Compilation - At His Finest (Radio versions & Soundtracks)

  • Compilation of alternate radio versions and classical songs published in soundtracks and compilations.

 
 
### Here is a homemade compilation of radio/video versions and tracks that were published in official soundtracks, compilations and in Greatest Hits (1998, Death Row). None of these tracks were released in the 2Pac's albums, and neither in the unreleased projects we gathered. If you listen carefully to these radio/video versions, the mix or the lyrics have interesting differences. We haven't included the late released tracks (like "Troublesome" from 92 for How To Be A Player OST in 1997, which is exactly in its original form included in Troublesome 21 and Thug Life Demo Tape). ###


DISC ONE :
1. Same Song (Nothing But Trouble OST) [radio edit] feat. Digital Underground
2. If My Homie Calls [radio version]
3. Brenda's Got A Baby [radio version] feat. Roniece & Dave Hollister
4. Call It What U Want [radio version] feat. Above The Law & Money B
5. I Get Around [radio version] feat. Digital Underground
6. Keep Ya Head Up [radio version] feat. Dave Hollister
7. Definition of a Thug Nigga (Poetic Justice OST)
8. Freestyle At Madison Square Garden (Restricted Mix) feat. The Notorious B.I.G.
9. Papa'z Song [radio version] feat. Wycked of W.A.T.M. (Mopreme)
10. Pain (Above The Rim OST) feat. Stretch
11. Loyal To The Game (Above The Rim OST) feat. Treach & Riddler
12. Poor Out A Little Liquor (Above the Rim OST) [radio mix]
13. Runnin' (One Million Strong) feat. Dramacydal, Stretch, The Notorious B.I.G. & Radio
14. How Long Will They Mourn Me [radio version] feat. Thug Life & Nate Dogg
15. My Block (The Show OST)
16. Throw Ya Handz Up (Pump Ya Fist)
17. Me Against The World (Alternate Chorus) (Bad Boys OST) feat. Dramacydal & Puff Johnson
18. High'Til I Die (Sunset Park OST)
19. It Don't Stop [radio version] (by Thug Life & Y?N-Vee)
20. California Love [radio long version] feat. Dr. Dre & Roger Troutman

DISC TWO :
1. Troublesome '96
2. Changes [death row version] feat. Talent
3. Life Is A Traffic Jam feat. Eight Mile Road
4. Out The Moon (Boom, Boom, Boom) feat. Snoop Dogg & LBC Crew
5. Never Had A Friend Like Me
6. Hit 'Em Up feat. Outlawz
7. Life's So Hard [death row version] feat. Snoop Dogg
8. How Do You Want It [radio version] feat. K-Ci & Jojo
9. Staring Through My Rearview feat. Outlawz
10. Life Goes On [radio version] feat. Stacey Smallie
11. Made Niggaz feat. Outlawz
12. 2 of Akerikaz Most Wanted [video clean version] feat. Snoop Dogg
13. Unconditional Love feat. Eboni Foster
14. Wanted Dead Or Alive feat. Snoop Dogg, Charlie Wilson & Val Young
15. All Bout U [video version] feat. Nate Dogg & Snoop Dogg
16. Lost Souls feat. Outlawz
17. I Ain't Mad At Cha [radio version] feat. Danny Boy




DETAILED TRACKLIST

DISC ONE :

