Me Against The World Sessions--2Pac ('So Many Tears,' '!! The World,' 1995)

“I sent three good songs to Pac for the Me Against The World album. The first one was what turned out to be Digital Underground’s ‘Oregano Flow,’ the second was ‘So Many Tears’ and the third one was a beat I can’t remember. So Pac calls me back in Oakland and he’s like, ‘I like the first one and the fourth one.’ And I’m puzzled because I only sent three tracks. I thought he was !!ing with me. I flew up to LA to meet with Pac about the songs. I’m like, ‘There is no fourth beat…I searched and searched.’ He played the tape for me and when the third beat ran out some old, dusty !! that I had taped over and didn’t want no one to hear came on.

He’s like, ‘This one, nicca!’ It was that ‘!! The World’ beat, which was really a Prince remake. We had all that Minneapolis !! in it. But we ended up not doing it because nobody felt the beat but me. But Pac loved it. The original line was: ‘Something Minneapolis said…’ Pac let us keep some of those background vocals on there. We later changed the line to ‘They try to say that I don’t care…’ ‘So Many Tears’ is another one that wasn’t made with Pac in mind. Stevie Wonder’s ‘That Girl’ was one of my favorite songs, so I knew at some point I was going to sample it. You can hear Stevie’s texture on ‘So Many Tears. I didn’t jack the ba##line…I wrote my own chords. But I used that metallic texture of ‘That Girl.’

Pac was just weird and special that way. He was not a businessman out to get rich. He was trying to change the world through music. I’m spoiled when I get demos now. People telling me, ‘I’ve been shot more than Pac and been to jail…I’m a real thug…you should !! with me.’ I just tell them that’s not why we !!ed with Pac. ‘ All that later !! that later happened was just Suge Knight’s influence. That wasn’t the Pac I knew. I still tear up when I think about him.”

http://slumz.boxden.com/f...s-1898405/

Cool story. "Fuck the World" is one of my favorite Tupac songs. Dod I read it wrong, or was Shock G implying that the track was influenced by the Minneapolis sound or did he really mean, a Prince remake in the literal sense?

Didn't he sample " Do me baby " Or am I trippin?

funkycat00 said:

BobGeorge909 said:

funkycat00 said:

Didn't he sample " Do me baby " Or am I trippin?

Its on 2 live in die in L.A. its the Melissa Morgan version is what I'm always told...but its that song. He samples darling Nikki somewhere on his dbl lp...all eyes on me.

Yeahm that's "Heartz Of Men".. Also, "What'z Your Phone Number" samples "777"

[Edited 12/2/13 9:52am]

His original version of Pac's life has a interperlation of Pop Life

BobGeorge909 said:

funkycat00 said:

Didn't he sample " Do me baby " Or am I trippin?

Its on 2 live in die in L.A. its the Melissa Morgan version is what I'm always told...but its that song. He samples darling Nikki somewhere on his dbl lp...all eyes on me.

It's actually a remake, there's no direct sample. QD3 did it. When I made my Tupac documentary for the BBC I talked to both QD and Johnny J about Prince and how Pac was a big fan.

The original version of "Thugz Get Lonely Too" samples the live version of "If I Was Your Girlfriend" from the SOTT movie. The unreleased song "Is It Cool 2 Fuck?" samples "Get It Up" by The Time. Of course, "What'z Your Phone #" samples "777-9311", "Heartz Of Men" samples the "ah ah ah ah" backwards part from "Darling Nikki", "I Get Around" doesn't musically sample "The Ladder" but it's credited for it's usage because Pac used the line "Everybody's looking for the ladder" in it. "Pac's Life" original version is a replayed/remake of "Pop Life".

Another obscure one that usually gets forgotten - Digital Underground and Tupac did a song together called "Wussup With The Luv" which samples "The Ballad of Dorothy Parker".

Not credited, but there's a repeating synth riff in "The Good Die Young" that's almost identical to a synth line in "Friend, Lover, Sister, Mother/Wife".

The original version of Ghetto Gospel samples 'Dearly beloved' fom Let's Go Crazy.