Tupac releases 'California Love' featuring Dr. Dre and Roger Troutman

Why it matters

"California Love" came out December 28, 1995, on Death Row. Dr. Dre produced. Tupac rapped. Roger Troutman of Zapp sang the talkbox hook, which samples the keyboard riff from Joe Cocker's "Woman to Woman." It was Tupac's first single after his October prison release, the first major commercial product of his Death Row contract. The song went to #1 on the Billboard Hot 100 and stayed there for two weeks. The video, directed by Hype Williams, is Mad Max-themed (the Death Row roster as post-apocalyptic desert warriors). The song became, instantly, Tupac's biggest commercial hit, and is still the one most non-rap listeners can identify from the first three seconds. The talkbox hook is the part you remember. Tupac's verses are dense with West Coast geographic detail ("out on bail / fresh out of jail / California dreamin'") that he had earned the right to write. He had eight months to live when the single dropped. He spent some of those months being the biggest rapper in America on the strength of this song. You can play it at a function in 2026 and the room will still respond to it the same way.