A case of “being in the wrong place at the wrong time” has been credited as the reason for the classic club collaboration between Pras (of Fugees fame) Mya and Ol’ Dirty Bastard (lord rest his soul) on Ghetto Supastar (That Is What You Are) back in 1998. You might remember it, the funky bassline, Mya’s soulful vocals (where is she right now) interpolating the chorus of Islands In The Stream by Dolly Parton and Kenny Rogers and somehow invoking one of the whitest songs ever into an absolute banger with the help of Pras’ smooth delivery and Dirty’s inimitable manic flow bouncing all over the track like Flubber.
The track peaked in the top three on the charts around the world, reaching number one on UK’s R&B charts and as high as number two on the ARIA charts. If you still need reminding you can listen below:
When anchor artist Pras was asked how the collaboration came about during an interview with Vlad TV, the interviewer received an unexpected answer.
“He walked [into] my [studio] session by mistake,” Pras confessed.
The interviewer replied with an excited tone in his voice, saying that he had heard about this story and speculating that he was drunk at the time.
“I don’t know if he was drunk,” Pras replied, “but I know he he didn’t know the state he was in—meaning, in the USA, he thought that he was in a different state. I was in California; he thought he was in New York City. I don’t know if he was drunk. I don’t know if he was tired. I can’t say—God bless his soul, by the way. He just didn’t know where he was at. And so he thought my session was his session.”
When questioned about the dialogue, Pras said he was “respectfully” trying to make him leave. “I was sitting there trying to figure out what was going on. I’m being respectful; he’s a fellow artist. I don’t have no beef with him. [I] was trying to get him out in the nicest way.”
Eventually once he noticed the track that played in the background, Ol’ Dirty demanded to be a part of it. Even though Pras originally planned to delete the session he recorded but it turned out well. The former decided to keep Dirty’s verse (because deleting it would have been utter heresy) and the rest is history in the track we have today.
Watch the full interview below.
Image: Factmag