MCA 11228
Executive prooducers: Don Simpson & Jerry Bruckheimer, and DeVante
Track listing: Gangsta’s Paradise [Coolio] / Curiosity [Aaron Hall] / Havin Thangs [Big Mike] / Problems [Rappin’4-Tay] / True O.G. [Dalvin & Static] / Put Ya Back into It [Tre Black] / Don’t Go There [24-K] / Feel the Funk [Immature] / It’s Alright [Sista featuring Craig Mack] / A Message for You Mind [Rappin’4-76y] / Gin & Juice [DeVante] / This Is the Life [Wendy & Lisa]
September 2, 1995
3 weeks
Movie producers Don Simpson and Jerry Bruckheimer may have been the most successful music executives not in the record business. When a soundtrack album to one of their films was released, chances were that it would become a big hit or at least spawn a hit single. In the ’80s alone, Simpson and Bruckheimer racked up three Number One albums with the soundtracks to Flashdance, Beverly Hills Cop, and Top Gun.
While Simpson and Bruckheimer seemingly couldn’t go wrong in the ’80s, the first half of the ’90s didn’t prove as fruitful, at least until they brought a project called Dangerous Minds to Kathy Nelson of MCA Soundtracks, the label that had success with Beverly Hills Cop and Beverly Hills Cop II.
In early 1994, three months before the duo began production on the film, they took the script about an ex-Marine who teaches at an inner-city high school to Nelson, who helped enlist the artists. “We would try to keep the music true to the genre of the picture and what the story was about,” says Bruckheimer. “It’s a classroom drama and it’s about kids, so we wanted the music to be realistic to what the kids would be listening to.”
To accomplish that, Nelson first turned to Coolio, a rapper known for the 1994 number three hit “Fantastic Voyage.” Says Nelson, “I wanted Coolio, because I’m a huge fan of his. He was one of my first calls.”
Nelson had showed the rapper about six scenes from the film, starring Michelle Pfeiffer, which was still in production at the time. “It was written for the movie. He had the movie in his head, a couple of guys were fooling around with this track and that was it,” says Bruckheimer of Coolio’s “Gangsta’s Paradise,” which contains a sample of Stevie Wonder’s “Pastime Paradise.” Bruckheimer and Simpson were impressed by the results. “Kathy played it for me over the phone and then she sent it over, and I said, ‘Oh God, this is a Number One record.’ Everyone thought we were both nuts.”
DeVante, a member of the hit R&B group Jodeci, was also intrigued by the project, and contributed his first solo single “Gin & Juice” (not to be confused with the Snoop Doggy Dogg single of the same name). “He ended up being so interested in the project, he came on as an executive producer to the album,” says Nelson. DeVante’s involvement led to the inclusion of “True O.G.,” by Mr. Dalvin & Static. Mr. Dalvin is DeVante’s brother and a fellow Jodeci member, and also produced “Curiosity” by Aaron Hall. “DeVante loves Michelle as an actress and he loved the movie,” says Bruckheimer. “He added credibility to the project, and that’s how we got all of these acts.”
On the other end of the spectrum, former Prince and the Revolution members Wendy & Lisa contributed “This Is the Life.” When the first musician hired to compose the score for the film didn’t work out, Bruckheimer turned to Wendy & Lisa. “We kept using the rhythm and the melody of that song in the film and it worked,” he says. “They were up for scoring the film and did a sensational job'”
Dangerous Minds wasn’t a blockbuster initially, entering The Billboard 200 at number 130 on August 11, 1995. But then an unusual cross-promotional effort launched by Hollywood Pictures and MCA Soundtracks began to kick in. Since the film’s star Pfeiffer agreed to appear alongside Coolio in the video clip for “Gangsta’s Paradise,” the companies opted to use the video clip for its television spots for the film. As a result, the song rocketed up the charts.
On September 2, “Gangsta’s Paradise” seemed a shoo-in for Number One on the Hot 100, but was surprisingly held out of the top spot by the Number One debut of Michael Jackson’s “You Are Not Alone.” Jackson, however, couldn’t keep Dangerous Minds from the peak, as it hit the top of The Billboard 200 in its fourth week on the chart. For Simpson and Bruckheimer, it was their fourth chart-topper.
A week later, with Dangerous Minds holding at Number One, “Gangsta’s Paradise” was able to slip by Jackson’s single.
THE TOP FIVE
Week of September 2, 1995
1. Dangerous Minds, Soundtrack
2. Cracked Rear View, Hootie & the Blowfish
3. Jagged Litte Pill , Alanis Morissette
4. The Show, Soundtrack
5. E. 1999 Eternal, Bone Thugs-N-Harmony