🔥Decifrando Gangsta's Paradise: A história por trás do hit de Coolio e L.V.

Coolio left us in 2022, but before leaving, he changed the history of hip hop with an emblematic song that reveals a very serious problem that we are still experiencing today. Today we are going to decipher the story behind Coolio's Gangsta's Paradise, here on the DecifraHITS channel. Yes, Gangsta's Paradise is one of those songs that deserves to be called an anthem, or a classic.

But few know that it almost didn't work, and that in fact, it is a sample of another much older song. It all started in 1995, in a house in Los Angeles, where two roommates – a music producer and a DJ – were competing to see who could find the best sample among their record collections. Until one day, Paul Stewart, the DJ, admitted that his roommate, producer Doug Rasheed, had beaten him in this challenge.

Rasheed pulled out the vinyl of a 1976 Stevie Wonder album and played a track called “Pastime Paradise,” which they quickly realized would make the perfect hip hop sample. Rasheed took the sample and started working on the beat, but he still needed to find someone to sing on this song. The producer had some clients who could carry out this mission, but knowing the gold he had in his hands, he wanted someone who really had the gift of voice.

That's when he remembered one of his most talented clients, singer Larry Sanders, known as LV. At the same time he heard the beat, LV knew he was in front of a relic. And in just a few minutes he masterfully recorded the song's iconic chorus, changing only the expression “Pastime Paradise”, from Stevie Wonder's song, to “Gangsta's Paradise”.

Few people know, but LV's talent is so absurd that one of the most praised elements of music, the choir, is not really a choir. What we hear is just LV's voice re-recorded in different vocal ranges, from soprano to tenor. Is this chilling or not?

Okay, but where does Coolio fit into this story? When LV finished his vocals, he and Doug realized the song needed a rapper to be complete. As LV was already part of a rap group called South Central Cartel, he remembered a friend from the group, Prodeje.

Unfortunately (or not) Prodeje did not agree to rap this song. However, it was at that moment that Coolio appeared at the house. At the time he already had a certain fame for some hits such as "Fantastic Voyage", '94, but nothing compared to what would come soon after.

The most ironic thing is that Coolio didn't even like producer Doug Rasheed's beats, he only showed up at the house to pick up a check from his manager, who was DJ Paul Stewart himself. Coolio entered the house, took the check, and went towards his car to leave. But something was supposed to happen that day, because before getting into the car, he saw a '75 Chevrolet Biscayne parked next door, which caught his attention.

When he went to ask his neighbor if he was selling the vehicle, the two began to exchange ideas about the car for so long that Coolio was unable to go to the bathroom. And that was precisely why he returned home. But this time, before leaving, he passed by the door of the room where the recording studio was located, and heard the beat playing that would change his life forever.

Just like everyone in that house, Coolio knew the relic he had in his hands. The synergy of how things happened was so great, it's as if the universe was conspiring to make it all happen that way. Coolio himself has said in several interviews that he had never written a lyric so quickly.

Sinister, right? Worse than that, it also happened in the creation of "Stairway To Heaven", which already has a video here on the channel. Coolio has already said that the first lines of Gangsta's Paradise immediately appeared as a freestyle in his head.

“As I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I look at my life, and I realize there is nothing left. ” Here, Coolio paraphrases Psalm 23 to express himself as a young man from the ghetto who, when faced with his own death, looks back and realizes that he led a life empty of meaning. And unlike the biblical character, who was not afraid because he had divine protection, the young gangsta feels abandoned and left to his own devices in his last breath.

So it is. It's not just the rhythm, harmony and extraordinary beat of this song that make it on every list of the most important rap songs in history. One of the most fantastic aspects of this song is its lyrics.

She accurately portrays the mentality, difficulties and dilemmas of young people from the periphery, often immersed in a reality that boasts gangsta status as a form of survival, living in a society that encourages the eternal search for impossible material achievements. “Look at the situation they put me in, I can’t live a normal life. I was raised by the State, so I have to hang out with the hood kids.

Watching too much TV left me chasing dreams. ”, sings the rapper. LV says that when he saw the lyrics that Coolio wrote, he was surprised because it was exactly the same thing he sang about in the chorus: how the lives of so many teenagers are wasted because they live in a criminal's paradise, killing each other while the system just watches outside: “Tell me why are we so blind to realize that the only ones we hurt are you and me?

”, sings LV But even though they all knew they had a mega-hit in their hands, getting this song out into the world wasn't easy at all. After they recorded the demo tape, Coolio jumped in his car and called his record label, Tommy Boy Records, hoping they would invest in releasing the single. Unfortunately, the record company didn't put as much faith in the song.

That's when Coolio's manager, Paul Stewart, had the idea of ​​sending the tape to some film producers. At that time, hip hop was starting to gain more space in cinema, so they couldn't miss this chance. Luckily for them, two producers accepted the proposal: those from the film Bad Boys, and those from the film Dangerous Minds.

