"I Got A Story To Tell" [Demo vs Album Mix]

[claaa7]

So the story goes that Buckwild produced "I Got A Story Tell" for Biggie's album single handledly, but on the album version it says "Produced by Buckwild, co-produced by Chucky Thompson and Puff Daddy". i just made an extensive post on this on my blog, and Puff Daddy pretty much just put his name on there.... the trouble was that Buck had found this crazy melodic guitar / flute sample, and put it over the Al Green's "I'm Glad You're Mine" drums which been used by several artists as far back as Eric B. & Rakim's "Mahogany". so the sample that couldn't get cleared was most likely the melodic guitars and harp. Luckily Chucky Thompson was great at replaying stuff like that, i believe they still placed it over the Al Green drums for the album version but with the main melody replayed by Chucky... Why Puff Daddy gets a co-production credit even though he apparantly said to them to scrap the song is beyond me but that's just Puffy - a sucker for credits he had nothing to do with. The following quotes are from the "Making of Life After Death" in XXL.

BUCKWILD "Big picked beats on vibe, and he was looking for beats to fit into the album. Big was the type of dude where there could be 50 people in the room and you think he wouldn’t be lisening. You’d play him 50 beats and you’d think he wasn’t paying attention, ’cause he’s sitting there smoking and zoning out. And then at the end, he’d be like, I want number 12, and put number 30 on a tape.

The song was done, and everyone was telling me the song was incredible. That was all I kept hearing. But we had big problems with the sample. It almost didn’t make the album. Working with Puff, it was a blessing that he had people who could come in and get him around the sample issues. Chucky [Thompson], being an excellent musician, he replayed it and found the exact same sound. Chuck just had to change one or two notes. If I played the original and I played the sample, there’s nothing really different."

CHUCKY THOMPSON "I liked the original way Buckwild done it. All we had to do was take a piece out, which in the original sample was really just the harp part. I knew if I could get it to the point where it’s unrecognizable, we were good. So I went in, grabbed the guitar and started filling in the pieces. I took the same melodies. I just changed a few of the instruments. I moved it from harp to the guitar, put a little bit of harp in there, but anybody that knows that original record is probably scratching their head, like, “How the hell did he…?”

so imagine if there was no sample problem and we could hear the original Buckwild version in high quality and mastered. the verison I posting here is actually the best one i have ever found (for reference here is the original version)

http://www26.zippyshare.com/v/86683348/file.html

[Verge]

Thanks for reminding me of this demo version, it's pretty great.

Why Puff Daddy gets a co-production credit even though he apparently said to them to scrap the song is beyond me but that's just Puffy - a sucker for credits he had nothing to do with.

While i've never been a Puff fan in any type of way, Buckwild says pretty clear here why Puff did deserve a credit. A production credit, probably not, but an executive production credit or something like that, yes. He's likely the one who connected this Chuck guy and paid him to replay the sample.

BUCKWILDIt almost didn’t make the album. Working with Puff, it was a blessing that he had people who could come in and get him around the sample issues. Chucky [Thompson], being an excellent musician, he replayed it and found the exact same sound.

CHUCKY THOMPSON "I liked the original way Buckwild done it. All we had to do was take a piece out, which in the original sample was really just the harp part.

yeahhhh, no, it's more than just the harp. And it's a pretty big difference the sound of a harp vs a guitar, imo. That extra chime/bell sound in Buckwild's version, kind of important. I'm sure a lot of people don't think it's much of a difference but I honestly have no urge to listen to the official one at all but would love to hear a high quality version of the demo. If i wanna hear an acoustic guitar i'll listen to fuckin tracey chapman or some shit.

[claaa7]

yeah i agree that the Demo version sounds better... it makes me wonder if this was pretty much the same story with that song on Jay-Z's album "Vol. 1", wasn't the track Buckwild produced there also full of live instrumentation and said "produced by Chucky Thompson and Buckwild" (can't remember the title)?

i have to disagree with the Puff Daddy co-production credit though - like Buck said in the first quote

Why Puff Daddy gets a co-production credit even though he apparently said to them to scrap the song is beyond me but that's just Puffy - a sucker for credits he had nothing to do with.

