247 words · 1 min
Thug 4 Life
First Johnny J and Stretch, then Eminem: the closing song of Loyal to the Game (2004) puts a new beat under an old recording.
- Album
- Loyal to the Game, track 13 (last track of the main album)
- Year
- 2004
- Producers
- Eminem and Luis Resto; original production by Johnny “J”
- Guests
- none; the original version included a part by Stretch
- Writers per the credits
- Johnny Jackson, Luis Resto, Marshall Mathers
- Length
- 2:54 (Discogs gives 3:04)
In the writing credits of Thug 4 Life, next to Eminem and his keyboard player, stands a name no one expects on this album: Johnny Jackson, better known as Johnny “J”. He had originally produced the song. On Loyal to the Game, nothing of his beat remains.
A beat with an Eastern touch
For the album that Afeni Shakur and Eminem released in 2004, Eminem and his keyboard player Luis Resto rebuilt every instrumental. The tracklist of the new version lists no guest anymore, Stretch included. Steve “Flash” Juon wrote at RapReviews that Eminem finishes more strongly with the oriental-tinged beat of Thug 4 Life. It still sounds different, he said, but more like something Tupac himself might have gone for.
A building block for Tyga
Nine years later the song surfaced once more. In April 2013 Tyga unveiled his track Hit ‘Em Up with Jadakiss, which according to Vibe was pieced together from lines out of several Tupac songs, including Thug 4 Life (see the news item).
So one recording passed through three pairs of hands, from Johnny J to Eminem to Tyga, and each time Tupac sounded a little different.