The Mournful Meaning Behind Tupac’s “Life Goes On”

When Tupac released his fourth studio album All Eyez on Me in February 1996, his final album before his infamous September 1996 death, hits like “Ambitionz az a Ridah,” “How Do U Want It,” and “Only God Can Judge Me” absorbed all the attention from fans, as their infectious hooks made them more commercially appealing. However, one of the more overlooked songs on the track list happened to include some of the most emotionally impactful lyricism Pac had ever written.

The ninth track on the album, “Life Goes On,” saw Pac try to comfort men like him who question their own morality because of their gang affiliations. Pointing out friends of his like Big Kato and Mental Illness who both lost their lives to senseless violence, Pac wanted his friends who were still living to realize that it was not their fault that they had gotten caught up in this dangerous lifestyle.

How many brothers fell victim to the streets?
Rest in peace, young n***a, there’s a heaven for a G
Be a lie If I told you that I never thought of death
My n****s, we the last ones left, but life goes on

When revisiting the creation of All Eyez on Me during a 2004 feature story with XXL, those who helped Pac with the album discussed his approach to writing the song, and how people close to the rapper reacted when they first heard it. Dru Down, an Oakland-bred rapper who provided additional vocals on the LP’s second song “All About U,” told XXL how solemn the studio was when Pac started putting “Life Goes On” together.

“That was more on the serious tip,” he said. “When they got serious about something, there wasn’t too many people up in the studio. When a n***a wanna really be serious, ‘Pac just dumped out all the weed on the mixing board — about four ounces of smoke — and was writing. And n****s had to be quiet. It was on the real low, quiet tip. That was a serious time.”

[RELATED: Revisit Tupac’s “I Get Around” Performance on the 1993 ‘Arsenio Hall Show’]

This method proved to be successful, as many of the people Pac played the song for were overcome with emotion. According to Johnny J, who produced all-time Pac hits like “Hit ‘Em Up” and “All Eyez on Me,” this included some of the most rugged folks he knew.

“We had people in sessions you want to call them street guys or hardcore, they were deep into their thing and they broke down in tears,” he said. “I can’t believe I saw that. [That record] just had so many people emotional.”

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