| "I Ain't Mad at Cha" | |||||||||||
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| Single by 2Pac featuring Danny Boy | |||||||||||
| from the album All Eyez on Me | |||||||||||
| Released | September 15, 1996 | ||||||||||
| Format | 12" single, CD single | ||||||||||
| Recorded | October 12, 1995 | ||||||||||
| Genre | Rap | ||||||||||
| Length | 4:53 | ||||||||||
| Label | Death Row/Interscope | ||||||||||
| Writer(s) | T. Shakur D. Stewart D. Arnaud E. Jordan |
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| Producer | Daz Dillinger | ||||||||||
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"I Ain't Mad at Cha" is the name of a song by rapper 2Pac released as the sixth single from his album All Eyez on Me. Although the album was released exactly 7 months before his death, the single was released shortly after his death. The song is a heartfelt tribute to his friend who had converted to Islam. The song features contemporary soul singer Danny Boy who provided the vocals for the song's hook. The song did well in the United Kingdom, reaching the number 13 on the UK Singles Chart. It was not released as a single in the United States, thus making it ineligible to chart on the Billboard singles charts (due to chart rules at the time), but reached numbers 18 and 58 in the R&B and Pop Airplay charts, respectively. It also reached number two on the New Zealand Singles Chart.
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The track was produced by Dat Nigga Daz (who now goes by Daz Dillinger) and samples the song "A Dream" by DeBarge. The song was recorded the same day 2Pac was released from prison, and was the second song he recorded when he came out ("Ambitionz Az a Ridah" being the first).[1] The single was released two days after 2Pac's death. As so, by the time this single was released, 2Pac had already finished recording his next album, The Don Killuminati: The 7 Day Theory. It has been labeled by many one of the best songs on "All Eyez on Me"[2] and one of the greatest in 2Pac's career.
The song also appeared on 2Pac's Greatest Hits album. Another song on the CD single proved to be popular among fans. "Heartz of Men" appeared on 4 of 2Pac's albums, compared to 3 for "I Ain't Mad at Cha". These include: All Eyez on Me, 2Pac Live, 2Pac's Greatest Hits, and a remixed version on Nu-Mixx Klazzics. A remix was made of Rihanna's "We Ride" to include elements of "I Ain't Mad at Cha". R&B group BLACKstreet also used the identical keyboard tune in "Don't Leave Me" off of their Another Level album. "American Dream", a track featured on deceased rapper Big L's CD In Memory of Big L, Vol.2 also samples "I Ain't Mad at Cha".
In fact, "I Ain't Mad at Cha" samples the song "Helen's Tune" by composer Philip Glass, which was originally written for the movie Candyman (film).
"I Ain't Mad at Cha" was the first song to interpolate the core melody of the song "A Dream" an album track by DeBarge, written and performed by Bunny, and taken from their 1983 album In a Special Way. This makes the instrumentals very identical. This is most apparent in the piano usage which is almost identical to the original song. The main difference is "A Dream" uses a keyboard for its notes, while "I Ain't Mad at Cha" uses more of a classical piano. Daz's main job as producer of the song was changing this piano instrument, as most other aspects of the song were the same. The tempo of the original song was also sped up, which matches with 2Pac's pace of rapping. Another minor difference is the accompanying beat uses different sounds to project the same repetition (sped up as previously noted).
The day 2Pac was released from prison, he went to the studio and recorded I Ain't Mad at Cha and Ambitionz Az a Ridah.[1] When 2Pac entered the studio the beat was already complete, and 2Pac wrote the lyrics and recorded the song all in a few hours. Shortly thereafter, BLACKstreet released "Don't Leave Me" to radio, which also interpolates the melody of "A Dream". According to Dave Aron 2Pac had a lot of energy going into the studio. Kurupt was in the studio at the time of recording and said when 2Pac heard the beat he "flipped out" from excitement.[1] He wanted to finish the song quickly and was cursing at the engineers for moving too slow.[1]
Technical info[3]
In the video version of the song, the whole song was re-recorded with a live band. Featuring live horns and strings Kevyn Lewis commissioned a band featuring, Cornelius Mims, Warryn Campbell, Priest, Ricky Rouse, Darryl Crooks to replay the track. The new track was recorded at Can-am Studio by Conley Abrams, it was mixed at Larrabee North by Abrams. A cursory listen to the album version and video version shows it is completely different, there are no samples in the video version.
Like many rap songs the single had many explicit lyrics and was too profane to be shown on TV. Rather than have them blanked out, most these lines carried alternative words. For example:
Original lyrics: And I can see us after school, we'd bomb / on the first motherfucker with the wrong shit on
Censored lyrics: And I can see us after school, we'd bomb / on the first player haters with the wrong set on.
The music video begins with 2Pac and a friend of his (played by Bokeem Woodbine) leaving a hotel party at night time. While waiting for someone to arrive a hooded man comes up, pulls out a handgun, and starts shooting in their direction. As 2Pac pushes them out of the way, he gets hit by at least one bullet. In the ambulance his body gives in and he passes away. As an angel he goes back to Earth and watches his friend as he struggles through the next days away from his friend. While this is going on 2Pac is shown rapping to his friend, (who can't see or hear him) and at an elegant party in Heaven. Look-alikes of many deceased entertainers are revealed to be playing the beat in the party, featuring (among others), Redd Foxx, Jimi Hendrix, Bob Marley, Nat King Cole, Miles Davis, Marvin Gaye, Billie Holiday, Florence Ballard, Sammy Davis Jr., and Louis Armstrong. Danny Boy is also present in Heaven as an angel.
In the censored version, the third verse of the song is completely replaced with new lyrics which talk about the struggles of living, God, and life after death. The video ends with the words "Dedicated to Mutulu Shakur and Geronimo Pratt" appearing on the screen. These individuals are 2Pac's stepfather and godfather, respectively. The music video was voted #33 on the "MTV Top 100 of 1996" ranking music videos.[4] The concept of the video (showing 2Pac's death and him being on Earth as an angel) was used as evidence by many who believed in the 7 Day Theory that Tupac is still alive. The music video is available on the edition of Tupac: Live at the House of Blues.
Filming crew[5]
Additional crew
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| Charts (1996) - Charts (1997) | Peak position |
|---|---|
| Australian Charts | 47[6] |
| Deutsch Charts | 86[7] |
| Dutch Charts | 15[8] |
| New Zealand Charts | 2[9] |
| Swedish Charts | 35[10] |
| UK Singles Chart | 13 |
| U.S. Billboard Hot 100 | 58 |
| U.S. Billboard Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Singles & Tracks | 18 |