Songoftheday 5/7/21 - Some got hopes and dreams, we got ways and means...
"Ghetto Supastar (That Is What You Are)" - Pras Michel featuring Ol' Dirty Bastard & Mya
from the albums Bulworth (Original Soundtrack) and Ghetto Supastar (both 1998)
Billboard Hot 100 peak: #15 (one week)
Weeks in the Top-40: 16
Today's song of the day comes from rapper Pras Michel, who had come from the hugely successful but short-lived hip-hop trio the Fugees. His first foray apart from them came with the Fugee-adjacent Refugee All-Stars tag, which had the top-40 pop hit single "Avenues" from the movie Money Talks, which hit in the fall of 1997. He also cameoed on the "Puff Daddy Remix" of Sting and the Police's "Roxanne '97", which climbed to #20 on the R&B chart and #59 on Billboard magazine's pop Hot 100. In the spring of 1998, Michel contributed a song to the soundtrack of Warren Beatty's political comedy Bulworth. "Ghetto Supastar" rode on a foundation of the cribbed melody from Kenny Rogers and Dolly Parton's #1 pop hit from 1983, "Islands In The Stream", with R&B newcomer Mya providing the chorus vocals, as well as Wu-Tang Clan member Ol' Dirty Bastard (aka Russell Jones) giving his own verse. With fellow Fugee Wyclef Jean producing, and the instantly recognizable hook, it gave an instant "in" with mainstream radio, and Pras found himself with his biggest solo success...
"Ghetto Supastar" became Pras' second solo top-40 hit, and first and only as a lead artist, in August of 1998. It would be the second for Mya, who had just reached the top ten with her debut hit "It's All About Me", and the first for Ol' Dirty Bastard, but these two will make the series again. The song also climbed to #8 on Billboard's R&B chart. Internationally, the single was even bigger, topping the charts in Germany, Ireland, the Netherlands, Austria, Switzerland, Belgium, New Zealand, and Norway. It also reached the top ten in the UK (#2), Australia (#2), Sweden (#2), Denmark (#2), Italy (#3), Canada (#4), Spain (#4), and Finland (#4). The Bulworth soundtrack, released in April of 1998, was a surprise success, peaking at #10 on Billboard 200 sales tally, going on to sell over a million copies. At the 1999 Grammy Awards, "Ghetto Supastar" was nominated for Best Rap Duo/Group Performance, which went to the Beastie Boys for their "Intergalactic".
From the Bulworth soundtrack, two other songs made the charts in America. First, the Dr. Dre/LL Cool J collaboration "Zoom" made it to #52 on Billboard's R&B Airplay chart, and peaked at #15 on the British singles chart. Also, the pre-Fergie version of Black Eyed Peas had their first minor chart hit in the UK with "Joints & Jams".
Despite the success of the single, none of the other songs from his late-arriving album, titled Ghetto Supastar, made the R&B or the pop chart. The set lasted five weeks on the Billboard 200, cresting at #55. Perhaps its arrival that October had already crested that wave. However internationally he did well still, with second single "Blue Angels", which interpolated the theme from Grease, hit the top ten in the UK (#6), Belgium (#9), Norway (#10), and Sweden (#10). Also that year, a revamped version of Queen's "Another One Bites The Dust", featuring Pras, Wyclef Jean, and Free, went to #5 in the UK and #69 on Billboard's R&B Airplay list. He returned in 2001 as a guest on American singer Dante Thomas' "Miss California", which went to #25 in the UK, #85 on the American pop chart and #88 on the R&B list. Pras resurfaced in 2005 with a second album, Win, Lose Or Draw, produced by him with Wyclef, but that set was completely ignored. Most recently, he's been in the news more for his indictment for funneling shady money to President Barack Obama's campaign. That trial has not happened as of yet.
(6/10)
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The trio also performed the song at the MTV music awards along with Wyclef doing his top ten hit "Gone Till November" and Canibus doing something I don't remember, where ODB almost stumbled into getting immolated...
At the European Music Awards, Pras enlisted a then-new Destiny's Child to sing with him...
Up tomorrow: Canadian emo chick ain't coming to the party.
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