01. Same Song feat. Digital Underground (Nothing But Trouble OST) [radio edit] / Shock G
  • 1990. Published in Same Song (12'') (1991, Reprise) / Nothing But Trouble OST (1991, Tommy Boy / Reprise). This short edit is the one that was played on radio and TV. This is the first lyrics that people heard of him. And Shock G with his normal gravy voice introduced him with his famous "2Pac, go ahead and rock this".
02. If My Homie Calls [radio version] / Big D The Impossible (?)
  • 1991. Released in If My Homie Calls Promo (12''). 2Pac said somewhere that his lyrics were inspired by what Mike Cooley, his manager, told him about his definition of a "homie". In 92, he appears with in long pimp kind of hair in all pictures with Wycked & The Mouse (maybe for their album State of Emergency, cf. Ghetto Gospel). From beginning of 93 and the song "Niggaz in the Pen", 2Pac regularly dedicates to him being in prison.
03. Brenda's Got A Baby [radio version] feat. Roniece & Dave Hollister / Big D The Impossible
05. I Get Around [remix radio version] feat. Digital Underground / Shock G
  • 1992 - 1993/04/9 (remix). Published in I Get Around (12'') (1993/06, Interscope).
06. Keep Ya Head Up [radio version] feat. Dave Hollister / DJ Daryl
07. Definition of a Thug Nigga (Poetic Justice OST) / Warren G
  • 1993/01-03 (~). Published in Poetic Justice OST (1994, Epic). Slightly different from the OG (it lacks a recurrent noise). The song was supposed to be a promotion for his upcoming concept album Thug Life Original. It seems he gave the song to remix to have a different version in his album but the album was scrapped by 2Pac himself because a demo of the album, probably the Thug Life Demo Tape, had been leaked among Interscope studios... The new version and its album are still unleaked (out of 2 or 3 songs and some snippets).
08. Freestyle At Madison Square Garden (Restricted Mix) feat. The Notorious B.I.G. / ?  
  • 1993/10/22. Recorded live at the Superbud Festival. Published - the full version - in Mister Cee's Best of Notorious B.I.G. (1995, Tape Kingz). In this show, Big Daddy Kane had invited Biggie as a guest for his concert and he asked if he could invite his friend 2Pac. 2Pac gave a verse of "Nothing To Lose" from his upcoming album (then titled Out On Bail). The song will finally be released only in 97...
09. Papa'z Song [radio version] feat. Mopreme & Poppi / Big D The Impossible
  • 1992. Released in Papa'z Song promo (1994). Amazing that the song was recorded in 92 or even earlier and that was released as a single two years later... Poppi was the singer of "Part Time Mutha" and the original singer of... "Changes".
10. Pain feat. Stretch & Natasha Walker / Stretch
  • 1993/12. Released in Above the Rim OST (1994, Death Row), but only published in the vinyl and cassette editions and as a b-side of Regulate single (1994, Death Row). It is said Dr. Dre didn't want the song to be in the compilation, maybe in reason he would have had an affair with Natasha Walker at that time... But the song was introduced in the movie by the film director and became one of the hugest hit of 2Pac.
11. Loyal To The Game feat. Treach (Naughty by Nature) & Riddler (DBG'z) / Reginald Heard
  • 1993/12. Released in Above the Rim OST vinyl and cassette editions and as a b-side of the single Regulate (12'') (1994, Death Row). Riddler has egually released an album with his group DBG'z P'hissed Off ! (1993, Bust it Records). He will also participate to Crucial Conflict's Good Side Bad Side (1996, Pallas Records / Raw Dope).
12. Poor Out A Little Liquor (Above the Rim OST) [radio mix] / Johnny J
13. Runnin' (One Million Strong) feat. Dramacydal, Stretch, The Notorious B.I.G. & Radio (chorus) / Easy Mo Bee & Moe-Z
  • 1993 - 1994/08/12 (new chorus and the final mix by Moe Z). Published in One Million Strong (1995, Mergela / Solar). Pac’s verse is the same than the first version recorded in late 93 with Lil' Vicious for his solo Out On Bail (1993). The ragga chorus is made by Radio, a Long Beach rapper who sometimes sings in a dancehall style. Moe Z mainly produced his first album Recognize Da Real (1994, Interscope) where you can also hear G-Money and Killa (chorists in some songs produced by Moe-Z from Me Against the World). Radio re-used his Runnin' hook in his '98 song "Dem Can't Get None" in his second album. The name of the singer has often be mistaken due to his name and the confusion with the common censored version being called "radio version". I long time thought it was Red Foxx at the chorus, voices being a bit similar.
14. How Long Will They Mourn Me (Radio Version) feat. Thug Life & Nate Dogg / Warren G
15. My Block / Easy Mo Bee
  • 1994/09. Published in The Show OST (1995). Recorded around the day of "If I Die Tonight". To the hook, we have a guest speaking in the background of each chorus. I think I recognize Richie Rich. But there could be another voices like The Govenor's, or maybe MC Breed or Too $hort...
  • Sample : Isley Brothers – Don’t Say Goodnight
16. Throw Ya Handz Up feat. Killa (chorus) / Moe-ZMD
17. Me Against The World (Alternate Chorus) feat. Dramacydal & Puff Johnson (chorus) / Soushock & Karlin
  • 1994/09/24. Released in Bad Boys OST (1995, Work). This version could be the original version of the song (and of the chorus), because it was included in the first promo tapes of the OST in 1994.
18. High'Til I Die / Tony Pizarro
19. **it Don't Stop (Moe-Z Version) (by Thug Life & Y?N-Vee) / Stretch REMXED by Moe-Z
  • 1995. Published in Shit Don't Stop / Str8 Ballin' (12'') (1995). It is a totally new version recorded while 2Pac was incarcerated. 2Pac only gives some words from jail through the phone at the beginning.

BONUS TRACKS 

20. California Love (Radio Long Version) feat. Dr. Dre & Roger Troutman / Dr. Dre

  • 1995. Published in Greatest Hits (1998, Death Row). In some editions of All Eyez on Me, especially in UK, there was the short radio version at the end of the second disc.



