"Let Me Ride" is the third single released by Dr. Dre from his 1992 album The Chronic. It experienced moderate success on the charts until it became a hit after Dr. Dre won a Grammy Award for Best Rap Solo Performance during the Grammy Awards of 1994. Snoop Doggy Dogg is involved for a "Rollin' in my 6-4" pre-chorus and in some background vocals. The vocals are sung by Ruben and Jewell, and the lyrics were ghostwritten by RBX, who explains how Dr. Dre came to use the lyrics (which RBX had originally written for a different track), in the book How to Rap[1].
This single helped The Chronic go triple platinum (3+ million copies sold). It has several samples mixed into the song from Parliament's "Mothership Connection (Star Child)", James Brown's "Funky Drummer" and Bill Withers's 1972 hit "Kissin' My Love".
[edit] Music video
The music video was shot on location in Los Angeles on Slauson Avenue and was directed by Dr. Dre. It is the second lowrider cult video of Dre's cinematographer "walk of life" that was nominated for a MTV Video Music Award for Best Rap Video in the same year. The video begins with Dre, in his home watching the $20 Dollar Sack Pyramid (a track skit from the album shown as a game show in the video), taking a phone call and being invited to a Parliament concert. He then heads out in his lowrider and the song begins. Many helicopter-view camshots of the super-highways of Compton follow, some cuts of Snoop, a car-jacking scene, and various footage of Dre picking up girls, all of which leads to a street party outside the concert venue. Ice Cube makes a cameo appearance, walking out from a women's bathroom saying "Damn right it was a good day" referring to his 1992 solo single (and also officially squashing the beef between Dre and Cube which had existed since Cube left N.W.A). Dr. Dre also refers to the CPT on this single and this album, an abbreviation of Compton, the city in which he is from in California. Fellow Death Row rapper The Lady of Rage also appears briefly in a cameo scene. The final shots of the video feature footage from Parliament/Funkadelic's 1976 earth tour, shots include Starchild flying on wires with the bop gun, the band singing "Mothership Connection" (which Let Me Ride samples) and concludes with George Clinton departing into the Mothership with a plume of smoke, upon which Dre's face is superimposed. Dre's step-brother and rapper Warren G make a cameo appearance along with rapper The D.O.C. and Producer Bonita "Bo" Money.
[edit] Official remixes
The song has a remix version with full verses from Snoop Dogg and Daz, and an appearance by George Clinton that was recorded simultaneously with the original version and was released on 12" when the solo version was chosen to be a part of the album. The full version of the remix is 11 minutes long and features a guitar solo by Johnny "Guitar" Watson. The beat was later remade as a G-Funk remix and the instrumental was used for the Up In Smoke Tour in 2000. Dr. Dre also produced the beat for the remix.
[edit] References in other media
Rapper The Game refers to "Let Me Ride" in a song of his, entitled "Put You on the Game", where he claims to be in a car with Dre in the back and bitches screaming, "Let me ride!" This is also done by Fabolous in his hit "Can't Deny It", with "bitches be yellin "let me ride", like I'm Snoop, and Dr. Dre.". Nate Dogg also refers to "Let Me Ride" in Warren G's song "Regulate" from Warren's album Regulate... G Funk Era in which he says, "She said "my car's broke down and you seem real nice, would ya let me ride?""
[edit] Charts
| Chart |
Position |
| U.S. Billboard Hot 100 |
#34 |
| Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Singles & Tracks |
#34 |
| Rhythmic Top 40 |
#21 |
| Hot Dance Music/Club Play |
#45 |
| Hot Rap Singles |
#3 |
| Grammy Awards |
Best Rap Soloist |
[edit] References
- ^ Edwards, Paul, 2009, How to Rap: The Art & Science of the Hip-Hop MC, Chicago Review Press, p. 229.
[edit] External links
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