Wednesday, April 18, 2018

Retro Video of the Week: "Ghetto Supastar (That Is What You Are)" by Pras, featuring Ol' Dirty Bastard and Mýa

Apologies for not posting a Tuesday Top Ten yesterday.  Between work, filling out my tax return in ink made entirely of hamster blood (that's a lot of hamsters!), and amateur plumbing, I simply didn't have the time.  On the plus side, I think I may have fixed an issue with my GMYH Facebook profile and my Facebook page for GMYH, so that whenever I post something here, it will automatically post a link on both of the Facebook sites.  We'll see if it works.

But I digress.  This Saturday will mark the 20th anniversary of the release of the soundtrack to the movie Bulworth -- a relatively successful Warren Beatty vehicle.  I've never seen the film, but I have definitely heard much of the soundtrack, which peaked at #10 on the Billboard album charts and went platinum in the U.S., thanks to its solid cast of hip hop songs by the likes of Dr. Dre and LL Cool J, Black Eyed Peas, Public Enemy, Mack 10 and Ice Cube, Eve, and various members of Wu-Tang Clan, among others.  

But the song we remember most is "Ghetto Supastar (That Is What You Are)" by Fugees member Pras, featuring ODB (a.k.a. Ason Unique, a.k.a. Dirt McGirt, a.k.a Osirus, a.k.a. Big Baby Jesus) and Mýa, with Mýa's unforgettably catchy chorus riffing on Kenny Rogers and Dolly Parton's "Islands in the Stream."  If you were in college in 1998, this song was a staple at any party, and it ended up being a worldwide smash.  While it "only" hit #15 on the Billboard Hot 100, it topped charts in Austria, Belgium (Flanders), Europe (European Hot 100 Singles), Germany, Ireland, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, and Switzerland, and went Top 10 on the charts in Australia, Belgium (Wallonia), Canada, Denmark, Finland, Italy, Scotland, Spain, Sweden, and the UK.

Here's the video, in which we learn that Warren Beatty is Pras.

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