THE GOSPEL AT COLONUS
The Gospel at Colonus is an African-American musical version of Sophocles's tragedy, Oedipus at Colonus. The show was created in 1983 by the experimental-theatre director Lee Breuer, one of the founders of the seminal American avant-garde theatre company Mabou Mines, and composer Bob Telson. The musical was a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize for Drama. The show had a brief run on Broadway in 1988.
In a 93 interview with Chuck Phillips Tupac stated that the music brings him to neutral.
PRINCE
Prince Rogers Nelson was an American singer, songwriter, musician, record producer, dancer and actor. The recipient of numerous awards and nominations, he is widely regarded as one of the greatest musicians of his generation.
Jamila Barnes, 2Pac’s cousin, revealed in an interview with BETNetworks, that the late artist would set up home concerts with family and friends when they were young. “He would have us perform different groups,” she recalled, “But his favourite that he would have us perform over and over again, would be Prince and The Revolution, and the main song we always did was ‘1999’.”
In late 1989, Prince opened a nightclub in Minneapolis named after the song and partially decorated with paintings by Brian Canfield Mitchell. The club became one of the premier nightspots in the Twin Cities, rivaling First Avenue as a live music venue, before closing in 2006 due to a fire in the club. The building was reconfigured following the closure and reopened as the nightclub Epic. Other Glam Slam clubs opened in Miami (Glam Slam East), Los Angeles (Glam Slam West), and Yokohama (Glam Slam Yokohama); all have since closed, or closed and reopened under new management not tied to Prince. Tupac performed at the Glam Slam with Mopreme and Mouse Man in 92.
Thugs Get Lonely Too by 2Pac sampled "If I was Your Girlfriend", What's Your Phone # (777-9311) and Pac's Life (Pop Life).
PARLIAMENT
Parliament was an American funk band formed in the late 1960s by George Clinton as a flagship act of his P-Funk collective. Evolving out of an earlier vocal group, Parliament became associated with a more commercial and less rock-oriented sound than its sister act Funkadelic. Their work incorporated Afrofuturism concepts, horn arrangements, synthesizer, and outlandish theatrics. The band scored a number of Top 10 hits, including the million-selling 1976 single "Give Up the Funk (Tear the Roof off the Sucker)," and Top 40 albums such as Mothership Connection (1975).
Digital Underground, Tupac Shakur and other Hip Hop artist sampled many of Parliement, Funkadelic music.
LED ZEPPELIN
Led Zeppelin were an English rock band formed in London in 1968. The group comprised vocalist Robert Plant, guitarist Jimmy Page, bassist and keyboardist John Paul Jones, and drummer John Bonham. With a heavy, guitar-driven sound, they are cited as one of the progenitors of hard rock and heavy metal, although their style drew from a variety of influences, including blues and folk music. Led Zeppelin have been credited as significantly impacting the nature of the music industry, particularly in the development of album-oriented rock (AOR) and stadium rock.
The original "Life's So Hard" by 2Pac sampled Led Zeppelin's "Ten Years Gone". According to 2Pac's handwritten lyrics the version of Wonda Why They Call U Bitch produced by Stretch was also sampled by Led Zeppelin.
RELATED ARTIST & GROUPS
MARIAH CAREY
Vision of Love" is the debut single by American singer-songwriter Mariah Carey for her eponymous debut studio album (1990). It was written by Carey and Ben Margulies. After being featured on Carey's demo tape for Columbia Records, the song was re-recorded and produced by Rhett Lawrence and Narada Michael Walden. The song features a slow-dance theme tempo and backing vocals sung by Carey herself, and introduces her usage of the whistle register. The lyric of the song represents her past life filled with "alienation" and how she had dreamt of achieving her triumph over adversity up to the moment when it finally came to fruition as the "vision of love" that she had always believed in, despite everything that she has had to deal with in life. This was Carey's debut record and was released as the lead single on May 15, 1990, by Columbia Records.
Shock G who produced I Get Around wrote in 2008 book Tupac Remembered that Pac had a thing for Mariah Carey's Vision of Love. You always knew he was sad if you walked by his room and he was playing it. He had a tape playing it over and over again.
AALIYAH
Aaliyah was an American singer and actress. She has been credited with helping to redefine contemporary R&B, pop, and hip hop, earning her the nicknames the "Princess of R&B" and "Queen of Urban Pop". According to EDI Mean UGK Ridin Dirty and Aaliyah One in a Million was the last two albums he purchased before his trip to Vegas. One in a Million is the second studio album by American singer Aaliyah. It was released on August 13, 1996, by Blackground Records and Atlantic Records.
FRAGILE
Fragile" is a song written and performed by English musician Sting from his second studio album, ...Nothing Like the Sun (1987). Released as a single the following year by A&M, it placed to number 70 on the UK Singles Chart. Sung additionally in both Spanish and Portuguese under the titles "Fragilidad" and "Frágil", it appeared twice more on his 1988 EP variant of the album, Nada como el sol. The Spanish version features as a b-side to "I'm So Happy I Can't Stop Crying".
Tupac was a fan of his music and "When Thugz Cry" sampled Sting's "Fragile.
MICHEAL JACKSON
Michael Joseph Jackson was an American singer, songwriter, dancer, and philanthropist. Known as the "King of Pop", he is regarded as one of the most significant cultural figures of the 20th century. During his four-decade career, his contributions to music, dance, and fashion, along with his publicized personal life, made him a global figure in popular culture. Jackson influenced artists across many music genres. Through stage and video performances, he popularized complicated street dance moves such as the moonwalk, which he named, as well as the robot.
Letter 2 My Unborn Child by 2Pac sampled Michael Jackson's 1987 hit "Liberian Girl" (from Bad, 1987), but is set at a higher tempo and features a female vocal backing track by Tena Jones (formerly of 4th Avenue Jones).
Niggaz Nature aka Thug Nature sampled Michael Jackson's Human Nature from the 1982 Thriller album.
ZAPP
Zapp (also known as the Zapp Band, Zapp & Roger) is an American funk band that emerged from Dayton, Ohio, United States, in 1977. Particularly influential in the electro subgenre of funk, Zapp were known for their trademark use of the talk-box effect. The original line-up consisted of four Troutman brothers—frontman Roger, Larry, Lester and Terry—first cousin, Sherman Fleetwood—and non-Troutman family members Bobby Glover, Gregory Jackson, Jerome Derrickson, Eddie Barber, Jannetta Boyce and Shirley Murdock. Zapp also worked closely with George Clinton and Bootsy Collins of Parliament-Funkadelic during its early stages, their support being a factor in the group gaining a record deal with Warner Bros. Records in 1979.