It was a missed opportunity for the album to not feature this version of the song. However, industry politics got in the way. Warner Bros. objected to 2Pac's participation because Madonna was in the process of cleaning up her image after that SEX debacle, and his recent incarceration for sexual assault posed a problem there. At the same time, 2Pac's associates believed that his 'Thug Life' image should not be associated with a white pop star known for voguing and connections with Jean Paul Gaultier and drag queens. As a result, we ended up with that throwaway version featuring Me'Shell Ndegeocello. Little did they know, 2Pac was only a year away from massive commercial success and two years away from his untimely death, which would quickly solidify his status as a legend. This being on the album would have definitely given it more reverence.
I do prefer Pac's rap, but in addition to the context that some other people have already posted about, Me'shell's verse is also good - and she's a queer black woman AND signed to Madonna's label. So I respect her for putting a lesser known female rapper on her album. I think having a man on the album, which is otherwise very feminine and vulnerable, wouldn't have worked quite as well. I do wish she had released this in some form though - hopefully it will be on the reissue!
It would have given Madonna more street cred for sure these days, and maybe this album wouldn't have been slept on compared to her other records later on in history!
The song was not included also because when 2 Pac was in prison he wrote a letter to Madonna explaining that they could not be together because of their different races and because of her power as a woman
This was the original version she made with him originally until he was in jail for sexual assault during the sessions of this album and she didn't wanted to be associated for that, so she and Dave Hall called her Maverick artist Meshell Ndegeocello (who played the bass in this song) to took his place on the rap of this song.
Was 2 Pac known to the mainstream in autumn 1994 when she dropped the album? It's definitely cool and edgy to have him on but i also like the album version with Me Shell. Obviously Madonna and Pac being in relationship at the time might have sent the media again in a direction where it was not about the music, something that Madonna didnt want for this album. I like both versions and i love the album period. Madonna was Ride Or Die for Pac for a while visiting him in jail, writing him love letters...he actually broke up with her. Madonna won a block of the auction of personal letters in 2016 but in 2019 it finally went to auction against Madonnas wish. In July 2017, a letter Tupac wrote at the Clinton Correctional Facility was put on the auction block and sold for more than $170,000. The letter is dated January 15, 1995, and is addressed to his ex, Madonna, or “M,” as he would call her. Though portions of the letter have been censored, it still delves into the factors behind their break-up and Tupac’s innermost feelings about the Like A Virgin singer. Tupac begins by saying that he’s “waited a long time” to write this letter because he struggled to find the right words to convey his emotions. Right off the bat, he apologizes to Madonna and says that he knows that he hasn’t been the “kind of friend I know I’m capable of being.” Tupac proceeds to discuss their split, saying that it wouldn’t matter to the world if she, as a white woman, started dating a black man. She would only seem more “open and exciting.” But he had built his entire career out of representing the struggles of the Black community; he needed to stay true to his people and preserve his “image,” and continue exploring racial injustice through his sound. He didn’t think he’d able to do that capably if he saw Madonna on the side. The whole thing reads like a Romeo and Juliet story in which star-crossed lovers have been torn apart due to political tensions, not as a result of their own decisions. ''For you to be seen with a black man wouldn’t in any way jeopardize your career. But for me, at least in my previous perception I felt due to my ‘image’ I would be letting down half of the people who made me what I thought I was.''
Oh so she didn’t give the letters to the auction 🧐 whew thanks for clarifying. And I think Tupac’s observation was spot on. Thug Life would have been called out in somebody’s 90s version of Not Like Us
Why is it so hard to love one another? Why is it so hard to love? I´m telling you brothers, sisters Why can't we learn to Challenge the system Without living in pain, Brothers, sisters Why can't we learn to Accept that we're different Why's it so damn hard!!!!!!!!!!
THE ABSOLUTE BEST OUTTAKE from Bedtime Stories is "Your Honesty" If you decide to react to just one outtake, it's got to be YOUR HONESTY. You won't believe it was not included in the album. THE ABSOLUTE BEST!!!!!
Hey Empress, I do prefer this version, but I also love Meshell on the album for reasons people have already mentioned. Also, somebody mentioned “Love Won’t Wait” as an outtake to check out - it would be great if you could react to two other tracks from this era, both produced by Dallas Austin - “Let Down Your Guard,” which was released on one of the Secret singles (but still isn’t on streaming 😭) and “Freedom,” which was released on a save the rain forest compilation called Carnival! a few years later. + Hopefully not spoiling anything , but there’s also another Bedtime Stories outtake (“Your Honesty”) that gets released on a single in 2003 (when Madonna’s in a completely different musical space..) so it’s not essential to listen to rn.. you’ll discover it along the way haha 😎
This doesn't surprise me. I just pulled up a storie less than 2 weeks ago. The story was about hidden lovers and 2 Pac & Madonna was one. They said it was a good relationship but.2Pac said he had to back away because the interracial relationship would be bad for his reputation. Rip 2 Pac. Nice track.
