When was gangsta paradise released

After freestyling the opening lines, he sat down and wrote all three verses in a single sitting, detailing a young man weighing up his gangster lifestyle and wondering if there is any way out of it. As the song took shape, everyone involved in its creation thought it was a winner. Only problem was, no one had cleared the sample or the chorus interpolation with Stevie Wonder. Someone got the track to Wonder, who was unhappy about his work being "used in some gangster song," as Coolio put it.

But a meeting was arranged and Wonder eventually gave permission, so long as Coolio removed a couple of n-words and f-words from the original lyrics. Coolio complied, making it one of the few "clean" tracks in his back catalogue. Wonder's approval, which apparently came with a sizeable share of any future profits, was timely.

Coolio's manager was already shopping the song to filmmakers in the hopes of landing a potentially lucrative soundtrack spot. To complete the symbiosis, Pfeiffer agreed to star in the film clip with Coolio — an unheard-of collaboration at the time between white Hollywood and gangsta rap.

The film, despite getting mostly negative reviews, was a box office smash and the soundtrack flew off the shelves, driven by lead single Gangsta's Paradise and its Antoine Fuqua-directed film clip, which became an MTV staple.

Entertainment Weekly's David Browne wrote it "may be the bleakest tune ever to top the pop singles chart". In Australia, national youth network triple j was one of the first radio stations to play it. Francis Leach, a triple j presenter at the time, recalled it being one of the few hip-hop songs on high rotation. But Gangsta's Paradise cut through the noise of mostly white men playing guitars. The song landed at number 3 in triple j's Hottest of , setting a then-record as the highest-ranking hip-hop song in the countdown — a record that would not be surpassed until Stories Albums Artists.

Added by Tala Woods Share:. No comments yet. Leave a comment. But he had a better vision, thank God, than I did. Fuqua: It was my idea to get Michelle [in the video]. I asked Jerry Bruckheimer if she would do it. He called her. She got on the phone with me. Asked me about my idea, and said yes. I had flashes of Scarface running through my head. She is one of the most stunning, beautiful women in the world, and turned out to be a very cool, nice lady, as well.

Her and Coolio had fun shooting the video, I believe. It was a great experience for me, as well. But we had a good time. She came out and did her thing, and she killed it; it took her two takes to do her parts, and she was outta there. No way.

It was a great moment! That was a big moment in my life, especially considering the different things that were going on with me at the time. My father was sick, my mother was sick, two of my brothers had died; yeah, there was a lot going on, man. The record came about at the perfect time. Coolio: I was touring in Europe when it went to Number One.

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