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 - with this specific mix - were released in the 2Pac's albums, and were neither included in the unreleased projects we rebuild. 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
  • 1990/09 (~). 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". 
  • Samples : 
02. If My Homie Calls (Radio Version) / Big D The Impossible
  • 1991/06 (~) - 1992 (?). Released in If My Homie Calls Promo (12'', 92/02/25, very rare). New mix probably specifically made for the video of the song shot in early 92 with Janet Jackson guest parts that were finally cut after her demand. 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.
  • Samples : 
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
06. Keep Ya Head Up (Radio Version) feat. Dave Hollister / DJ Daryl
07. Definition of a Thug Nigga (Poetic Justice OST) / Warren G
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 new 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...
  • Lyrics :
    • B.I.G. "Come On"
    • 2Pac - "Nothing To Lose" 
09. Papa'z Song (Radio Version) feat. Mopreme & Poppi / Big D The Impossible
  • 1991/10 (~) - 1993/12 (?) (new vocals take). Released in Papa'z Song promo (1994). Amazing that the song was recorded in late 91 or even earlier (for Troublesome 21 or for Ghetto Gospel project) and that was released as a single two years later... Poppi was the singer of "Part Time Mutha" and the original singer of... "Changes". 
  • Samples :
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.
  • Samples : 
11. Loyal To The Game feat. Treach (Naughty by Nature) & Riddler (DBG'z) / Reginald Heard
  • 1994/02/04. Released in Above the Rim OST vinyl and cassette editions and as a b-side of Regulate (12'') (1994, Death Row). Riddler has also 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). It seems the song was specifically recorded for Above The Rim soundtrack but maybe 2Pac decided to promote his Thug Life Volume 1 new project by giving them his solo "Pour Out A Lil Liquor" - what could indicate the time they replayed the sample...
  • Samples : 
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 hook by Radio 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 many 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.
  • Samples : 
14. How Long Will They Mourn Me (Radio Version) feat. Thug Life & Nate Dogg / Warren G
15. My Block / Easy Mo Bee
  • 1994/08/30. Published in The Show OST (1995). Originally recorded for F.T.W. / Me Against The World, finally leftover, around the same day than "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...
  • Samples : 
16. Throw Ya Handz Up feat. Killa & Ronnie Love (chorus) / Moe-ZMD
  • 1994/10 (~) - 1995/01 (new adlibs, mixdown). Published in Pump Ya Fist (Hip-Hop inspired by the Panthers) (1995). Originally recorded for F.T.W. / Me Against The World, finally leftover. There is also a "Remix" version with a long outro, alternate adlibs and 2Pac singing some parts of the chorus himself (cf. F.T.W.). This version is more likely the latest mix made by 2Pac with the help of Paul Arnold, specially for the follow up project to Me Against The World, Pre-Death Row Compilation : R U Still Down '95 and to be sold to Pump Ya Fist compilation as a promotion for the album.
  • Recorded at Sound Castle, L.A. ; mixed at Enterprise studio by Paul Arnold
  • Samples :
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 late 1994. It could also be the intended version for the Young Thugz EP project.
  • Samples :
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
  • 1995/03-08 (?). 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.
  • Samples : 
    • Parliament - "Aqua Boogie"  (melody, bassline, vocals)

BONUS TRACKS 

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

  • 1995/11/02 (?). Published in Greatest Hits (1998, Death Row). In some editions of All Eyez on Me, especially in UK and France, there was the short radio version at the end of the second disc.
  • Samples : 



