"Memories Back Then" is a song by American hip hop recording artist

T.I. Clifford Joseph Harris Jr. (born September 25, 1980), known professionally as T.I. or Tip, is an American rapper and singer raised in Atlanta, Georgia. Harris is credited as a pioneer of the hip hop subgenre trap music, along with fellow Georgi ...

, featuring

guest appearance The term guest appearance generally denotes the appearance of a guest in an artistic or pop-culture setting. The guests themselves (referred to as guest artists, featured artists, guest stars, or guest fighters, depending on context), are disting ...

s from fellow American

rapper Rapping (also rhyming, flowing, spitting, emceeing, or MCing) is an artistic form of vocal delivery and emotive expression that incorporates "rhyme, rhythmic speech, and ommonlystreet vernacular". It is usually performed over a backing ...

B.o.B Bobby Ray Simmons Jr. (born November 15, 1988), known professionally as B.o.B, is an American rapper, singer, songwriter, and record producer. Raised in Decatur, Georgia, Simmons signed with record producer Jim Jonsin's Rebel Rock Entertainm ...

and

Kendrick Lamar Kendrick Lamar Duckworth (born June 17, 1987) is an American rapper, singer, songwriter and record producer. Regarded as one of the greatest rappers of all time, he was awarded the 2018 Pulitzer Prize for Music, becoming the first music ...

, as well as vocals from American singer-songwriter

Kris Stephens Kristina Marie Stephens (born January 21, 1987) is an American singer and songwriter. She is best known for her guest performance alongside Kendrick Lamar and B.o.B on rapper T.I.'s 2013 single " Memories Back Then", which entered the ''Billbo ...

. The song, produced 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 ...

Hustle Gang Grand Hustle Records (formerly Grand Hustle Entertainment), also known as Hustle Gang Music, is an American hip hop record label, founded in 2003, by American rapper and record executive T.I. and his manager Jason Geter. The label was distribute ...

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: * Sample (graphics), an intersection of a color channel and a pixel * Sample (material), a specimen or small quantity of something * Sample (signal), a digital discrete sample of a continuous analog signal * Sample ...

Belgian-Australian singer-songwriter

Gotye Wouter André De Backer (; born 21 May 1980), known professionally as Gotye ( , , ), is a Belgian-born Australian singer-songwriter and multi-instrumentalist. He is best known for his 2011 single "Somebody That I Used to Know" (featuring Kimbr ...

's hit single, "

Somebody That I Used to Know "Somebody That I Used to Know" is a song written, produced and performed by the Belgian-Australian musician and singer Gotye featuring vocals from the New Zealander singer Kimbra. The song was released in Australia and New Zealand through El ...

". 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 Music Albums * ''Cross Over'' (album), a 1987 album by Dan Peek, or the title song * ''Crossover'' (Dirty Rotten Imbeciles album), 1987 * ''Crossover'', an album by Intrigue * ''Crossover'', an album by ...

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 '

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' to '

Swagga Like Us "Swagga Like Us" is a song by American rappers Jay-Z, T.I., Kanye West, and Lil Wayne, released on September 6, 2008, in the United States as the fifth single from T.I.'s sixth album ''Paper Trail'' (2008). The track was also initially slated ...

,' we took

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

' ' Gypsy Woman' for ' Why You Wanna.'" 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 Jonathan Ahmad Calloway (born July 3, 1971), known as Sway, is an American radio personality, journalist and former rapper known for hosting music, news, and culture programming. He was an on-air reporter and host for MTV News and occasional non- ...

'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 netw ...

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 that integrates a song or an album with imagery that is produced for promotion (marketing), promotional or musical artistic purposes. Modern music videos are primarily made and used as a music marketing device intended to ...

for "Memories Back Then", in

Los Angeles Los Angeles, often referred to by its initials L.A., is the List of municipalities in California, most populous city in the U.S. state of California, and the commercial, Financial District, Los Angeles, financial, and Culture of Los Angeles, ...

California California () is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States that lies on the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. It borders Oregon to the north, Nevada and Arizona to the east, and shares Mexico–United States border, an ...

, 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