‘Only God Can Judge Me: The Many Lives of Tupac Shakur,’ Jeff Pearlman

While a seasoned sports journalist might seem like an odd authority for a 400+ page biography on the life and musical history of hip-hop legend Tupac Shakur, sportswriter Jeff Pearlman brings receipts, interviews, and dozens of never-before-seen artifacts to his all-encompassing biography Only God Can Judge Me: The Many Lives of Tupac Shakur. Pearlman approaches the historic rapper like a puzzle, using scholarship, research, and first-person interviews to turn Shakur from a musical god into a lovesick 15-year-old from East Harlem. Only God Can Judge Me isn’t just about the man and lyrical genius Shakur became — it’s a meticulously researched accounting of how Shakur’s fame changed music and pop culture for an entire generation. —CT Jones