Hate Me Now

Infobox Single |
Name = Hate Me Now


Artist = Nas featuring Puff Daddy
from Album = I Am...
B-side = If I Ruled the World (Imagine That)
Street Dreams
Released = 1999
Format = CD single
Recorded = 1998
Genre = Hip hop
Length = 4:44
Label = Columbia
Producer = D-Moet, Pretty Boy & Trackmasters
Chronology = Nas singles
Last single = "Nas Is Like" (1999)
This single = "Hate Me Now" (1999)
Next single = "In Too Deep" (1999)
Misc = Extra tracklisting
Album = I Am...
Type = studio
prev_track = "NY State of Mind PtII."
prev_no = 2
this_track = "Hate Me Now"
track_no = 3
next_track = "Small World"
next_no = 4

"Hate Me Now" is a 1999 hit hip hop single by rapper Nas featuring Puff Daddy. The backbeat is inspired by, and contains some samples from, Carl Orff's "Carmina Burana".

Overview

Controversy

The music video for the single, directed by Hype Williams and featuring Nas being crucified, was the subject of extreme controversy, as the original edit also featured Puff Daddy on the cross. A Catholic, Puffy had demanded that his crucifixion scene be excised from the broadcast edit of the video, but the wrong edit was incorrectly sent to MTV and "TRL", and aired on April 15 1999. Within minutes of the broadcast, Puffy had barged into the offices of Nas' manager Steve Stoute with several bodyguards, and struck Stoute over the head with a champagne bottle. Stoute later sued Puffy, the suit was settled out of court.

Nas later related the making of the song and the subsequent incident:

quote|"It was a track D-Moet Produced for Foxy Brown, and she didn't want the record, she didn't like it. It fit with my album, "I Am...", so I did the D-Moet track and it sounded perfect for Puff to be on, so I gave it to him, went to the studio, and he rocked it, knocked it out. I wanted him to talk that shit on there, because that "Victory" record was my favorite record, with him and B.I.G., and I just wanted him to talk some of his shit on there. I had him screaming a whole bunch of wild shit on here, and cats were slam-dancing to it in New York. It was really crazy, out of this world. At that point, I started wearing a huge chain, and I think me and Puff at that point started that bling shit and took it to the next level, and we did the video, and it was out of this world.

There's a play in New York City where a black man played Jesus, and caught a lot of flak. I think, even the mayor at the time, Giuliani, was against it. So my thing was I wanted to be crucified like Jesus in the video, to get back at all those people that don't want to see a black man doing his thing. Me and Puff got hammered to the cross, but after Puff expressed his religious beliefs and speaking to his pastor, he wasn't ready to take that stance, so it was really my idea anyway, so we took his part out. For some reason, I think [my former manager] Steve Stoute let it fly with Puffy still being crucified to the cross, so there was that fight at the office, where Puff jumped on Steve or some shit like that. Both of them were friends of mine, so I kind of stepped in and squashed the whole thing, and it's all in the past. Just growing pains. We were all growing up. That brings back a lot of memories. Even when I throw it on onstage now, it still kills." [ [http://www.rollingstone.com/news/story/17216041/nas_greatest_hits_a_trackbytrack_journey_with_the_pride_of_queens/3 Nas' "Greatest Hits": A Track-By-Track Journey With the Pride of Queens : Rolling Stone ] ]

Release and Performance

The single was released in Italy with a version in which Puff Daddy was substituted by the Italian rapper Frankie Hi-NRG MC, and in Germany featuring Afrob.The song peaked at #62 on the Billboard charts. The beat for "Hate Me Now" was later used for the song "Fight Music" by 2Pac in one of his posthumous mixtapes, "Rap Phenomenon II". The beat was also used by Cam'Ron and Jim Jones to diss Nas for calling Cam'Ron's album "wack" on their mixtape, Diplomats Vol. 2.

In Pop Culture

Former UFC Heavyweight Champion Frank Mir used the song as his entrance theme before his fight with Brock Lesnar at UFC 81.

The song is the entrance music for Oakland A's closer Huston Street.

Hate Me Now is also sampled by the mashup artist Girl Talk on his track "Hold Up" from his 2006 album Night Ripper.

External links

*youtube|_TlKEQ2nIyo|Music video for "Hate Me Now"

References