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). 
  • Samples : 
    • Whodini - "Friends" (drums, bassline interpolation)
    • Louchie Lou & Michie One - "Rich Girl" (vocals interpolation)
02. Changes [Death Row version] feat. Trackmasters (backing) & Talent (chorus) / Big D The Impossible REMIXED By 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: 
 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. Medusa is a rap artist from L.A., who released the cassette mini album Feline Science the EP Do It The Way You Feel It in 1997.
04. Out The Moon (Boom, Boom, Boom) feat. Snoop Dogg, Bad Azz, Soopafly, Techniec & Tray Deee / LT Hutton, Soopafly & Snoop Doggy
  • 1995/07/21 - 1996/06/31 (~) (2Pac replacing Lil C-Style). 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 (circa late 95 - early 96) because of a dispute between Lil C-Style and Snoop Dogg (upon royalties, as usual), 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
  • 1996/03/28-31 - 04/19 ("make money" singing added) Published as the b-side of How Do U Want It (12'') (1996, Death Row) and also in Greatest Hits (1998, Death Row). Credits somewhere say the "make Money" singing is from an unknown "Paddy Kellett". It could be a nickname. It is said Johnny J claimed it is his wife Capucine Jackson (very probable). There is also a rumor about Faith Evans singing that "Getting Money" interpolation (cf. wikipedia "Hit 'Em Up") page. Not very probable, but if true, it would be an incredibly chess move against Biggie and the Junior M.A.F.I.A. !
  • Samples : 
07. Life's So Hard (Death Row Version) feat. Snoop Dogg (backing) / Daz
  • 1994/08/24 - ? (final mix). An original first version of the song was recorded in December 93 for R U Still Down '94 titled as "Hard on a Nigga". 2Pac re-recorded this version for Murder Was The Case Original Soundtrack in August 1994, finally not used. The song was later intended to F.T.W. / Me Against The World and finally leftover. Finally published in Gang Related OST (1997, Death Row). We don't know if this final mix has been made specifically for Gang Related or if Daz already made it in 1994. Maybe he didn't, what could explain why 2Pac dropped the song at the time...
08. How Do You Want It (Radio Version) feat. K-Ci & Jojo / 
  • 1996/04/02 (~). Released in How Do You Want It 12'' promo. The song was firstly recorded with Natasha Walker (or Danny Boy) at the chorus (cf. When I Get Free) before 2Pac gave the chorus to K-Ci & Jojo in mid December. They recorded this radio version in early April, maybe at the same time they recorded an alternate version for "Thug In Me" (cf. Lil Homies).
  • Samples : 
09. Staring Through My Rearview feat. Edi & Kadafi / Hurt M Badd
  • 1996/05/2. Published in Gang Related OST (1997, Death Row). In itially recorded for Outlawz 1st LP Immortalz, but 2Pac then gave the song to Gang Related soundtrack project.
  • Samples : 
10. Life Goes On (Radio Version) feat. Stacy Smallie / Johnny J
  • 1996. Released in Life Goes on 12'' promo. Stacey Smallie recorded very few things. Just a chorus for Dogg Pound "I Don't Like To Dream About Gettin Paid" (in Dogg Food), backing vocals as Fuskee for Danny Boy's "Come When I Call (Remix)" in 95 and for Nate Dogg's "These Days" (released only in 97 probably recorded also in 95). She gives also some backings in Danny Boy's "Welcome 2 Death Row" (cf. Thug Pound).
  • Samples :
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 music video.
  • Samples : 
    • MC Fosty & Lovin' C - "Radio Activity Rapp" (vocals interpolation : "Blood, cuzz, gangbangers...")
13. Unconditional Love feat. Eboni Foster (chorus) / Johnny J
  • 1996/02/02. Initially recorded for Me Against The World pt. 2 and finally sold to MC Hammer circa mid April. This song is often mistakenly considered as a reference for MC Hammer because he had recorded a version for his unreleased album Too Tight. But the song was one of 2Pac's favorite 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 - with very little differences - just to give a reference to somebody else...). The song is almost untouched here. He sold the song to Hammer because he was forced by Suge Knight, MC Hammer's album being the next big project of the label at that time (like Dr. Dre and Dogg Pound had to give their best things to 2Pac for All Eyez On Me).
  • Samples : 
14. Wanted Dead Or Alive feat. Snoop Dogg, Charlie Wilson & Val Young / Daz
  • 1995/10-12 (?) - 96-97 (?) (new mix, Val Young and Charlie Wilson vocals added). Released in Gridlock'd OST (1997, Death Row). Initially recorded at the time of All Eyez on Me (cf. Thug Pound). Uncle Charlie said he never recorded with 2Pac, so his vocals were added later after Pac's death, like the Snoop Dogg speaking outro. A story exists it was the first version of "2 of American Most Wanted" but 2Pac wasn't satisfied (of Snoop's verses) so they recorded a new version.
  • Samples :

15. All Bout U (Video Version) feat. Nate Dogg & Snoop Dogg / Johnny J

  • 1996/08/13. Seems to have been re-recorded. Contains a Pac's third new verse.
  • Samples :
16. Lost Souls feat. Young Noble & Edi / QD3
  • 1996/07/8. Published in Gang Related OST (1997, Death Row). The song was initially recorded for Killuminati Original album before being put on Ghetto Starz new Outlawz project (but it was more likely a new strictly Outlawz version, what can be heard in the Movie, starting by Edi's verse).
  • Samples : 
    • The System - "Don't Disturb This Groove" (melody)
    • Roy Ayers - "Everybody Loves The Sunshine" (vocals interpolation : "just wait until the rain turn to sunshine, cause I hate to spend my life my life my life duckin one time")
    • Doug E Fresh & Slick Rick - "La Di Da Di" (vocals interpolation : "for y'all keeping y'all in health just to see you smile and enjoy yourself")
17. I Ain't Mad At Cha (Radio Version) feat. Danny Boy / Daz REMIXED By Kevyn Lewis
  • 1996/05/10. Fully re-recorded with a live band and a Pac's new final verse.
  • Samples :
    • DeBarge - "A Dream" (melody interpolation)


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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