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California Love

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For other uses, see California Love (disambiguation).
"California Love"
File:Californai.jpg
Single by 2Pac featuring Dr. Dre & Roger Troutman
From the album All Eyez on Me
Recorded/Released 1995/1996
Format 12-inch single
Genre Gangsta Rap
Length 4:45
Label Death Row
Writers R. Troutman
L. Troutman
J. Cocker
M. Hooks
R. Hudson
C. Stainton
Producer Dr. Dre
Director Hype Williams
Certification Double Platinum (August, 1998)
Chart positions #1(US Hot 100)
#3 (EU)
#4 (AUS)
#6 (UK)
#7 (GER)
2Pac singles chronology
"Temptations
(1995) 		"California Love" feat. Dr. Dre
(1996) 		"2 of Amerikaz Most Wanted"
(1996)
Dr. Dre singles chronology
"Keep Their Heads Ringin'"
(1996) 		"California Love" feat. 2Pac
(1996) 		"No Diggity" feat. Blackstreet
(1996)

"California Love" is a rap song by Tupac Shakur featuring Dr. Dre and Roger Troutman. The song was released as 2Pac's comeback single upon his release from prison in 1995. A popular remix version of the song appeared on his 1996 double album All Eyez on Me. This is perhaps 2Pac's most well-known song and his most successful, reaching #1 on the Billboard Hot 100 for three weeks. The song was nominated for a posthumous Grammy Award as a Best Rap Solo Performance and Best Rap Performance by a Duo or Group (with Dr. Dre and Roger Troutman) in 1997.

The original version of the track was not available on any of Shakur's studio albums, but it can now be found on Shakur's compilation of Greatest Hits.

The tune was adapted from Joe Cocker's song "Woman to Woman", "California knows how to party" lines listing California towns are sung by Roger Troutman. The vocal "In the City of Compton" and "California knows how to party" is adapted from Ronnie Hudson and the Street People's "West Coast Poplock".The remix features sample from the song "Intimate Connection" by Kleeer written by Norman Durham and Woody Cunningham.

"California Love" was Shakur's only entry on Rolling Stone's 2004 list of the 500 Greatest Songs of All Time, ranked #346.

Writing and background

Dr. Dre did not plan to include the recording in 2Pac's project. It was one of only 2 songs produced by Dre on All Eyez on Me namely California Love and Can't C Me and was originally going to be his single for his second album, as the original version has three verses featuring Dr. Dre's rapping. The only copy of this original version is now in the possession of DJ Jam, Snoop Dogg's personal concert DJ. Suge Knight's ideology was, "When it's time to work on a project, everybody needs to give everything to whoever's project it is" so he decided to put 2Pac on the remix, and it was made the single off his upcoming album. Dre's first version was unedited and home-studio recorded, and therefore differs to the version later included in 2Pac's Greatest Hits.[1]

2Pac later references the song in the last verse of the song To Live and Die in LA from his September 1996 album Don Killuminati: The 7 Day Theory. His entire last verse goes like this:

"This go out for 92.3, and 106 / All the radio stations that be bumping my shit / Making my shit sells katruple quitraple platinum, hehe / This go out to all the magazines that supported me / All the real motherfuckers / All the stores, the mom and pop spots / A&R people, all y'all motherfuckers / LA, California Love part motherfucking Two / Without gay ass Dre" [2]

Tupac also alludes to The Jackson 5's song ABC, paralleling the line "shake it shake it baby" by using it in between the hook and verses.

Music video

Two different versions of video exist:

  • The first video appears to have been inspired by the film Mad Max Beyond Thunderdome, and takes place in a desert. The casting includes singer George Clinton as the evil tribal chief, actor Chris Tucker[3] (then-known only for his role in the film Friday) playing the evil tribal chief's yes-man, Tony Cox as the dwarf soldier and Roger Troutman (from with the band Zapp, the original writers of the song) carrying a talk box. The shooting takes place in the Thunderdome set[3] known from the movie. It ends with a cliffhanger cut by a To be continued closing text. An alternative version, featuring the remix song re cut, removes the final caption and features 2Pac and Dre naming West Coast towns.
  • The second video's intro shows a rapid succession of images taken from the first and second video. The premise is that the desert scenes of the previous videos were merely a nightmare 2Pac was having, and when he wakes up, he finds himself beside a women who he had sex with. And Dr Dre calls hims and tells him to get over to his summer house because he's throwing a 'dope'(a cool) party. The rest of the music video takes place as if it were a home video and features several cameos, notably Roger Troutman who is now playing the piano, and guest appearances from DJ Quik, Big Syke, Danny Boy, Jodeci, Deion Sanders, B-Legit, and E-40. The video was made for the remix of the song.

The first video was nominated for an MTV Video Music Award for Best Rap Video in 1996. It achieved #9 of the top 10 on MTV's 100 Greatest Videos Ever Made list in 1999. In April, 2005 it reached the Bronze medal spot on MTV2 and XXL's 25 Greatest West Coast Videos. It also achieved #1 on the French MTV's 100 Greatest Rap Music Videos in 2006 (featured from 23 till 30 of July).

Credits

  • Keyboards - Sean 'Barney' Thomas
  • Percussion - Carl 'Butch' Small
  • Producer, Mixing, Featuring (Rap) - Dr. Dre
  • Vocals, Talkbox - Roger Troutman
  • Background vocals: Danette Williams, Dorothy Coleman, Barbara Wilson
  • Engineer : Keston E. Wright
  • Production Assistant: Larry Chatman
  • Video Direction: Hype Williams

Cultural references

  • In the South Park episode "Night of the Living Homeless," the boys advertise California to the homeless by singing an alternative version of "California Love."
  • In the song, Dr. Dre incorrectly refers to California as the "Sunshine state." Actually, the Sunshine state is the nickname of the U.S. state of Florida. California is actually called the Golden State.
  • Musician Mitchell Oldschool Danger Bennett Mallory III performs a highly unconventional conver of the song, using only an acoustic guitar while singing, rather than rapping, the lyrics of the song. Can be seen at: http://youtube.com/watch?v=mg4r4ovW7w8

Notes and references

  1. ^ "[[XXL (magazine)|XXL]]". The making of the album All Eyez On Me / interview with Tommy Daugherty. Harris Publications. October, 2004. Retrieved 2006-06-11. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |date= (help); URL–wikilink conflict (help)
  2. ^ 2PAC LYRICS - To Live & Die In L.A
  3. ^ a b Wilson, Elliott (April, 2005). "XXL". Pop Shots. Harris Publications. pp. 131–135. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)


Preceded by Billboard Hot 100 number one single
July 13 1996 		Succeeded by
Preceded by RIANZ (New Zealand) number one single
26 April 1996 		Succeeded by
Preceded by Billboard's Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Singles & Tracks number one single
July 6 1996 		Succeeded by
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