When did TuPac dump Madonna? Was it when he was in jail? Which came first? The re-recording of the song without him or the breakup? It would be interesting if he felt snubbed by her bowing to pressure in not releasing the version with him on it, or if he dumped her and then she redid the track.
He dumped her, from jail its in his letter (do a search youll find them, Madonna wasnt happy they were released) She clearly loved him he just said it wasnt meant to be and she knew about the trouble and dark side scary people (god knows if shell ever tell us). It was better for them to split. Actually theres a longer version than this where he talks about f*king her on the track (or was this it and ive got it on too quiet). Song wize I think both album version and this were really good filler anyway and pretty equal. (Nobody shout at me weve all got different tastes!!! )
2 pac sent the letter to Madonna while in jail apologizing for the way things ended. He mentions that he felt weird after she went on the late show cameo with Jay Leno so I am thinking they called it off during that time frame.
I'm in the minority: I'm a Pac stan and I hate this version with a fiery passion. He ain't had no business anywhere near Madonna. This song works better with the official version for me
It was a missed opportunity for the album to not feature this version of the song. However, industry politics got in the way. Warner Bros. objected to 2Pac's participation because Madonna was in the process of cleaning up her image after that SEX debacle, and his recent incarceration for sexual assault posed a problem there. At the same time, 2Pac's associates believed that his 'Thug Life' image should not be associated with a white pop star known for voguing and connections with Jean Paul Gaultier and drag queens. As a result, we ended up with that throwaway version featuring Me'Shell Ndegeocello.
Little did they know, 2Pac was only a year away from massive commercial success and two years away from his untimely death, which would quickly solidify his status as a legend. This being on the album would have definitely given it more reverence.
I do prefer Pac's rap, but in addition to the context that some other people have already posted about, Me'shell's verse is also good - and she's a queer black woman AND signed to Madonna's label. So I respect her for putting a lesser known female rapper on her album. I think having a man on the album, which is otherwise very feminine and vulnerable, wouldn't have worked quite as well. I do wish she had released this in some form though - hopefully it will be on the reissue!
I totally agree. They should release it now. 😁
💯
It would have given Madonna more street cred for sure these days, and maybe this album wouldn't have been slept on compared to her other records later on in history!
Maybe ‼️
The song was not included also because when 2 Pac was in prison he wrote a letter to Madonna explaining that they could not be together because of their different races and because of her power as a woman
You know what.... this October finna be the 20th year anniversary of the album! SHE BETTER GRACE US WITH A DELUXE VERSION AND DROP THIS SONG !!! 😩
💯💯
Absolute 🔥 both versions.
💯💯
Hi, you should hear the Original Demo version musically it is different and has some more explicit words
Iconic
This was the original version she made with him originally until he was in jail for sexual assault during the sessions of this album and she didn't wanted to be associated for that, so she and Dave Hall called her Maverick artist Meshell Ndegeocello (who played the bass in this song) to took his place on the rap of this song.
Oh she played bass on this song?! She ate 💯
My first time hearing it. I think I do prefer it, but mostly because I know the context behind it.
💯
Was 2 Pac known to the mainstream in autumn 1994 when she dropped the album? It's definitely cool and edgy to have him on but i also like the album version with Me Shell. Obviously Madonna and Pac being in relationship at the time might have sent the media again in a direction where it was not about the music, something that Madonna didnt want for this album. I like both versions and i love the album period.
Madonna was Ride Or Die for Pac for a while visiting him in jail, writing him love letters...he actually broke up with her. Madonna won a block of the auction of personal letters in 2016 but in 2019 it finally went to auction against Madonnas wish.
In July 2017, a letter Tupac wrote at the Clinton Correctional Facility was put on the auction block and sold for more than $170,000. The letter is dated January 15, 1995, and is addressed to his ex, Madonna, or “M,” as he would call her. Though portions of the letter have been censored, it still delves into the factors behind their break-up and Tupac’s innermost feelings about the Like A Virgin singer.
Tupac begins by saying that he’s “waited a long time” to write this letter because he struggled to find the right words to convey his emotions. Right off the bat, he apologizes to Madonna and says that he knows that he hasn’t been the “kind of friend I know I’m capable of being.”
Tupac proceeds to discuss their split, saying that it wouldn’t matter to the world if she, as a white woman, started dating a black man. She would only seem more “open and exciting.” But he had built his entire career out of representing the struggles of the Black community; he needed to stay true to his people and preserve his “image,” and continue exploring racial injustice through his sound. He didn’t think he’d able to do that capably if he saw Madonna on the side. The whole thing reads like a Romeo and Juliet story in which star-crossed lovers have been torn apart due to political tensions, not as a result of their own decisions.
