56

California Love
2Pac
1995

You didn’t think we were gonna complete this list without a little Pac, did you?  I say that as though I’m a fan; in reality, this is literally the only Tupac Shakur song that I know. Perhaps I’ve heard a couple others, but if you need a primer on my rap/hip-hop chops, you need to go back and read what I said about #71. 

But this song is killer. That opening (and continuing) bass line?  Incredible. The interplay with two legends, 2Pac and Dre?  Amazing.  And, of course, playing homage to the greatest state in the Union?  It doesn’t get better than this, friends. (Well, actually it does - there are 55 better songs.)  This was California Dreamin’ for the 1990s, and it’s an all-timer. My only regret is that when he rattles off the list of cities at the end of the song, he didn’t (a) name the great city of Clayton (or at least Walnut Creek - no street cred for the WC? 🤪), and more lamentable (b) that he uses the term “Frisco” — twice!  The horror!

Also, for the record:  this song was already on my list and in place before the recent news that 2Pac’s killer had been charged. He didn’t get a sympathy vote on the Top 100 for that!

Other Songs Considered:
I’m ignorant of his catalog, but it’s hard to fathom anything better than this.