Gangsta’s Paradise
Gangsta’s Paradise was sampled from Stevie Wonder’s Pastime Paradise. Coolio claims that the writing process came naturally and that the song wrote him and he was just the instrument.
The success of this song lead to him selling out shows internationally and experiencing fame on a new level. Before this, the income from each song he made was minimal. Eventually, his success lead to him performing with Stevie Wonder himself on stage with an audience while also being recorded to be shown on TV, which is shown below.
The meaning behind the song is presenting the unrealistic ideology of the supposed luxurious gangsta life. Rather than viewing life in a positive light, Coolio puts himself into the song as a person who fell for this desired lifestyle and is now seeing how things could have been different otherwise. ‘Death ain’t nothin’ but a heartbeat away, I’m livin’ life, do or die, what can I say, I’m 23 now, but will I live to see 24? The way things is going, I don’t know’ presents the idea of his life being completely controlled and dependant on the lifestyle he had chosen. To conclude, the title ‘Gangsta’s Paradise’ is an ironic title for a story of someone who had found themselves limited and become somewhat of an escapist dreaming of the paradise that they assumed existed.
Zombie
Dolores’ behaviour on camera suggests strong emotional attachment to the theme of the song. She explains why she wrote it and how the album as a whole had branched out and experimented.
By using screens to display the IRA’s effect on communities within their music video, a live performance is highly effective at spreading the word and letting the audience understand what the purpose of the song is.
Zombie was written by Dolores O’Riordan, The Cranberries’ singer in response to the horrific death of two children, Tim Parry and Johnathan Ball, in an IRA bombing in 1993. She was emotionally moved and recalls feeling compelled to write a protest song and hence found the lyrics came quite naturally.
Lyrics that directly link to their views on the IRA are ‘It’s not me, It’s not my family’, suggesting antagonisation should not be automatic for the people of the same nationality as the violent paramilitary that had killed thousands throughout their active years and that they’re directly against the political violence that is taking place. ‘It’s the same old theme since nineteen sixteen’ presents the idea of exhaustion from victims of their actions and normalisation of the type of violence that the IRA had been carrying out since 1916. It may encourage fans to look into what the IRA stands for and form views against them in hopes the organisation succumb to social pressure.
The name Zombie may be suggestive of the mannerisms of zombies and their fictional origin of which is theorised and hinted at to have been caused by brain rot or damage. If the name is directly relating to the IRA, it could be an opinionative statement on their actions and the brain rot that their propaganda may have caused.
I’ll Be Missing You
I’ll Be Missing You is sampled from Every Breath You Take by The Police with a few noticeable differences. Firstly, the bpm is slightly slower to emphasise the emotional connection to those who relate to the song. The bass in this version is featured rather than used as background accompaniment. The chorus has completely changed and now features a feminine voice.
This version is a tribute to Notorious B.I.G written by Todd Gaither who knew B.I.G personally, which made it easier to write something meaningful. He lost his mother not too long before he was asked to write lyrics for this song, so a lot of thought and emotion was put into this regarding loss from personal experience. It was likely a project that acted as an emotional outlet for everyone involved in its creation.
The audience at live shows likely relate to this song because of loss in their own individual lives. Having a choir group rather than a single female vocalist enhances the feeling of inclusivity for the audience.