"Classic (Better Than I've Ever Been)" is a song by American rappers

Kanye West Ye ( ; born Kanye Omari West ; June 8, 1977) is an American rapper, singer, songwriter, record producer, and fashion designer. Born in Atlanta and raised in Chicago, West gained recognition as a producer for Roc-A-Fella Records in the ea ...

Nas Nas (born 1973) is the stage name of American rapper Nasir Jones. Nas, NaS, or NAS may also refer to: Aviation * Nasair, a low-cost airline carrier and subsidiary based in Eritrea * National Air Services, an airline in Saudi Arabia ** Nas Air ( ...

, and

KRS-One Lawrence "Kris" Parker (born August 20, 1965), better known by his stage names KRS-One (; an abbreviation of "Knowledge Reigns Supreme Over Nearly Everyone") and Teacha, is an American rapper from New York City. He rose to prominence as part of ...

. Produced by Rick Rubin and DJ Premier, it was released as a single on February 20, 2007 by Nike Records. It was performed live at the Nike Air Force Ones 25th anniversary party shown on

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. Its

remix A remix (or reorchestration) is a piece of media which has been altered or contorted from its original state by adding, removing, or changing pieces of the item. A song, piece of artwork, book, video, poem, or photograph can all be remixes. The o ...

, "Better Than I've Ever Been DJ Premier Remix", is produced by DJ Premier, and it features Rakim along with the aforementioned rappers. It features DJ Premier's signature scratches from prior songs such as Nas' " One Love" and " It Ain't Hard to Tell". The song was nominated for Best Rap Collaboration at the

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in 2008. Proceeds from the song's sales go towards youth leadership programs through the Force4Change Fund. The song is often misinterpreted as a DJ Premier track featuring Rakim, Nas and KRS-ONE and excluding Kanye West. This is due to a popular upload of 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 ...

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where DJ Premier is credited as the artist and Kanye West's opening verse is removed from the video. The music video itself was released for the DJ Premier Remix of the song.

Track listing

Side A: "Better Than I've Ever Been" (prod. Rick Rubin) featuring Kanye West, Nas, and KRS-One – full song – instrumental – a cappella Side B: "Classic (Better Than I've Ever Been DJ Premier Remix)" featuring Kanye West, Nas, KRS-One, and Rakim – full song – instrumental – a cappella

Music video

The

for the DJ Premier Remix of "Classic (Better Than I've Ever Been)" was released on March 29, 2007 and directed by

Thibaut de Longeville Thibaut de Longeville (born 1974) is a writer, filmmaker, creative director, brand marketer and entrepreneur. In 1995, at the age of 21, he founded 360 Communications. 360's two first projects were designing the visual identity for the Tour de ...

Samples

The original beat by Rick Rubin samples the song " Give Me the Night", performed by George Benson, off his '' Give Me the Night'' album. DJ Premier's remix contains samples from "Dance the Kung-Fu" by Carl Douglas.

References

{{authority control 2007 singles Rakim songs Nas songs Kanye West songs KRS-One songs Song recordings produced by DJ Premier Songs written by Nas 2007 songs Song recordings produced by Rick Rubin Songs written by Biddu Songs written by KRS-One Songs written by Kanye West Posse cuts