Changes (Tupac Shakur song)

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"Changes"
Single by 2Pac featuring Talent
from the album Greatest Hits
Released October 13, 1998
Format CD single, cassette single, 12" single, 7" single
Genre Hip hop, Political Hip Hop
Length 4:30
Label Interscope, Amaru, Death Row
Writer(s) 2Pac
Deon Evans
Bruce Hornsby[1]
2Pac featuring Talent singles chronology
"Do for Love"
(1998)		 "Changes"
(1998)		 "Unconditional Love"
(1999)
Music sample
"Changes"
noicon
Music video
“Changes” on YouTube

"Changes" is a hip hop song by Tupac Shakur featuring Talent. The song makes references to the war on drugs, the treatment of black people by the police, the perpetuation of poverty and its accompanying vicious-cycle value system in urban African American culture, and the difficulties of life in the ghetto. "Changes" remains one of Tupac's most notable and popular songs.

Production and recording

The song was originally recorded during his tenure at Interscope records in 1992 and was produced by Deon Evans. "Changes" was later remixed during 1997-1998.

The song re-uses lines from "I Wonder If Heaven Got A Ghetto" which was recorded during the same year. The song samples the 1986 hit "The Way It Is" by Bruce Hornsby and the Range. The chorus of "The Way It Is" was re-sung by Talent and was used for this song. At times Tupac re-used lines from other unreleased songs because he planned to make an updated version at a later date. However, since his death many of the unreleased and unmastered songs have been officially released.

"Changes" was produced by Deon Evans (also known as Big D the Impossible) and recorded in 1992 while Tupac was still signed to Interscope Records. The remixed version released in 1998 has notably different percussion, and a few minor changes to the musical elements. The chorus on the original track features a notable difference in a vocal sample of the line, "It's like that and that's the way it is", from Run DMCs "It's Like That", which is also played twice during the intro. The second chorus adds the Ice Cube line, "Dope dealers, you're as bad as the police," from his song, "Us". The third chorus omits the Ice Cube sample and adds B-boy-style chant with an unknown person repeating, "Clap your hands and feel it, clap you hands and feel it!" until the song ends.

Samples

The song is an interpretation of the 1986 hit "The Way It Is" by Bruce Hornsby and the Range. Bay Area rapper E-40 had interpreted the song already on his track, "Things'll Never Change", for his album Tha Hall of Game. The Tupac "Changes" instrumental was used by Insane Clown Posse in "Mom Song", a Mother's Day song. Nas also sampled the song for his song "Black President".

Overview

The song was the #1 hit in Norway and the Netherlands and reached the top ten in the singles charts of several other countries, including #3 in the United Kingdom, which gained Tupac a broader audience.

Released posthumously on his album Greatest Hits, the song talks about all of the different issues that were related to Tupac's era of influence - notably racism, police brutality, drugs and gang violence. The "Huey" that 2Pac mentions in the song ("two shots in the dark, now Huey's dead") is Huey P. Newton, founder of the Black Panther Party. The song refers to the possibility of a black President of the United States, claiming "we ain't ready". Further, the last verse of the song refers to Tupac's anxiety about being shot to death, mimicking the sound of a gun with the phrase "rat-a-tat-tat-tat-tat".

Music video

The Chris Hafner-directed music video is a compilation of a number of previous music videos Tupac released in addition to home videos and never-before-seen pictures, similar to the format of The Notorious B.I.G.'s "Dead Wrong", also released in 1999.

Accolades

"Changes" was nominated for Best Rap Solo Performance at the Grammy Awards of 2000 and remains the only posthumous song to be nominated in this category. It was also nominated at the MTV Video Music Award for Best Editing in a Video & Best Rap Video in 1999.

Charts and certifications

References

  1. ↑ Ascap entry for song ASCAP, accessed May 1, 2011
  2. ↑ "Australian-charts.com – 2 Pac – Changes". ARIA Top 50 Singles.
  3. ↑ "Austriancharts.at – 2 Pac – Changes" (in German). Ö3 Austria Top 40.
  4. ↑ "Ultratop.be – 2 Pac – Changes" (in Dutch). Ultratop 50.
  5. ↑ "Ultratop.be – 2 Pac – Changes" (in French). Ultratop 50.
  6. ↑ Dance peak
  7. ↑ Canadian Top Singles peak
  8. ↑ "Danishcharts.com – 2 Pac – Changes". Tracklisten.
  9. ↑ "Lescharts.com – 2 Pac – Changes" (in French). Les classement single.
  10. ↑ "Musicline.de – 2 Pac Single-Chartverfolgung" (in German). Media Control Charts. PhonoNet GmbH.
  11. ↑ "Nederlandse Top 40 – 2 Pac search results" (in Dutch) Dutch Top 40.
  12. ↑ "Charts.org.nz – 2 Pac – Changes". Top 40 Singles.
  13. ↑ "Norwegiancharts.com – 2 Pac – Changes". VG-lista.
  14. ↑ "Swedishcharts.com – 2 Pac – Changes". Singles Top 60.
  15. ↑ "Swisscharts.com – 2 Pac – Changes". Swiss Singles Chart.
  16. ↑ "2Pac – Chart history" Billboard Hot 100 for 2Pac.
  17. ↑ "2Pac – Chart history" Billboard Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs for 2Pac.
  18. ↑ "2Pac – Chart history" Billboard Pop Songs for 2Pac.
  19. ↑ "Archive Chart: 1999-02-20" UK Singles Chart.
  20. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  21. ↑ THE FIELD id (chart number) MUST BE PROVIDED for NEW ZEALAND CERTIFICATION.
  22. ↑ NO certyear WAS PROVIDED for SWEDISH CERTIFICATION.
  23. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found. Enter Changes in the field Keywords. Select Title in the field Search by. Select ' in the field By Format. Select Gold in the field By Award. Click Search

External links

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