2Pac - Where U Been (Commentary)

[MOBNigga06]

Props to the big homie Jmix for leaking WHERE U BEEN, one of the best unreleased tracks to appear in recent years, in my opinion. A few comments and questions about the song appear below:

1. I would guess this song is an unfinished track from the AEOM era, since Syke is on it? Or might it be from closer to Makaveli?

2. Interesting to note that The Realest on "Free Em All" jacked the "life inside a jail cell...life inside a dirty hell" from Tupac's/Syke's outro on Where U Been.

3. This song seems personal. Anybody have any ideas about who Pac and the Lawz might be dissing or addressing on this track?

4. One idea on the last point: it could be a Dr. Dre diss. Pac's main beef with Dre was that he was never around the studio, never doing shit, hiding away. WHERE U BEEN, DRE? Shit is still applicable to this day. 

[Saber]

Who do you think produced it ?  Sounds like good ol' Johnny J to me.

[MOBNigga06]

Yeah, this track definitely sounds like it has the Johnny J touch...It sounds unfinished, so it doesn't have that polished sound that most Johnny J tracks have, but you can tell it's him. A finished version, with Danny Boy's hook and shit, man that would have been real dope.

[jmix]

Who do you think produced it ?  Sounds like good ol' Johnny J to me.

 i can confirm its johnny j.

[DeeezNuuuts83]

While it's already confirmed, it definitely sounds like a Johnny J beat... especially at that time, it wasn't uncommon for him to use recognizable samples (at least to me... I remember when that clip first leaked years ago, I think I was the first person to identify the Jackson 5 sample).  Definitely closer to being an AEOM-era track than Makaveli-era, considering it's a JJ track (who produced a lot in the beginning but less later on down the road, especially with Pac having been said to be looking for a new sound to experiment with, hence the Makaveli album) with Syke (who hung out around Death Row less and less frequently further into 1996) and Fatal (who left for NJ in the summer after the incident with the Landcruiser in July).

[Hack Wilson - real]

if someone can't tell it's a JJ beat after one hearing they gotta get better speakers or something.