Songoftheday 5/9/20 - Now let me welcome everybody to the wild wild west, a state that's untouchable like Elliot Ness...
From the album All Eyez on Me (1996)
Billboard Hot 100 peak: #1 (two weeks)
Weeks in the Top-40: 21
Today's two-for-one songs of the day come from the late rap icon 2Pac (Tupac Shakur), who had nabbed a top-40 pop hit in the spring of 1995 with his parental tribute "Dear Mama". However, that year also found the rapper in jail for sexual assault and without money. Death Row Records head Suge Knight fronted his bail, on the promise of recording three albums for the company. Indebted now to the deal, 2Pac went to record a double-album of material to cover 2/3's of the deal with Suge. The result, All Eyez On Me, allowed 2Pac to team up with Death Row rosters Dr. Dre and Snoop Dogg, affixing the New York born artist with the West Coast "gangsta rap" scene indelibly. Initially, the track "I Ain't Mad At Cha" was promoted to urban radio in the spring of 1996, where it climbed to #18 on Billboard magazine's R&B Airplay chart. A second cut from the set, "Two Of Amerika's Most Wanted" with Snoop Dogg, started getting urban radio airplay a month later, rising to #46 on the R&B Airplay list. But since neither were put out as commercial singles, they weren't able to place on the official R&B chart, and in the process the pop Hot 100. That changed with the release of the sole physical single from the double-disc set, which had not one but two songs from the piece that were promoted and got radio airplay. The first to get attention was "California Love", originally recorded right on 2Pac's release from jail. Built on a sample of Joe Cocker's blues-rock nugget "Woman To Woman" and featuring former N.W.A. rapper/producer Dr. Dre and Zapp funk master Roger Troutman, it originally was recorded for Dre's second album The Chronic II. However with that release shelved, the only way you could get that version in America was by buying the single, since the All Eyez On Me was based on a totally different mix and sample. The most famous version of the music video, which featured 2Pac, Dre, and Roger along with George Clinton and actor Chris Tucker in a recreation of the Thunderdome from the third Mad Max movie...
The other track on the single was the more sensual "How Do U Want It", which featured Jodeci brothers K-Ci and JoJo. Written by 2Pac with producer Johnny Jackson and using a sample of Quincy Jones' jazz-soul classic "Body Heat", the song's main video has the rapper and singers partying with models as well as some pornstars. The track was more melodic-centric, with the chorus being the most striking part of the single...
Since Billboard magazine's rules at the time had both titles on the single listed together and contributing airplay points to the general sales (remember, this was pre-iTunes), the double-sided hit ended up being his biggest success, spending two weeks at #1 (with "How Do U Want It" listed first since at that time it was getting more airplay) on the pop Hot 100 in July of 1996. The songs also spent three weeks on top of the R&B chart as well as racking up eight non-consecutive weeks at #1 on the Rap Singles list. Internationally, where the pair were released separately, "California Love" was by far the more successful track, topping the singles charts in New Zealand (five weeks), Sweden (two weeks), and Italy (one week). It also reached the top ten in Australia (#4), Norway (#4), Denmark (#4), the UK (#6), Germany (#7), the Netherlands (#7), Switzerland (#7), Iceland (#7), and Austria (#9). Elsewhere, it made it to #11 in Finland, #13 in France, #13 in Belgium, and #16 in Ireland. Meanwhile, "How Do U Want It" peaked at #2 in New Zealand, and reached the top-40 in Canada (#14), the UK (#17), Italy (#17), Finland (#19), Australia (#24), Sweden (#33), France (#35), and Switzerland (#37). The All Eyez On Me album topped the album sales chart for two weeks. At the 1997 Grammy Awards, both "How Do U Want It" and "California Love" were nominated for Best Rap Duo/Group Performance, probably splitting the vote and losing out to Bone Thugs-N-Harmony's "Tha Crossroads". Also, All Eyez On Me was up for Best Rap Album, which went to the Fugees for their The Score album.
After the success of the two hits, Death Row started to promote "I Ain't Mad At Cha" to pop radio, where it stalled down at #58. However, the single overseas was a top-40 hit in New Zealand (#2), the UK (#13), the Netherlands (#15), and Sweden (#35). But by that point 2Pac would be dead, shot in his car in Las Vegas.
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The second version of the "California Love" song, built on a sample of "Intimate Connection" by the funk band Kleeer, which went to #48 on the R&B chart in 1984, appeared on the All Eyez On Me album. The music video, which was filmed like a "sequel" to the first version, had the rappers and Roger at a house party...
Meanwhile, the alternative music video for "How Do U Want It" was a live concert take...
Here's 2Pac performing "California Love" live in 1996...
And at the House Of Blues doing "How Do U Want It"...
Finally, 2Pac performed "California Love" on SNL...
Up tomorrow: An Oregonian singer/songwriter calls for her parent. Twice.
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