the song and wait for the next one. 'Pac was surrounded by a lot of controversy, and many people thought of him in a way, but this guy was all about love. He loved his family, children and black people until death. It was all about love. That's why the streets love him. Through all that shit, all the disputes... when I think of 'Pac I don't think of any of that shit, I think of love. This nigger had so much love in his heart that it was ridiculous, and you can hear that Shit! in his music.

Production

The Don Killuminati: The 7 Day Theory was also praised for its production, despite many of the usual producers not working on the album. The only producer Tupac previously worked with was QD3, the son of Quincy Jones and brother of Tupac's fiancée Kidada Jones. Tupac himself co-produced three songs on the album. The other two producers were Hurt M Badd and Darryl "Big D" Harper. E.D.I. from The Outlawz stressed:

It was crazy at Death Row by then. You had Snoop, Daz, and all of them on one side of the studio, and us on the other side. By then there was some bad tension in the environment. Black people weren't comfortable with each other. He was really exclusive. It was like "I'm going with my band, you go with yours." I don't want to fuck you with my producers. By then, we wouldn't fuck with Johnny "J." We were looking for a totally new sound. Hurt M Badd, who was and wasn't with Death Row, and Darryl Harper, who was a R fakeB producer - Suge had him working with him on all the R-B projects - had a green room in Can-Am (Studies) that everyone in Death Row called "wack room" ("strafalarian room"). But we were in the studio one day trying to make music and we see two blacks in the "wack room" and 'Pac said, "Go get those niggers." So the blacks came and 'Pac put them to work like saying "I need a rhythm here, I need you to do this, do that." And those niggers nobody fucked in Death Row, they weren't nobody there.

Song list

Positions in list

Album

List (1996)	Position maximum
Musical lists of Australia (ARIA)	37
Musical lists of the Netherlands	61
New Zealand musical lists	17
Musical Lists of Sweden	28
Billboard 200	1
Top R fakeB/Hip-Hop Albums	1

Singles