Changes (Tupac Shakur song)

"Changes"
Single by 2Pac featuring Talent
from the album Greatest Hits
Released	October 13, 1998 (1998-10-13)
Recorded	1992 1998 (Remixed)
Genre	Conscious hip hop political hip hop R&B
Length	4:30
Label	Amaru Death Row Interscope
Songwriter(s)	Tupac Shakur Deon Evans Bruce Hornsby[1]
Producer(s)	Big D The Impossible, Trackmasters (Remix)
2Pac singles chronology
"Do for Love" (1998) "Changes" (1998) "Unconditional Love" (1999)
Audio sample
file help
Music video
"Changes" on YouTube

"Changes" is a hip hop song by 2Pac featuring Talent. The song makes references to the war on drugs, the treatment of black people by the police, racism (explicitly the reconciliation between the black and white people in America), the perpetuation of poverty and its accompanying vicious-cycle value system in urban African American culture, and the difficulties of life in the ghetto.

Production and recording[]

The song was originally recorded during his tenure at Interscope Records in 1992 and was produced by Big D The Impossible (Deon Evans). "Changes" was later remixed in 1998 by Poke from Trackmasters.

The song re-uses lines from "I Wonder If Heaven Got a Ghetto" which was recorded during the same year, and samples the 1986 hit "The Way It Is" by Bruce Hornsby and the Range. The chorus of "The Way It Is" was slightly reworded and sung by Talent and was used for this song. At times Tupac re-used lines from other unreleased songs because he planned to make an updated version at a later date. However, since his death many of the unreleased and unmastered songs have been officially released.

The remixed version released in 1998 has notably different percussion, and a few minor changes to the musical elements. The chorus on the original track features a notable difference in a vocal sample of the line, "It's like that and that's the way it is", from Run DMCs "It's Like That", which is also played twice during the intro. The second chorus adds the Ice Cube line, "Dope dealers, you're as bad as the police," from his song, "Us". The third chorus omits the Ice Cube sample and adds B-boy-style chant with an unknown person repeating, "Clap your hands and feel it, clap you hands and feel it!" until the song ends.

Samples[]

The song is an interpretation of the 1986 hit "The Way It Is" by Bruce Hornsby and the Range, and was further influenced by the 1972 hit "Changes" by Black Sabbath. Bay Area rapper E-40 had interpreted the song already on his track, "Things'll Never Change", for his album Tha Hall of Game. The Tupac "Changes" instrumental was used by Insane Clown Posse in "Mom Song", a Mother's Day song. Nas sampled the song for his song "Black President". Polo G interpolated "Changes" on his 2020 song "Wishing for a Hero". “Changes” samples the drum loop from the 1984 song "Set It Off” by Strafe.

Overview[]

The song was a #1 hit in Norway and the Netherlands and reached the top ten in the singles charts of several other countries, including #3 in the United Kingdom, which gained Tupac a broader audience.

Released posthumously on his album Greatest Hits, the song talks about all of the different issues that were related to Tupac's era of influence - notably racism, police brutality, drugs and gang violence. The "Huey" that 2Pac mentions in the song ("two shots in the dark, now Huey's dead") is Huey P. Newton, founder of the Black Panther Party.^[2] The song refers to the possibility of a black president of the United States, claiming "we ain't ready". Further, the last verse of the song refers to Tupac's imagining himself being shot to death, mimicking the sound of the gun with the phrase "rat-a-tat-tat-tat-tat".

The Chris Hafner-directed music video is a compilation of a number of previous music videos Tupac released in addition to home videos and never-before-seen pictures, similar to the format of The Notorious B.I.G.'s "Dead Wrong", also released in 1999.

Critical reception[]

Chuck Taylor of Billboard wrote, "This latest posthumous Tupac Shakur release is an unquestionable smash. Cleverly sampling Bruce Hornsby and the Range's No. 1 "The Way It Is" from 1986, the rapper masterfully talks to his disciples like a pastor delivering a motivating and positive sermon to his congregation. He tells of the trials and tribulations of life in the ghetto and is blunt about the need for change and an end to black-on-black violence, saying that "misplaced hate makes disgrace to races." This track is a must for any playlist and ironic in that its all-important message surfaces after the artist became a victim of what his song addresses."^[3]

Accolades[]

"Changes" was nominated for Best Rap Solo Performance at the Grammy Awards of 2000 and remains the only posthumous song to be nominated in this category. It was also nominated at the MTV Video Music Award for Best Editing in a Video & Best Rap Video in 1999.

Charts and certifications[]

Weekly charts[] Charts (1998–1999) Peak position Australia (ARIA)[4] 7 Austria (Ö3 Austria Top 40)[5] 6 Belgium (Ultratop 50 Flanders)[6] 2 Belgium (Ultratop 50 Wallonia)[7] 11 Canada Top Singles (RPM)[8] 19 Canada Dance/Urban (RPM)[9] 3 Denmark (Tracklisten)[10] 7 European Hot 100 Singles (Music & Media)[11] 6 France (SNEP)[12] 39 Germany (Official German Charts)[13] 2 Ireland (IRMA)[14] 5 Netherlands (Dutch Top 40)[15] 1 Netherlands (Single Top 100)[16] 1 New Zealand (Recorded Music NZ)[17] 3 Norway (VG-lista)[18] 1 Poland (Music & Media)[19] 5 Scotland (OCC)[20] 10 Sweden (Sverigetopplistan)[21] 3 Switzerland (Schweizer Hitparade)[22] 2 UK Singles (OCC)[23] 3 UK Indie (OCC)[24] 1 UK R&B (Official Charts Company)[25] 1 US Billboard Hot 100[26] 32 US Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs (Billboard)[27] 12 US Mainstream Top 40 (Billboard)[28] 38 Chart (2013) Peak position UK (Official Charts Company)[29] 66

Year-end charts[] Chart (1999) Position Belgium (Ultratop Flanders)[30] 26 Belgium (Ultratop Wallonia)[31] 45 Germany (Official German Charts)[32] 20 Netherlands (Dutch Top 40)[33] 22 Netherlands (Single Top 100)[34] 11 New Zealand (Recorded Music NZ)[35] 32 Romania (Romanian Top 100)[36] 81 Sweden (Sverigetopplistan)[37] 18 Switzerland (Schweizer Hitparade)[38] 12 UK Singles (OCC)[39] 64 US Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs (Billboard)[40] 95 Certifications[] Region Certification Certified units/sales Belgium (BEA)[41] Gold 25,000* Denmark (IFPI Danmark)[42] Gold 45,000 Germany (BVMI)[43] Gold 250,000^ Netherlands (NVPI)[44] Gold 50,000^ New Zealand (RMNZ)[45] Gold 5,000* Sweden (GLF)[46] Platinum 30,000^ Switzerland (IFPI Switzerland)[47] Gold 25,000^ United Kingdom (BPI)[48] Platinum 600,000 * Sales figures based on certification alone. ^ Shipments figures based on certification alone. Sales+streaming figures based on certification alone.

References[]

External links[]

• Music video on MTV.com