Mo Money Mo Problems
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| “Mo Money Mo Problems” | |||||
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| Single by The Notorious B.I.G. featuring Puff Daddy & Mase from the album Life After Death |
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| Released | July 21, 1997 | ||||
| Format | Digital Download | ||||
| Genre | Rap | ||||
| Length | 4:17 | ||||
| Label | Bad Boy/Arista | ||||
| Writer(s) | Bernard Edwards Mason Betha Nile Rodgers Steven Jordan Sean Combs Christopher Wallace |
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| Producer | Stevie J | ||||
| The Notorious B.I.G. featuring Puff Daddy & Mase singles chronology | |||||
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"Mo Money Mo Problems" is the Grammy Nominated second single & tenth track on the first disc of the Notorious B.I.G. album, Life After Death. It features guest vocals from Mase and Sean "Puff Daddy" Combs. The instrumental contains a sample of the Diana Ross song "I'm Coming Out". The refrain, sung by Kelly Price, goes "I don't know what they want from me, It's like the more money we come across, the more problems we see".
The single, released posthumously, topped the Billboard Hot 100 for two weeks in 1997. It replaced "I'll Be Missing You", which is Puff Daddy's song about the death of Notorious B.I.G. This is Notorious B.I.G's second posthumous number one single, a record which has never been equaled. The song was nominated for a Grammy in 1998 for Best Rap Callaboration by a Duo or Group.
[edit] Music video
The video featured Mase and Puff Daddy in futuristic locations, including a tunnel lined with fluorescent lamps and a stark white chamber with pressurized air blowing out of the floor, allowing the two to float in midair. This video is also famous for the red shiny jackets that are worn by P. Diddy & Mase and which are remembered to this day as a pivotal part in music video history. The "air chamber" also had a video screen showing, at first, images of Kelly Price lip-synching to the sample of Diana Ross' voice and singing the song's chorus. During the final verse, which the Notorious B.I.G. performed, Mase and Puffy looked on as the video screen showed archival footage of B.I.G. performing, run at a speed so that the footage seemed to sync with B.I.G.'s vocals; since the rapper had died just prior to the release of Life After Death, and well before the filming of the video, this was the only way to have him appear in the video. The video also has a short story, which is about how Puff Daddy was competing in a golf tournament and gained help from the spirit of The Notorious B.I.G, who helps him win the tournament.
The futuristic sets and the physical performances of Mase and Puff Daddy in this video were later parodied for the music video of "Weird Al" Yankovic's "It's All About The Pentiums" (a parody of Puff Daddy's "It's All about the Benjamins"), with Yankovic emulating Puff Daddy and guest actor Drew Carey emulating Mase.
MuchMoreMusic ranked Mo Money Mo Problems #31 on Listed's 40 Most Memorable Videos Pt. 1 & 2 for its flashy wardrobe, and use of syncing old footage with the lyrics. VH1 ranked the song #63 as one of the 100 Greatest Songs of the 90s.
[edit] Single Tracklist
[edit] CD Single
- Mo Money Mo Problems (Radio Mix) (4:12)
- Lovin You Tonight (Radio Mix) (5:07)
- Mo Money Mo Problems (Instrumental) (4:12)
- Mo Money Mo Problems (Razor-N-Go Club mix, short version) (4:09)
- Mo Money Mo Problems (Razor-N-Go Club mix, long version) (4:40)
| Preceded by "I'll Be Missing You" by Puff Daddy featuring Faith Evans and 112 |
Billboard Hot 100 number one single August 30, 1997- September 6, 1997 |
Succeeded by "Honey" by Mariah Carey |
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