“California Love” by 2Pac featuring Dr. Dre

"California Love" marked 2Pac's return: he had come out of prison in 1995, this was the first single to follow, and it was his first as Death Row Records' newest signing. It rolls in like a victory parade. The original version landed on the UK edition of All Eyez on Me, his fourth album. Dr. Dre produced and mixed it and shares the lead vocal, Roger Troutman works the talkbox, and Suge Knight sits in the executive producer's chair, with 2Pac co-producing.

It spent two weeks on top of the Billboard Hot 100, paired as a double A-side with "How Do U Want It", and it topped the charts in Italy, New Zealand and Sweden too. Hype Williams directed the video from a concept by Jada Pinkett Smith, taking its cue from Mad Max Beyond Thunderdome, and the song drew a posthumous Grammy nomination.

Written with AI assistance from RockLists chart data, MusicBrainz and Wikipedia.