Songoftheday 2/2/21 - Wanna be ballers shot-Callers brawlers, who be dippin' in the Benz wit' the spoilers...

 

 

"It's All About The Benjamins" / "Been Around The World" - Puff Daddy 

from the album No Way Out (1997)

Billboard Hot 100 peak: #2 (two weeks) / #4 (one week)

Weeks in the Top-40: 18

 

Today's song(s) of the day come from rapper/record mogul Sean "Puff Daddy" Combs, who had dominated the pop music scene in 1997, with three #1 hits in "I'll Be Missing You" and "Can't Nobody Hold Me Down" from his debut album No Way Out, as well as his collaboration with the late Notorious B.I.G. and protege Mase on "Mo Money Mo Problems", racking up nineteen weeks at the top of the chart that year. Also, another No Way Out album track, "Senorita", spent a couple weeks on the R&B Airplay chart in Billboard magazine, peaking at #66.  The third single release from No Way Out would be a genuine two-fer, with two songs that got major mainstream radio airplay. The first one that radio glammed onto would be "It's All About The Benjamins", which also featuring the Notorious B.I.G. as well as Lil' Kim and the Lox. Originally from a mixtape from when Biggie was alive, the track features a slowed down sample of "I Did It For Love" from Barry White's disco act Love Unlimited as well as the guitar fill from the Jackson 5's "It's Great To Be Here". The track is your standard brag rap, but with that earworm guitar sample and rhymes that grab your attention it was another radio pick...

Meanwhile the other track on the single, "Been Around The World", was much more mainstream radio-friendly, with its production anchored with the prominent sample of David Bowie's #1 hit from 1983, "Let's Dance". With found verses from Biggie Smalls that cribs Lisa Stansfield's "All Around The World", as well as Mase, Combs continues the party atmosphere as they intertwine their lyrics seamlessly with even more braggadocio rhymes. And the music video may well be his most ambitious yet, a ten-minute mini spy movie that features cameos from Vivica Fox, Jennifer Lopez, former Fugee Wyclef Jean and the one and only Quincy Jones...

The "double-A" single landed in the top ten on the pop chart in January of 1998, with "It's All About The Benjamins" listed first (as per chart rules, whatever has the most radio airplay gets top billing). However in six weeks "Been Around The World" overtook it, and was listed first for the rest of the chart run (an anomaly that would change the Hot 100 pop tally in a year's time). The single also peaked at #7 on Billboard magazine's R&B chart. Internationally, where the two songs were released separately, "It's All About The Benjamins" made the top-40 in the UK (#18) and the Netherlands (#25), while "Been Around The World" did the same in New Zealand (#3), the UK (#20), Finland (#20), Sweden (#22), Austria (#26), Belgium (#30F/#40W), and the Netherlands (#40). 

It's All About The Benjamins: (7/10)      Been Around The World: (6/10)

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On the single release for "It's All About The Benjamins", the track was re-imagined as a rock throwdown, featuring Dave Grohl of the Foo Fighters, Tommy Stinson of the Replacements, goth-rock star Rob Zombie, and Puffy proteges Fuzzbubble. They even shot a second music video for this version...

Combs did the same for "Been Around The World", with a remix featuring soul singer Carl Thomas that drops the Bowie sample for some summery jazz from Roy Ayers...

Here's Combs with Guns N' Roses guitarist Slash redoing the rock version of "Benjamins" for a charity concert...

and this is Puff and Mase doing "Been Around The World" on a TV appearance...

and finally, parody king Weird Al Yankovic took "It's All About The Benjamins" into the digital age in 1999 for his single "It's All About The Pentiums"...

Up tomorrow: Australian duo are all about the adverbs.