Both were to be released that same year ('95), so they had to make a decision quickly. Paul Stewart then chose the film Dangerous Minds, since in addition to offering a higher fee, he believed that the film's theme matched the music better, which would increase the chances of everything working out. Just 5 days after recording the song, Disney, which owned the studio responsible for recording the film, contacted Coolio's team scheduling a meeting for the following day.

At the meeting, Disney was very honest: they could not use the song to promote the film because Coolio did not have Stevie Wonder's permission to use the sample from "Pastime Paradise". Furthermore, they had already run some audience tests with the film, and unfortunately public acceptance was still very low, around 45%. Afraid of the film flopping, Disney withdrew the film from audience tests, and postponed the release until they found a solution.

In the meantime, Coolio, LV, and the producer took the opportunity to return to the studio and perfect the song, which was still in its demo version. This time they re-recorded the song in 4 different studios, the producer improved the beats and added all the instruments. "And then Kevin Davis, the audio engineer, did his magic.

I think he took about 15 minutes, and then he said, 'Dude, listen to this. ', and we said, 'That's it, it's ready. '" he said.

producer Doug Rasheed in an interview with Rolling Stone. The problem was: they still needed Stevie Wonder's permission to use the song. Luckily, Coolio's wife knew Stevie's brother, got his contact, and they were able to arrange a meeting.

But when Stevie heard the song he immediately denied it. Stevie didn't want his song sampled in gangsta rap with profanity. According to Coolio, he had only used swear words 4 times in the song, but he agreed to remove them from the track, and finally Stevie Wonder gave his permission.

Soon after, Disney again carried out audience tests with the film, only this time using the song Gangsta's Paradise in the promotional trailer. The result was a success, acceptance went from 45% to 75%, and people instantly started wanting to watch the film. That's when Disney went all in on the publicity campaign.

They realized that music would be key to the film's success, so they decided to create a music video for the song that used scenes and actors from the feature film. They called none other than Antoine Fuqua to direct the clip, if you don't know, he's the guy who directed the classic “Training Day” from 2001. Disney gave Fuqua complete creative freedom to make the clip, which initially Coolio didn't like it very much.

"I wish I had put some low-rider cars and some more ghetto things in the clip. But he had a better vision than me, thank God. ", said the rapper.

Fuqua's idea was to put LV and Coolio opposite actress Michelle Pfeiffer in the clip, who was already a giant in Hollywood at that time. In the film she plays a former Navy officer who is assigned to the position of teacher at a problematic public school located in a suburb with a high crime rate. Coolio wasn't a big fan of that style of film: "I hate these films where, you know, the great white hope arrives in the hood and saves the little children" said the rapper to Yahoo Music in 2020.

But despite that, the fact that the clip was placed in heavy rotation on MTV that year, it couldn't have worked better. With its release, the song climbed all the positions on Billboard at high speed. But when it reached 3rd place, Michael Jackson released the single "You Are Not Alone", and went straight to 1st position.

Coolio's people had already accepted, after all, who's going to compete with the king of pop, right? But to their surprise, the following week, Gangsta's Paradise rose to 1st place, displacing Michael's hit, and remaining in that position for 3 weeks. LV has already reported that that was an incredible moment, as he was going through a very difficult situation, his parents were sick, and he had lost 2 of his brothers.

Then the success of the song really changed his life. Coolio said in an interview: "I was on tour in Europe when it reached number one. But there's one thing, we were number one in the whole world - not just in the US.

I was like: man, these people don't even speak English , and they're loving a song like that? That really surprised me. " In fact, Gangsta's Paradise not only achieved the incredible feat of reaching number one in over 20 countries, but also earned Coolio a Grammy for best rap performance, as well as a Billboard award that year, where he performed alongside Stevie Wonder.

and LV The success of the song was such that even comedian Weird Al made a parody of the hit, called Amish Paradise. “At that time there was no social media, so if Weird Al made a parody of you, it was because you were popular. ”, said Antoine Fuqua.

Despite this, Coolio did not like the parody and did not want to give permission to use the song. After a few years they got along, Coolio admitted that he regretted picking on Weird Al, and everything ended up being fine. Without saying a bad word, Coolio managed to bring gangsta rap to another level in the music industry.

Opening the doors so that other giants like Tupac and Notorious BIG, until then considered “too heavy” for mainstream radio, could also be accepted at the top of the industry. But unfortunately, on September 28, 2022, Coolio overdosed on opioids and died at the age of 59. And although he has left us, his music still lives on, and continues to perfectly portray the dilemmas of teenagers from the periphery even almost 30 years later.

It's like he said himself: “I'm not a gangsta rapper, I'm just true to myself. I use this language to attract kids' attention, tell them what they want to hear. This way, I can guide you to a deeper view.

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