...is more like it. now Puff Daddy was the A&R and executive producer of the entire album so picking producers, guests and in cases like this, getting round sample clearances issue is pretty much one part of his job. as you say he deserves an executive producer credit, but not for this particular song but more for the album (which he got). there's some other cases on that LP too, like the "You're Nobody...." track that DJ Enuff did and he ended up being a co-producer on his own song LOL. that Pappa Didddy Pop.

there's quite a few funny/weird stories about Puffy doing anything for a credit, now i'm sure he's actually quite good as a (non hands-on) producer, but things like him stealing Havoc's beat without even crediting Hav at all or even contacting him is very shady.

[itzmurda]

stealing Havoc's beat without even crediting Hav at all or even contacting him is very shady.

Yeah, Puffy's a known beat jacker. In fact, him doing this led to 2Pac creating Hit em Up:

Suge video for proof: http://www.bet.com/video/musicnews/2014 ... em-up.html

Basically he's saying that Suge was with Misa Hylton (Puffy's baby's mother) and 2Pac was with Faith Evans (Biggie's wife). They all went to the Death Row studios together. In the studio, an instrumental was playing that sampled Dennis Edwards' "Don't Look Any Further" which 2Pac planned to rap over. Faith (or Misa) heard it and then later went and told Puffy about the sample idea. They then decided to use it on Junior M.A.F.I.A.'s "Gettin' Money (Get Money remix)." 2Pac heard it on the radio and pissed that his idea for the track was stolen, later created "Hit Em Up" over the sample and dissed Bad Boy.

A lot of people watched the video and automatically assumed Suge was lying, but he was telling the truth. Remember one of the lines in Hit em Up? "You's a....beat biter/a Pac style taker" by Edi? Plus, the only Junior MAFIA members he dissed on Hit em Up were the ones who rapped on The Get Money remix.

Timeline of events:
1995 - Beat created for what later turned into "Hit em Up." It wasn't "Hit em Up" at the time, it was just a beat
1995 - Faith/Misa hear it and let Bad Boy know about the "Look No Further" sample idea they heard
1995 - "Gettin Money" remix created using that idea
1995 - Pac hears GM RMX on the radio and scraps his plan for the original 1995 song over that beat
1996 - "Hit em Up" created using that old scrapped/stolen beat AND flips the "take money" from the Junior MAFIA record

[bbatson1]

stealing Havoc's beat without even crediting Hav at all or even contacting him is very shady.

Yeah, Puffy's a known beat jacker. In fact, him doing this led to 2Pac creating Hit em Up:

Suge video for proof: http://www.bet.com/video/musicnews/2014 ... em-up.html

Basically he's saying that Suge was with Misa Hylton (Puffy's baby's mother) and 2Pac was with Faith Evans (Biggie's wife). They all went to the Death Row studios together. In the studio, an instrumental was playing that sampled Dennis Edwards' "Don't Look Any Further" which 2Pac planned to rap over. Faith (or Misa) heard it and then later went and told Puffy about the sample idea. They then decided to use it on Junior M.A.F.I.A.'s "Gettin' Money (Get Money remix)." 2Pac heard it on the radio and pissed that his idea for the track was stolen, later created "Hit Em Up" over the sample and dissed Bad Boy.

A lot of people watched the video and automatically assumed Suge was lying, but he was telling the truth. Remember one of the lines in Hit em Up? "You's a....beat biter/a Pac style taker" by Edi? Plus, the only Junior MAFIA members he dissed on Hit em Up were the ones who rapped on The Get Money remix.

Timeline of events:
1995 - Beat created for what later turned into "Hit em Up." It wasn't "Hit em Up" at the time, it was just a beat
1995 - Faith/Misa hear it and let Bad Boy know about the "Look No Further" sample idea they heard
1995 - "Gettin Money" remix created using that idea
1995 - Pac hears GM RMX on the radio and scraps his plan for the original 1995 song over that beat
1996 - "Hit em Up" created using that old scrapped/stolen beat AND flips the "take money" from the Junior MAFIA record

I can't agree with this. Dj Enuff used to play that record all the time before that and would make beats for fun in his spare time. That was just something they overheard him making one time. I've heard him speak on it. With all the people they had making beats why would they go to DJ Enuff ,who wasn't part of the beatmaking team, to make one random beat and then never make anymore? lol

[Odnet]

Does anyone know what the original sample was? An acapella of "I Got a Story to Tell" exists, so it could be remade. I looked into the original sample just now real quickly, but couldn't find out what it was.

[DJCommunist]

DAMN! Never heard this and I absolutely love it, thanks claaa7. Definitely better than the album version imo