2 songs, 1 sample... part 9; (Diana Ross; Love Hangover)

"Love Hangover"
was the fourth number one single for Motown singer Diana Ross.
It was released in March 1976,
and rose to number one on the Billboard Hot 100,
Hot Soul Singles and Hot Dance Club Play charts simultaneously.

Written by Pamela Sawyer and Marilyn McLeod as a disco number.
The Motown staff believed that it would be perfect for Ross to record.
Ross, like her soul contemporaries Aretha Franklin and Marvin Gaye,
initially resented the new musical movement
but eventually agreed to record the song.

Producer Hal Davis instructed the song's engineer Russ Terrana
to install a strobe light so that Ross could be in the "disco" mindset.
As the song changed from ballad to uptempo,
Ross became more comfortable with the material;
she hummed, sang bit parts, laughed, danced around and even imitated Billie Holiday.
The carefree and sensual nature of Ross' vocals
and the music's direction helped to sell the song.

Hal Davis recorded the track in 1975 thinking
it ideal for Marvin Gaye or Diana Ross.
They were his two favorite vocalists to work with
and thought Diana would be sexier on it, so he cut it on her.
Miss Ross recorded 'Love Hangover' in
1975 and was released on the LP
"Diana Ross" - with a single from it,
"I Thought It Took A Little Time."
The album came out Feb 12th, 1976 and two weeks later,
Motown issued I Thought It Took A Little Time as a single.
Upon hearing the album,
the 5th Dimension did a copycat cover and released
their shorter version of Love Hangover two weeks after that.
Word got to Motown, and Motown issued Ross'
version on 45 and it hit huge - burying the 5th Dimension.
Motown, certain Hangover was a #1 for Diana, rushed out her version.
Both entered the chart the same day.
By the time "Love Hangover" went to number one,
Ross had reinvented herself as a disco diva and
the 5th Dimension's version had peaked at number 80.
It won Ross a Grammy nomination
for Best R&B Female Vocal Performance.

VIA
WikiPedia



Biggy SmallZ; Nobody Rides for Free

Biggy Smallz (197? - 1994)
was a Los Angeles rapper and songwriter known for
the few collaborations he had with famed rap producer Johnny J.
He is the subject of Tupac Shakur's controversial
tribute song “God Bless the Dead”.
This person should not be confused with The Notorious B.I.G.
who went by a similar name: Biggie Smalls.

Career

Very little is known about the rapper outside of his music,
which to date only consists of a handful of tracks
released during the early part of the 1990's as minor singles
- the most famous being “Cruisin'” and
“Nobody Rides for Free”, both produced by Johnny J.

Confusion with Notorious B.I.G. and Big D the Impossible

The rap moniker of Biggy Smallz
has a striking resemblance to one of New York rap legend
Christopher Wallace's (Notorious B.I.G.) aliases: Biggie Smalls.
Before Wallace's mainstream rap career began,
he rapped under this name. Biggy's companion
Tupac Shakur reportedly requested Wallace to
change his rap name from 'Biggie Smalls' to
The Notorious B.I.G., his current one,
when he was just an up-and-coming underground rapper.
Wallace complied with this request,
but by then his prior rap name 'Biggie Smalls'
was already too reputable and well known
to the public for the name change to be fully successful.
To this day, many of Wallace's
fans still refer to him as 'Biggie'.
By the time he released his debut album
Ready to Die in September 1994,
Wallace's fame had completely
overshadowed Biggy Smallz' rap career.
It is believed that Biggy died around that time period.

Biggy Smallz was mentioned in the
2Pac Greatest Hits track “God Bless the Dead”,
in which Shakur paid his respects to a
"Biggy Smallz" during the intro, saying:

Due to the name's similarities with Notorious B.I.G.'s alias,
the overwhelming majority of Shakur's listeners
took this as a shout-out to Christopher Wallace,
who died a year prior to the song's official release.
This generated a great deal of confusion
due to the fact that the song was recorded in late 1994,
before Shakur's imprisonment in February 1995.
Subsequently, rumors claiming 2Pac's death was a hoax began surfacing.
On Live Squad's official biography, however,
this topic was brought up in order to clear up the rumors:

In addition to this,
Biggy Smallz is often mistaken with Deon Evans,
also known as Big D the Impossible.
Evans (who is still alive) is a producer who had
worked with Tupac Shakur on his earlier albums
2Pacalypse Now and Strictly 4 My N.I.G.G.A.Z..

VIA
Wikibin



Geto Boys; The Other Level
appears on We Can't Be Stopped was the
4th studio album by Geto Boys, released in 1991.
It was among their most successful records in terms of units sold.
The album is broken down track-by-track by
Geto Boys in Brian Coleman's book Check the Technique.
We Can't Be Stopped was certified
Platinum on February 26, 1992, by the RIAA.

The album cover is a graphic picture of member
Bushwick Bill in the hospital after he shot himself
in the eye after his girlfriend refused to shoot him.
The event is unfolded in detail in the song
"Ever So Clear" from Bushwick's 1992 solo debut Little Big Man.

VIA
Wikipedia

Also used by Snoop Dogg on The Cure


Related links;
Sites you should keep your eye on part 9; Hip Hop is read
and
2 songs, 1 sample... part 1
(Mike Brant; Mais Dans La Lumière)
and
2 songs, 1 sample... part 2
(The Temptations; Mother Nature)
and
2 songs, 1 sample... part 3
(Suicide is Painless (M.A.S.H Theme)
and
2 songs, 1 sample... part 4
(Horace Andy; Skylarking)
and
2 songs, 1 sample... part 5
(Stalag Riddim)
and
2 songs, 1 sample... part 6
(Michael Jackson; Billie Jean)
and
2 songs, 1 sample... part 7
(Billy Joel; The Stranger)
and
2 songs, 1 sample... part 8
(Quincy Jones; Slum Creeper)
and
2 songs, 1 sample... part 9;
(Diana Ross; Love Hangover)
and
2 songs, 1 sample... part 10;
Freddie Scott "(You) Got What I Need"