Background · Dear Mama (CD 1, 1999)
Two CDs for a single with different B-sides: In late-nineties Britain, record labels boosted sales with this tactic. Fans were meant to buy both, and both counted toward the charts. That was exactly how Dear Mama was reissued in 1999. This page covers the first of the two CDs; the second is listed under Dear Mama (CD 2).
A Posthumous Hit as a B-Side
The second track is the album version of Do for Love. The track from R U Still Down? had reached No. 12 in the UK. The sleeve credits the samples on both songs: Joe Sample's In My Wildest Dreams for Dear Mama and Bobby Caldwell's What You Won't Do for Love for Do for Love. The Moe-Z. mix of Dear Mama closes the disc.
The pairing shows how the estate was marketed in the late nineties: older classics and new posthumous hits were packaged onto the same disc to reach both target audiences.
Three Tracks on the UK CD Maxi
The tracklist corresponds to the UK CD maxi.
Some listings name only Jive as the label and “Me Against The World/Greatest Hits” as the album. The alliance of Jive, Interscope, Amaru, and Death Row behind the reissue goes unmentioned in them.