Gangsta's Paradise (song)
| Gangsta's Paradise | |
|---|---|
| Coolio feat. LV | |
| publication | August 8, 1995 |
| length | 4:00 |
| Genre (s) | Hip hop |
| Author (s) | Coolio , Doug Rasheed , Larry Sanders , Stevie Wonder |
| Award (s) | Grammy Award for Best Rap Solo Performance ( 1996 ) |
| album | Gangsta's Paradise |
Gangsta's Paradise is a rap song by Coolio featuring LV The song was produced as the title track of the soundtrack to the film Dangerous Minds and released in August 1995 on the album of the same name . The video was directed by Antoine Fuqua and won the MTV Video Music Awards for Best Rap Video. The piece sold several million copies and achieved platinum status in several countries. It is Coolio's most commercially successful single.
Coolio raps the stanzas, LV sings the chorus of the song
Emergence
Musically, Gangsta's Paradise is based on the song Pastime Paradise by Stevie Wonder , a song from his album Songs in the Key of Life , which was edited by Coolio. What Coolio liked most about the song was that besides the vocals it was only accompanied by percussion , strings and a gospel choir. The producer Dominic Aldridge added a bass line to the composition in order to adapt it thematically to the theme and to give it more gloomy pathos and “street credibility”.
Since Coolio was able to establish himself as a "happy-go-lucky" artist with his first success Fantastic Voyage , the record company Tommy Boy Entertainment was skeptical of the song and feared that such a difficult piece could scare away his fan base expect rather sunny and cheerful music. It was only after the release of Dangerous Minds , where the song was used for the trailer and the title track, that there was increased audience interest, that the label released the single, which became an international number 1 hit. Only then was Gangsta's Paradise released as the second album Coolios, which went platinum twice in the US .
content
The song critically deals with the brutality and crime of the gangsta scene on the West Coast from the perspective of a 23-year-old who lives and grows up in a West Coast ghetto. It is thus adapted to the content of the film Dangerous Minds . Michelle Pfeiffer plays a white English teacher at Inner-City High School in East Palo Alto, California . Her students are all lower-class, and many of them are gang members or drug dealers .
The piece begins with a quote from Psalm 23 : 4 from the Bible “As I walk through the valley of the shadow of death” , but then deviates from it and ends the first sentence with the words “I take a look at my life / And realize there's nuthin 'left. ” The first stanza describes the situation of life on the street. The lines "You better watch how you're talking and where you're walking / Or you and your homies might be lined in chalk" represent the danger - the wrong way of speaking or the wrong place can lead to to be killed. With the sentence "I'm the kinda G the little homies wanna be like" , the protagonist shows that he is one of those who is a role model at the top of the gangs, but is also dissatisfied with it and is desperately looking for a way out prays. ( "Cause I've been blasting and laughing so long, / That even my mama thinks that my mind is gone" , "On my knees in the night saying prayers in the streetlight" )
In the second stanza the protagonist presents the motives of his life, which he relates primarily to his origin ( "The ghetto situation, they got me facin '/ I can't live a normal life, I was raised by the street" ) . Above all, he strives to make money quickly ( “I'm an educated fool with money on my mind / Got my tin in my hand and a gleam in my eye” ), and for him the situation is hopeless, and so is he is aware that he can be confronted with death in the street at any moment ( “Death ain't nothing but a heartbeat away, / I'm living life, do or die, what can I say / I'm 23 now , but will I live to see 24 “ ).
The third stanza also relates to quick money and a quick life without perspective ( “Power and the money, money and the power / Minute after minute, hour after hour / Everybody's running, but half of them ain't looking / What's going on in the kitchen, but I don't know what's cookin '” ) With the last few lines he creates a direct reference to the school and thus to the film for which the song was written - the protagonist makes it clear that everyone tell him to learn, but he does not understand how a teacher who does not understand his problems should reach him ( "They say I gotta learn, but nobody's here to teach me / If they can't understand it, how can they reach me / I guess they can't, I guess they won't / I guess they front, that's why I know my life is out of luck, fool " )
The chorus brings Gangsta's Paradise to the song as the title. He shows that the people in the gangs will never get out of this " paradise ". ( "Been spending most of their lives, living in the Gangsta's Paradise / Keep spending most our lives, living in the Gangsta's Paradise" ) In the background, chorale- like singing can be heard. With the vocal part "Tell me why are we so blind to see that the ones we hurt are you and me", singer Larry Sanders alias LV complements the song with a quick prayer .
