I Wonder If Heaven Got a Ghetto
"I Wonder If Heaven Got a Ghetto" is the first posthumous single by 2Pac. It appears on the album R U Still Down? (Remember Me). The original version, titled "I Wonda if Heaven's Got a Ghetto", was released as a B-side on the 1993 single, "Keep Ya Head Up".
"I Wonder If Heaven Got a Ghetto" | ||||
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Single by 2Pac featuring Maxee | ||||
from the album R U Still Down? (Remember Me) | ||||
B-side | "When I Get Free" | |||
Released | September 21, 1997 | |||
Recorded | 1992 | |||
Genre | R&B, hip hop | |||
Length | 4:40 | |||
Label | ||||
Songwriter(s) | T. Shakur, D.K. McDowell, Larry Troutman, Lawrence Goodman, Roger Troutman | |||
Producer(s) | Soulshock & Karlin | |||
2Pac featuring Maxee singles chronology | ||||
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Music video | ||||
"I Wonder If Heaven Got a Ghetto" on YouTube |
There are two versions of the song on the R U Still Down? (Remember Me) album. One, a remake of the original (using the same sample); the other, a completely new remix, subtitled as the "hip hop version", was the version used for the song's single release.
The song title originally came from the lyrics of fellow West Coast rapper Spice 1, of the 1992 song "Welcome to the Ghetto."
Rapper Nas interpolated "I Wonder if Heaven Got a Ghetto" in the song "Black President" from his untitled 2008 album. The line "And though it seems heaven sent/We ain't ready to have a black president" is used repeatedly as the song's chorus. Rapper The Game used the instrumental in the beginning of his song “I Didn’t Wanna Write This Song” off of his last studio album Born 2 Rap.
Music video
In the Lionel C. Martin directed music video from September 14–15, 1997, the perspective is a first-person viewpoint of Shakur. After being shot, he stumbles to a nunnery in fictional Rukahs, New Mexico. ('Rukahs' spelled backward is 'Shakur'.) The license plate of the car that Shakur gets in with the older man reads "61671", which references Shakur's birthday on June 16, 1971. The room he goes into with the girl is room number 7. The clock in the background at the end is set to 4:03, the same time Shakur officially died at 4:03, Tupac appears also. At the end, he goes into Amaru Diner, Amaru being his middle name.
In the first 5 seconds "...rapper Tupac Shakur shot multiple times" is heard from the helicopter.
The video also features several notable figures. Mother Teresa is seen getting on a bus, and already on the bus are Jimi Hendrix, Martin Luther King Jr., Huey P. Newton, and Elvis Presley.
Charts
Charts (1997–98) | Peak position |
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New Zealand (Recorded Music NZ)[1] | 11 |
US Billboard Hot 100[2] | 67 |
US Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs (Billboard)[3] | 14 |
UK R&B (Official Charts Company)[4] | 4 |
UK Singles (Official Charts Company)[5] | 21 |
Chart (1997) | Peak position |
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US Hot Rap Songs [6] | 18 |
References
- "Charts.nz – 2 Pac – I Wonder If Heaven Got a Ghetto". Top 40 Singles.
- "2Pac Chart History (Hot 100)". Billboard.
- "2Pac Chart History (Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs)". Billboard.
- http://www.officialcharts.com/charts/r-and-b-singles-chart/19980104/114/
- "Official Singles Chart Top 100". Official Charts Company.
- "2Pac Chart History (Hot Rap Songs)". Billboard. Retrieved June 29, 2019.