Luciano ADD

An Homage To 2Pac - Change Riddim

05/29/2018

2018 marks the 20th anniversary of the release of 2Pac's ground breaking and historically important song Changes. Including the timeless catchy piano melody by Bruce Hornsby The Way It Is.

Changes [Listen below!], which was released two years after 2Pac's murder, tells of the war on drugs, police brutality, racism and poverty. It was this track which made 2Pac reach out to a bigger audience. Changes was high on the charts all over the world. To date it has over 110 million streams on Spotify and over 100 million views on Youtube.

Now, 20 years later, André Roots Records and Soundbank Music in association with Harmonics Group teamed up and are prepared to release a compilation inspired by 2Pac Changes, called Change Riddim featuring Swedish, Jamaican and American artists - a reggae homage to 2Pac's epic song. The album will be released on the 15th of June, the day before he should have turned 47.

01. Agent Sasco - Domino Table
02. Queen Ifrica - A Nuh We Dis
03. Pressure Busspipe - Who Feels It Knows feat. Pediko
04. Sizzla - Lily In The Valley
05. Ikaya - Keep Your Eyes Open
06. Anthony B - Living In The Ghetto
07. Luciano – Unite
08. Turbulence - Power Of God
09. Niyorah - Prophit When You Hustle
10. Jah Vinci - We Need Love
11. Million Stylez - Signs Of The Time
12. Lutan Fyah - Guns So Prevalant
13. Dean Fraser, André Roots & Soundbank Music - Change Riddim (Instrumental)

All twelve artists on the Change Riddim got the same instrumental and each put their own touch with their unique style and lyrics. Several of the artists capture the same themes as in Tupac Shakur's original version. The bonus track features the prolific maestro Saxophonist Dean Fraser, who played on numerous hit tracks for all the greats over decades like Bob Marley, Sly & Robbie, Dennis Brown.

The idea behind the Change Riddim Compilation was born when André was on tour. He often sat and worked on different projects in the tour bus and the idea to do something with Changes was always in the back of his mind. It was the first song he'd learned to play on the piano when he was 10 years old and it's powerful message and melody had stuck with him. Noting how seamlessly the well-known piano melody infused with reggae music elements, André was excited at the possibilities.

The project really kicked off when the first version of the instrumental made it’s way to Jamaica with Denzil Williams (Soundbank Music). Many artists had the same strong bond with the 2Pac classic, therefore it was not hard for Denzil to identify the unique selection of artists to execute the compilation accordingly. This gave André and Denzil drive to continue and the inspiration to use the recorded songs to put together for the riddim compilation.

To step forward in terms of structure and marketing, André joined forces with Denmark-based Adil “Jahdil” Nadri — an artist and label manager with an exceptional track record and great expertise in the music industry.

Initially the project was entitled The Way It Is, but a more suitable name Change Riddim was suggested by Denzil that made more sense to the project. From that point André and Denzil could sense significant change, despite the great challenges that such an ambitious project brought, they saw success and reward for their efforts.