Songoftheday 12/2/19 - As I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I take a look at my life and realize there's nothin' left...
from the albums Dangerous Minds (Original Soundtrack) (1995) and Gangsta's Paradise (Coolio, 1995)
Billboard Hot 100 peak: #1 (three weeks)
Weeks in the Top-40: 36
Today's song of the day comes from rapper Coolio, who had landed a top ten pop hit as well as a nomination for a Grammy Award for his breakthrough single "Fantastic Voyage" in the summer of 1994. Before he was preparing his next album, Coolio recorded a song that was only meant for the soundtrack of the classroom drama Dangerous Minds starring Michelle Pfeiffer. He recruited singer L.V. (which stood for "Large Variery", not his initials which would be L.S. for "Larry Sanders") to sing the unforgettable chorus, which interpolated Stevie Wonder's "Pasttime Paradise" from Wonder's classic Songs In the Key Of Life album. The result was "Gangsta's Paradise", written by Coolio and L.V. along with producer Doug Rasheed, and the epic minor-key masterpiece was a record that no one could deny, not even any mainstream outlets (especially for a dark hip-hop piece without curse words). It became an immediate success, bringing the rapper back into the top ten, but as his first and only #1 hit, and Billboard magazine's top pop song of 1995. The music video features Pfeiffer confronting Coolio as he runs through the song, along with a lot of cuts from the movie, which is based on the real life story of a marine-turned-teacher in northern California. But you cannot deny that this song would not be as big and as powerful as it is without L.V., who is shot separately as he sweats Biggie Smalls-style through the chorus and bridge...
"Gangsta's Paradise" became Coolio's biggest success, topping the pop chart in September of 1995. On Billboard's R&B chart, the song only made it to the runner-up spot, but stayed at #2 for five weeks. Internationally, this was probably the most universally popular record of that year, going to #1 in just about every country it was released in, including France, Germany, Italy, Australia, Ireland, Sweden, the Netherlands, Switzerland, Austria, Belgium, New Zealand, Norway, Denmark, Finland, and Iceland. The major exceptions were Poland (#3), Spain (reaching #20), and surprisingly Canada (where it peaked at #29). At the 1996 Grammy Awards, the single was nominated for Record Of The Year, which went to Seal for "Kiss From A Rose". However, he did win the prize for Best Rap Solo Performance that year. In the following year, the Gangsta's Paradise album (which he relented and added this on to) would be nominated for Best Rap Album, which was won by the Fugees for The Score.
As for the Dangerous Minds soundtrack, which rose to the top of the Albums sales chart in the U.S., the second single released would be "Feel The Funk" from soul boy-band Immature. The track went to #15 on the R&B chart and just missed the pop top-40 at #46. A third offering from the album, Aaron Hall's "Curiosity", rose to #36 on the R&B chart, while "bubbling under" the pop Hot 100 at #114. The album is also notable for having one of the two released recordings from the group Sista, which including pre-fame Missy Elliot, on "It's Alright".
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L.V. recorded an alternate version of "Gangsta's Paradise", which substituted extra verses of lyrics instead of Coolio's rap. Some mainstream stations who eschewed any rap from their playlists would cop out and use this version, predicting what would happen to Wiz Khalifa and Charlie Puth's "See You Again". He would go on to have three more hits on the R&B chart, with one, "Throw Your Hands Up" with Treach from Naughty By Nature, just missing the R&B top-40 in America at #42, but doing much better in the UK, peaking on the main singles chart at #24...
Here's Coolio and L.V. appearing on the Howard Stern Show in 1995...
For his appearance on Conan O'Brien, the duo was just hitting #1, and brought a boys choir....
For the Billboard Music Awards in 1995, where the pair won Single of the Year, Coolio and L.V. brought along Stevie Wonder and another children's choir...
The pair also performed at the Grammy Awards, where the song was up for Record of the Year. It had no Stevie, but left Coolio in the air...
About that time of the Grammys, parody king "Weird Al" Yankovic released a take on the song called "Amish Paradise", featuring a video with Mrs. Brady Florence Henderson taking the place of Michelle Pfeiffer. While the single made it to #53, its album Bad Hair Day (a joke on Coolio's hair) peaked at #14 and sold over a million copies...
And lastly, here's Coolio at the European event Night At The Proms with a full orchestra, and Howard Jones subbed in for L.V...
Up tomorrow: R&B singer declares it ladies' night.
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