"Memories Back Then" is a song by American hip hop recording artist T.I., featuring guest appearances from fellow American rappers

B.o.B Bobby Ray Simmons Jr. (born November 15, 1988), known professionally as B.o.B, is an American rapper and record producer. Raised in Decatur, Georgia, Simmons was signed to Jim Jonsin's Rebel Rock Entertainment imprint in 2006. Two years later, ...

and Kendrick Lamar, as well as vocals from American singer-songwriter

Kris Stephens Kristina Marie Stephens (born January 21, 1987) is an American singer and songwriter. She has written songs for artists such as Shakira, Pitbull, Chris Brown, Jennifer Lopez, LeToya Luckett and Keyshia Cole. As an artist, her vocals have been ...

. The song,

produced Producer or producers may refer to: Occupations *Producer (agriculture), a farm operator *A stakeholder of economic production *Film producer, supervises the making of films **Executive producer, contributes to a film's budget and usually does not ...

Maurice "Kenoe" Jordan, was initially released as a

single Single may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media * Single (music), a song release Songs * "Single" (Natasha Bedingfield song), 2004 * "Single" (New Kids on the Block and Ne-Yo song), 2008 * "Single" (William Wei song), 2016 * "Single", by ...

by Hustle Gang on April 22, 2013. The song debuted and peaked at number 88 on the US ''Billboard'' Hot 100 chart.

Background

T.I. had originally recorded "Memories Back Then", for his eighth studio album '' Trouble Man: Heavy Is the Head'' (2012). In an interview released on October 19, 2012, West Coast rapper Kendrick Lamar revealed that he recorded a song with T.I., for the aforementioned album. The song was also reported to feature B.o.B and

sample Sample or samples may refer to: Base meaning * Sample (statistics), a subset of a population – complete data set * Sample (signal), a digital discrete sample of a continuous analog signal * Sample (material), a specimen or small quantity of s ...

Belgian-Australian singer-songwriter Gotye's hit single, " Somebody That I Used to Know". Although the track failed to appear on ''Trouble Man'' due to sample-clearance issues, B.o.B announced the song would be the first single from the Grand Hustle Records compilation album, ''Hustle Gang''.

Music and lyrics

The song's mass appeal attracted T.I. to the sample: "The record's just jamming. When I heard the twist they put on it, man, it was kind of a no-brainer." T.I. also chose the record for its

crossover Crossover may refer to: Entertainment Albums and songs * ''Cross Over'' (Dan Peek album) * ''Crossover'' (Dirty Rotten Imbeciles album), 1987 * ''Crossover'' (Intrigue album) * ''Crossover'' (Hitomi Shimatani album) * ''Crossover'' (Yoshino ...

ability, which he has always been successful with in the past: "It sounds like hip-hop with an international twist to it, and I'm known for taking those types of records and bridging that gap between what we do and what they do," he explained, dropping in a couple of examples. "From M.I.A.'s '

Paper Planes A paper plane (also known as a paper airplane in American English or paper aeroplane in British English) is a toy aircraft, usually a glider made out of single folded sheet of paper or paperboard. A simple nose-heavy paper plane, thrown like ...

' to '

Swagga Like Us "Swagga Like Us" is a song by American hip hop recording artists Jay-Z and T.I. The song features guest verses from fellow American rappers Lil Wayne and Kanye West, the latter of whom also produced the song, constructing primarily around a ...

,' we took

Crystal Waters Crystal Waters (born November 19, 1961) is an American house and dance music singer and songwriter, best known for her 1990s dance hits " Gypsy Woman", " 100% Pure Love", and 2007's " Destination Calabria" with Alex Gaudino. All three of her s ...

' ' Gypsy Woman' for '

Why You Wanna "Why You Wanna" is a song by American rapper T.I., released as the second official single from his fourth album ''King'' (2006). It samples a slowed down keyboard chord from Crystal Waters' "Gypsy Woman (She's Homeless)". The chorus also interp ...

.'" Over the drum-heavy sample, Lamar and Bobby Ray join T.I. in sharing some nostalgic stories, which he says reminds him of some of a few renowned MCs and their classic projects: " e'retaking turns on our story about a female that we knew years, years, years ago before we were who we are today. It kinda puts me in the mind of the ' Da Art of Storytellin' nd ''The Art of Storytelling''">The_Art_of_Storytelling.html" ;"title="nd ''The Art of Storytelling">nd ''The Art of Storytelling''from Outkast and Slick Rick. It puts me in the mind of that."

Rework

The song failed to make ''Trouble Man'' or ''Hustle Gang''‘s final respective track listing’s due to sample clearances. On December 17, 2012 T.I. appeared on Sway Calloway's Sway in the Morning

radio show A radio program, radio programme, or radio show is a segment of content intended for broadcast on radio. It may be a one-time production or part of a periodically recurring series. A single program in a series is called an episode. Radio networ ...

to promote the Hustle Gang album, while there he premiered "Memories Back Then". T.I. did not want to abandon the song and felt the song needed to reach more people, so he had the song reworked, removing Gotye's "Somebody That I Used to Know" sample: "I rocked out as soon as I heard it. It felt relevant, it felt urgent. However, I was not able to work out a clearance. I didn't want to waste the opportunity because it was such a great performance and meaningful message from myself and B.o.B and Kendrick.”, T.I. said to

Rap-Up ''Rap-Up'' is a magazine launched in 2001 by founder Devin Lazerine. The publication was originally a website devoted to hip hop, until Lazerine decided to pitch the possibility of a magazine to several publishers. The magazine is focused on the ...

Music video

In March 2013, T.I. filmed the

music video A music video is a video of variable duration, that integrates a music song or a music album with imagery that is produced for promotion (marketing), promotional or musical artistic purposes. Modern music videos are primarily made and used as a m ...

for "Memories Back Then", in

Los Angeles Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the largest city in the state of California and the second most populous city in the United States after New York City, as well as one of the world' ...

California California is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States, located along the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the List of states and territori ...

, alongside B.o.B, Kendrick Lamar and Kris Stephens. The music video for "Memories Back Then", directed by Philly Fly Boy, was released April 22, 2013. As of March 2021 the video has over 100 million views.

Track listing

*Digital download # "Memories Back Then" — 5:06

Charts

Weekly charts

Year-end charts

Release history

References

{{Authority control 2013 singles Songs written by T.I. Songs written by B.o.B Songs written by Kendrick Lamar Songs written by Victoria Monét T.I. songs Kendrick Lamar songs B.o.B songs Epic Records singles Grand Hustle Records singles