"Ghetto Story" is a dancehall/ragga single performed by dancehall artist

Baby Cham An infant or baby is the very young offspring of human beings. ''Infant'' (from the Latin word ''infans'', meaning 'unable to speak' or 'speechless') is a formal or specialised synonym for the common term ''baby''. The terms may also be used to ...

. It is the first single to be released from his album of the same name. The song is most known for its

reggae fusion Reggae fusion is a genre of reggae that mixes reggae and/or dancehall with other genres, such as pop, rock, hip hop, R&B, jazz, funk, soul, disco, electronic and latin. Origin Although artists have been mixing reggae with other genres from as ...

remix called "Ghetto Story Chapter 2" featuring American R&B singer

Alicia Keys Alicia Augello Cook (born January 25, 1981), known professionally as Alicia Keys, is an American singer, songwriter, and pianist. A classically trained pianist, Keys started composing songs when she was 12 and was signed at 15 years old by Col ...

. The single peaked at number 77 on the ''Billboard'' Hot 100, number 15 on ''Billboard'''s Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Singles chart, and number 13 on the ''Billboard'' Rap Tracks chart. It received heavy airplay on MTV2 and

BET Black Entertainment Television (acronym BET) is an American basic cable channel targeting African-American audiences. It is owned by the CBS Entertainment Group unit of Paramount Global via BET Networks and has offices in New York City, Los ...

, and some airplay on

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, covering over , making it the world's second-largest country by tot ...

's MuchMusic. The song is about growing up in the

ghetto A ghetto, often called ''the'' ghetto, is a part of a city in which members of a minority group live, especially as a result of political, social, legal, environmental or economic pressure. Ghettos are often known for being more impoverished t ...

and how it was for Cham in his younger years. The video entered

's ''

106 & Park ''106 & Park'' is an American hip hop and R&B music video show, set up in a countdown format, that was broadcast on weekdays at 6:00 pm ET/5:00 pm CT on BET; it aired on a one-day delay on BET International. It was the network's highest- rate ...

'' at number 9 before peaking at number 5, making it one of the very few

reggae Reggae () is a music genre that originated in Jamaica in the late 1960s. The term also denotes the modern popular music of Jamaica and its diaspora. A 1968 single by Toots and the Maytals, " Do the Reggay" was the first popular song to use ...

videos to reach the top 5 on that countdown. Another remix features singer

Akon Aliaune Damala Badara Akon Thiam (; born April 16, 1973), known mononymously as Akon, is a Senegalese-American singer, record producer, and entrepreneur. He rose to prominence in 2004 following the release of " Locked Up" (featuring Styles P ...

. Rapper

Lil Wayne Dwayne Michael Carter Jr. (born September 27, 1982), known professionally as Lil Wayne, is an American rapper, singer, songwriter, and record executive. His career began in 1995, at the age of 12, when he was signed by rapper Birdman, joining ...

has freestyled over the

instrumental An instrumental is a recording normally without any vocals, although it might include some inarticulate vocals, such as shouted backup vocals in a big band setting. Through semantic widening, a broader sense of the word song may refer to inst ...

Song information

These are the lyrics to the intro sung by

. The overall feel of the song is rage and celebration that the two have made it out of the

and out of their early struggles. The lyrics are very informative as Cham and Alicia Keys explain how it felt to live in the ghetto. Cham says ''A lot of people like the song for its lyrics and overall feel of the song.'' These are the first two lines in Cham's opening verse: In the official remix, which also includes singer

, he explains his way of living in the ghetto, and how he made it, the lines in his opening verse: The song uses the "85" riddim.

Music video

A music video was filmed for Chapter 2 featuring

. It was shot in

Jamaica Jamaica (; ) is an island country situated in the Caribbean Sea. Spanning in area, it is the third-largest island of the Greater Antilles and the Caribbean (after Cuba and Hispaniola). Jamaica lies about south of Cuba, and west of His ...

Sanaa Hamri Sanaa Hamri ( ar, سناء حمري; born November 19, 1977) is a Moroccan-American film, television, and music video director. She has directed music videos for musicians including Prince, Mariah Carey, Christina Aguilera, and Sting. She is k ...

. It shows the storyline of the lyrics and what it was like for Cham and Alicia Keys to live in a ghetto area. The unofficial video was put on MTV in late March. The video premiered on

's ''

'' on 8 August 2006 and entered the countdown three weeks later to debut at number nine and stay there for four days in a row. Eventually it peaked at number five.

Track listings

*CD 1 #"Ghetto Story Chapter 2" (featuring

) (Dameon Beckett, Dave Kelly, Alicia Keys) – 4:46 #"Hood" (Dameon Beckett, Dave Kelly) – 4:30 *CD 2 #"Ghetto Story Chapter 2" (featuring Alicia Keys) (Dameon Beckett, Dave Kelly, Alicia Keys) – 4:46 #"Ghetto Story" (album version) (Dameon Beckett, Dave Kelly) – 4:12 #"Hood" (Dameon Beckett, Dave Kelly) – 7:01 #"Mytone" (CD-ROM track)

Versions

*"Ghetto Story Chapter 1" (Cham) *"Ghetto Story Chapter 2" (Cham featuring Alicia Keys) *"Ghetto Story Chapter 3" (Cham featuring

) *"Ghetto Story Chapter 4" (Cham featuring Alicia Keys and Akon)

Charts

Weekly charts

Year-end charts

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Ghetto Story (Song) 2006 songs Akon songs Alicia Keys songs Baby Cham songs Music videos directed by Sanaa Hamri Songs written by Alicia Keys Songs written by Akon