Music video
The music video is a compilation of scenes from the film Dangerous Minds and specially shot scenes with the rapper Coolio. The video begins with the teacher Louanne Johnson walking through a school hallway full of students, only to come to a room where the rapper sits alone and smokes. She sits down across from him and lets him tell her the story of the song. Between the dialogue scenes, various film scenes are shown, which mainly depict students and thus the situation at the school and the living conditions of the students. The singer Larry Sanders is also shown.
success
The song won the 1996 Grammy Awards for Best Rap Solo Performance and was nominated for Record of the Year. It reached number one in many countries of the charts, including American US in the Billboard Hot 100 , in Germany of Switzerland , Austria and the UK . It also reached number one in the US year-end charts for 1995. In the ultimate chart show , which is based on sales figures from media control, the title is number 13 among the most successful hits of the 1990s.
The video won two awards at the 1996 MTV Video Music Awards in New York . It won the award for Best Rap Video over California Love by 2Pac and the award for Best Video from a Film. The video was also nominated in the Viewer's Choice category, but received nothing.
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|
Awards for music sales
| Country / Region | Award | Sales |
|---|---|---|
| Awards for music sales (country / region, Award, Sales) |
||
 Australia (ARIA)
|
 2 × platinum
|
140,000 |
 Belgium (BEA)
|
platinum
|
50,000 |
 Germany (BVMI)
|
2 × platinum
|
1,000,000 |
 Italy (FIMI)
|
platinum
|
50,000 |
 New Zealand (RMNZ)
|
platinum
|
15,000 |
 Netherlands (NVPI)
|
platinum
|
50,000 |
 Austria (IFPI)
|
platinum
|
50,000 |
 Switzerland (IFPI)
|
2 × platinum
|
100,000 |
 United States (RIAA)
|
3 × platinum
|
3,000,000 |
 United Kingdom (BPI)
|
3 × platinum
|
1,800,000 |
| All in all |
17 × platinum |
6,255,000 |
Main article: Stevie Wonder / Music Sales Awards
Cover versions
Many covers and parodies refer to the song. Amish Paradise by Weird Al Yankovic reached number 53 in the US charts the following year. The cover version led to an argument between Coolio and the comedian, as Coolio was dissatisfied with the interpretation and saw his song desecrated. The dispute was settled and they both appeared together at the American Music Awards . Sarah Connor quoted the tune of the song in the song Undressed on her 2001 album Green Eyed Soul .
In 2008 the thrash / death metal band Artas released a cover version of the song on their album The Healing .
In February 2011 a remix single with versions of Rico Bernasconi was released . The title then gained new popularity, but could not place itself in the charts. In The Green Hornet , also released in 2011, the two protagonists sing this song in their car as they drive through the city in search of crimes.
The original made a brief appearance in the official launch trailer of the November 2015 game Need for Speed .
In 2014 the New Zealand hard rock band Like A Storm released a cover version. The song is included on the album Awaken the Fire . Angelo Kelly performed the song on The Masked Singer in 2020 .
Web links
Individual evidence
- ↑ Antoine Fuqua. In: Ashyia Henderson: Contemporary Black Biography. Volume 35. Gale Group, 2002. Reproduced in Biography Resource Center: African Americans. Farmington Hills, Mich .: Gale, Cengage Learning. 2010.
- ↑ The Best Selling Singles Of All Time on everyhit.com
- ↑ Gold / platinum database on musikindustrie.de
- ↑ a b c d Lothar Berndorff, Tobias Friedrich: 1000 Ultimate Charthits. Moewig, Hamburg 2008; P. 595.
- ↑ a b c Lothar Berndorff, Tobias Friedrich: 1000 Ultimate Charthits. Moewig, Hamburg 2008; P. 601.
- ↑ I take a look at my life and realize that there is nothing left of it
- ↑ You'd better be careful how you speak and where you walk or you and your homies will be traced in chalk
- ↑ Because I've ... and laughed for so long that even my mother believes that I've lost my mind
- ↑ On my knees I pray at night in the light of the street lamps
- ↑ look at the situation they put me in / I can't live a normal life, I was raised from the streets
- ↑ Death is just a heartbeat away / I live life doggedly / I'm 23 now, but will I see 24?
- ↑ Grammy Awards at Allmusic (English)
- ↑ Gangsta's Paradise ( Memento of the original from October 1, 2012 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link has been inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. on musicline.de
- ↑ Billboard Top 100 - 1995 ( Memento of the original from August 11, 2010 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. on longboredsurfer.com
- ↑ List of the most successful singles of the 90s on rtl.de; accessed on Feb. 15, 2012.
- ↑ Winner at the MTV Video Music Awards 1996 on mtv.com; Retrieved February 15, 2013.
- ↑ a b c d e Chart sources: DE AT CH UK US
- ↑ a b c d 1995 annual charts: DE AT CH UK US
- ↑ a b c d e 1996 annual charts: DE AT CH UK US
- ↑ Product details for "Gangsta's Paradise 2011" on amazon.de; Retrieved February 15, 2013.