DISC TWO :

01. Troublesome '96 / Johnny J
  • 1996/04/08 - 06 (~) (second mix). Published in Greatest Hits (1998, Death Row). This mix is supposed to be the second mix of the song with 2Pac singing at the chorus. It is also strangely incorporating behind the first verse a hided verse known as "Criminal Timez" playing backwards. The song is the follow up of a 92 leftover song and project. In 1996, he recorded the song for his second Death Row solo album, then planned to release it in Outlawz first album, eventually called Immortalz. The song is almost untouched but slightly shortened. In the released single, Death Row also gave a short alternate mix of the song probably made during One Nation sessions or in the beginning of July '96 (cf One Nation sessions).
02. Changes [Death Row version] feat. Trackmasters (backing) & Talent (chorus) / Big D The Impossible REMIX Trackmasters
  • 1991/12/25 - 1998 (?) (new mix, new chorus). This is a remixed version of a Dec. '91 recorded song with a new chorus and a slowed Pac voice for making him sound as old as in All Eyez on Me. The original song sometimes titled "That's The Way It Is" appeared nowhere in any Tupac's handwritten papers, just in a sampler tape with songs from late 91 (but it could a late thing). Nobody knows why this song has been recorded for, why 2Pac recorded some verses of it in "I Wonder If Heaven's Got A Ghetto" a few months later. At the time, 2Pac was planning a side project called Ghetto Gospel with a group of young rappers (cf. The Kidz sessions) and was considering his second solo album (cf Troublesome 21 / Fragile sessions).
  • Samples : 
    • "The Way It Is" by Bruce Hornsby & The Range
    • "Set it Off" by Strafe.
 03. Life Is A Traffic Jam feat. Eight Mile Road / Medusa
  • 1996/05. Published in Gridlock'd OST (1997, Death Row). Eight Mile Road was the name of the group formed by the three actors who were playing in the movie : 2Pac, Tim Roth and Thandie Newton. They recorded at least another song for the movie, "Ain't No Hiding", which is played during the movie, but 2Pac apparently does not give any verse on it.
04. Out The Moon (Boom, Boom, Boom) feat. Snoop Dogg, Bad Azz, Soopafly, Techniec & Tray Deee / LT Hutton, Soopafly & Snoop Doggy
  • Published in Gridlock'd OST (1997, Death Row). The track was initially intended for the first LBC Crew's album Haven't You Heard ? (Original). But after the project being scrapped because of a dispute between Lil C-Style and Snoop Dogg, Snoop asked 2Pac to replace Lil C-Style and the song was supposed to be released in Doggfather. But after 2Pac's death, Snoop took off all songs with 2Pac and heavily changed his album (cf. Tha Original Doggfather).
05. Never Had A Friend Like Me / Johnny J
06. Hit 'Em Up feat. Hussein, Kadafi & Edi / Johnny J
  • Published as the b-side of How Do U Want It (12'') (1996, Death Row) and also in Greatest Hits (1998, Death Row).
07. Life's So Hard [Death Row version] feat. Snoop Dogg (backing) / Daz
  • 1994/08. Initially recorded for Murder Was The Case Original Soundtrack in 1994 but finally not used. Published in Gang Related OST (1997, Death Row).
08. How Do You Want It (Radio Version) feat. K-Ci & Jojo / 
09. Staring Through My Rearview feat. Edi & Kadafi / Hurt M Badd
10. Life Goes On (Radio Version) feat. Stacy Smallie / 
11. Made Niggaz feat. Napoleon, Hussein, Edi, Kastro & Kadafi / Johnny J
12. 2 of Akerikaz Most Wanted [video clean version] feat. Snoop Dogg / Daz
  • 1996/03/21. This is a whole new recording with different beat and softer lyrics for the video clip.
13. Unconditional Love feat. Eboni Foster (chorus) / Johnny J
  • 1996/02/02. Me Against the World pt. 2 sessions. This song is often mistakely considered as a reference for MC Hammer because 2Pac finally sold the song to him. But the song was one of his title track, maybe considered by him for a single, for his second Death Row album, appearing in many tracklists, and having many mixes (you don't make 4 mixes just to give a reference to somebody else...). The song is almost untouched.
14. Wanted Dead Or Alive feat. Snoop Dogg / Daz

15. All Bout U [video version] feat. Nate Dogg & Snoop Dogg / Johnny J

  • 1996/8/13. Seems to have been re-recorded. Contains a Pac's third new verse.
16. Lost Souls feat. Young Noble & Edi / QD3
17. I Ain't Mad At Cha [radio version] feat. Danny Boy / Daz
  • 1996/09/15 ??. Fully re-recorded with a live band and a Pac's new final verse.

 

BONUS TRACKS :

. Gotta Get Mine [radio video version] feat. MC Breed / Warren G
  • 1993. Published in MC Breed's Gotta Get Mine (12'') (1993, Wrap). It includes a short introduction from 2Pac.







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