Songoftheday 1/13/21 - How many mo days on this old earth can you see It's a crime to me, so we should get ready for armageddon

 

 

"If I Could Teach The World" - Bone Thugs-N-Harmony

from the album The Art of War (1997)

Billboard Hot 100 peak: #27 (two weeks)

Weeks in the Top-40: 12

 

Today's song of the day comes from the Cleveland hip-hop act Bone Thugs-N-Harmony, who had reached the top ten on the pop chart in the summer of 1997 with "Look Into My Eyes" from the Batman & Robin soundtrack.  That song also appeared on their next album The Art Of War, which came out in July of 1997. There was originally going to be a collaboration with rapper 2Pac Shakur, but after his murder that obviously got scapped, although a cut they did together, "Thug Luv", went to #60 on Billboard magazine's R&B Airplay chart, and would also be on The Art Of War. That autumn, the next single from the record, "If I Could Teach The World" was released. Written by the group with producer DJ U-Neek, the track tried so hard to ape the broad ambitions of their #1 hit "Crossroads", but meanders in so many directions talking about the end of the world, police, politicians, but everything is broad brushstrokes and interspersed with callbacks to their previous hits. As if that wasn't enough, the music video is a complete shitshow, seemingly made from mountains of cocaine and hallucinogens, which goes from a space war to a country little cult on the prairie situation. It truly rivals the worst videos ever made for a hit single...

"If I Could Teach The World" became Bone Thugs-N-Harmony's fifth top-40 hit in November of 1997. The song also rose to #20 on Billboard's R&B chart, and #3 on their Rap Singles list. Internationally, the single peaked at #11 in New Zealand. The Art Of War album became their second #1 record on the Billboard 200 sales chart, going on to sell over four million copies. 

 

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Here's the group performing live on the Vibe show...

And lastly, live in concert in 2016...

Up tomorrow: Funky divas say you are inexcusably late.