''For you to be seen with a black man wouldn’t in any way jeopardize your career. But for me, at least in my previous perception I felt due to my ‘image’ I would be letting down half of the people who made me what I thought I was.''
Oh so she didn’t give the letters to the auction 🧐 whew thanks for clarifying. And I think Tupac’s observation was spot on. Thug Life would have been called out in somebody’s 90s version of Not Like Us
Why is it so hard to love one another?
Why is it so hard to love?
I´m telling you brothers, sisters
Why can't we learn to
Challenge the system
Without living in pain,
Brothers, sisters
Why can't we learn to
Accept that we're different
Why's it so damn hard!!!!!!!!!!
THE ABSOLUTE BEST OUTTAKE from Bedtime Stories is "Your Honesty"
If you decide to react to just one outtake, it's got to be YOUR HONESTY.
You won't believe it was not included in the album. THE ABSOLUTE BEST!!!!!
Noted
@@EmpressReacts
And from Erotica you should check out SHAME. Another UNEXPLICABLE decison.
This song would have been ICONIC! It's a pity it wasn't released. Hopefully we will have it included in the reissue of the album! IDK... LOL
💯
Another Bedtime Stories outtake to check out: Love Won’t Wait.
Got it!
The first time I ever heard this version and will prob be my last 😭😭 lol
😂dang
Can you please react to 2Pac How Do U Want It Live Performance
This should of been a single it would of gone #1 instead of bedtime stories or human nature its more mainstream
agree!
Hey Empress, I do prefer this version, but I also love Meshell on the album for reasons people have already mentioned.
Also, somebody mentioned “Love Won’t Wait” as an outtake to check out - it would be great if you could react to two other tracks from this era, both produced by Dallas Austin - “Let Down Your Guard,” which was released on one of the Secret singles (but still isn’t on streaming 😭) and “Freedom,” which was released on a save the rain forest compilation called Carnival! a few years later.
+ Hopefully not spoiling anything , but there’s also another Bedtime Stories outtake (“Your Honesty”) that gets released on a single in 2003 (when Madonna’s in a completely different musical space..) so it’s not essential to listen to rn.. you’ll discover it along the way haha 😎
Interesting ‼️
Yeah actually 2Pac and Madonna actually dated back in 1993 I think
This just reminds me of how slept on this Madonna album was. 💯💯Empress, what could have been?
Exactly 🔥
This doesn't surprise me. I just pulled up a storie less than 2 weeks ago. The story was about hidden lovers and 2 Pac & Madonna was one. They said it was a good relationship but.2Pac said he had to back away because the interracial relationship would be bad for his reputation. Rip 2 Pac. Nice track.
Interesting ‼️
@@EmpressReacts Yes.
😎👍
By the way no 1 knew about this song until RUclips was created and song leaked. So why not release is just theories
ah I see you're finally hearing it
Finally!
I prefer Honesty than this
Have you seen the hand written letters from prison between Tupac and Madonna?
No! But I’ve heard about them and that she sold one to an auction!
@@EmpressReacts She didnt sell it she went to court over who did. Especially her hairbrush and panties she got tearful in court.
When did TuPac dump Madonna? Was it when he was in jail? Which came first? The re-recording of the song without him or the breakup? It would be interesting if he felt snubbed by her bowing to pressure in not releasing the version with him on it, or if he dumped her and then she redid the track.
He dumped her, from jail its in his letter (do a search youll find them, Madonna wasnt happy they were released) She clearly loved him he just said it wasnt meant to be and she knew about the trouble and dark side scary people (god knows if shell ever tell us). It was better for them to split. Actually theres a longer version than this where he talks about f*king her on the track (or was this it and ive got it on too quiet). Song wize I think both album version and this were really good filler anyway and pretty equal. (Nobody shout at me weve all got different tastes!!! )
Interesting questions
2 pac sent the letter to Madonna while in jail apologizing for the way things ended. He mentions that he felt weird after she went on the late show cameo with Jay Leno so I am thinking they called it off during that time frame.
@@user-wj5um8bc7w Good goin stranger x
He wrote to her in early 1995, the album was released in October 1994. He was probably in jail already then?
Seems like you know this one. K
I already reacted to the album version- ruclips.net/video/W3qAzPzBLOo/видео.htmlsi=m5Xc5gVIFXXpcGjD
I think my comment went to another video but there is another version of the song less polished with 2 pac talking more explicit.
Oh really? ! Gotta find it
Not gonna lie the Demo version is better you should react to the Demon Version
I'm in the minority:
I'm a Pac stan and I hate this version with a fiery passion. He ain't had no business anywhere near Madonna. This song works better with the official version for me
😂😂love the honesty