Welcome back, readers! The summer is winding down and I’m still listening to danceable hip hop and R&B jams that make me want to shake my tailfeather on the dance floor. Well, kitchen floor really. Last week I unleashed a Sampling Edition, Part 1 to whet your musical appetites and had so much fun that I decided I’d double down on your asses with a two-parter. Not for the A.D.D. musical aficionado, these tracks featuring a plethora of samples in unique and unlikely capacities. Sometimes it’s fun just trying to see if you can figure out what part of the song belongs to which artist. Either way, it’s a luscious mix of sounds and beats that make some of your favorite songs a tad more danceable. And that’s always good.
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.Destiny’s Child - “Bootylicious”
Sample: Stevie Nicks – “Edge of Seventeen“
Who doesn’t love that chugging guitar riff that sets the tone of the Stevie Nicks classic “Edge of Seventeen?” Apparently, Destiny’s Child wanted to pay homage to one of the foremothers of rock n’ roll by pilfering the sound for the intro of “Bootylicious,” a cheeky video that actually features a cameo of Miss Nicks herself. As is the case with all great art, ironically Nicks and her writing team were subconsciously channelling their inner-Sting as it’s been said that the guitar and drum parts sound eerily similar to The Police’s “Bring On The Night” and they only realized it afterwards. Wow, I wasn’t ready for that jelly.
.Notorious B.I.G. feat. Puff Daddy & Lil’ Kim – “Notorious B.I.G.”
Sample: Duran Duran - “Notorious“
One of my favorite hip hop artists of all time (may he rest!), Notorious B.I.G. enlisted the help of some of his Bad Boy family members to create one of the more memorable hip hop and rock mash-ups from the 1990’s that is the quintessential personal anthem of his own self-proclaimed notoriety. Big up to Biggie for being able to make narcissistic songs so damn catchy by sampling a Duran Duran chorus and jangly guitar licks. Or was it Puff Daddy’s idea? After all, he does claim to have invented the remix.
.Jay-Z feat. Memphis Bleek – “It’s Alright”
Sample: Talking Heads – “Once In A Lifetime“
Oh Jay-Z, can you ever do wrong? It’s a song like this that makes me wonder what the hell does Talking Heads lead singer David Byrne have to say about this? It takes balls to sample Talking Heads for a hip hop song about maxin’, relaxin’ and chillaxin’. Apparently Jay and Memphis Bleek borrow from a Kraftwerk song (“The Hall Of Mirrors”) here too so the musical sample is essentially an ambitious composite of the two. Does Jay-Z really listen to new wave and synthpop? If so, holler back, young’n.
.Puff Daddy feat. Mase – “Been Around The World”
Sample: David Bowie – “Let’s Dance”
This track may be too slow to do the Harlem shuffle, but it still does make me long for the golden days of 90’s hip hop. With the help of then bromantic musical partner Mase, Puff Daddy had innovation on his mind when he laced this track with the inventive music of David Bowie’s classic “Let’s Dance,” while stealing the chorus from Lisa Stansfield’s soft-rock hit “Been Around The World.” Whatever happened to her? Is she still looking for her baby? Does Puff Daddy have a soft spot for the light music station? This is another example of odd musical pairings that totally work and leave it to Puffy to pioneer the art of musical interpolation and mixing the unlikeliest songs.
.Girl Talk – “Shut The Club Down”
Sample: Aphex Twin – “Girl/Boy Song” (among 16 other song snippets)
It was hard selecting a sample of DJ Girl Talk’s dizzying, creative as hell, genius mash-up tracks off Feed The Animals, but “Shut The Club Down” is one of my favorite tracks. In this one song he samples everyone from Avril Lavigne, Aphex Twin, Jay-Z, Rod Stewart, Butthole Surfers and Ray J, among others. I chose to feature the Aphex Twin track because he selects the breakdown of the incredible “Girl/Boy Song” during this track’s breakdown, while lacing in Rich Boy’s “Throw Some D’s.” Girl Talk finds a way to satisfy any type of musical enthusiast: 80s, rock, hip hop, synthpop, and pop. I can’t wait to finally catch a set of his at Street Scene San Diego next month. I’m going to wear my “Engineers Do It Better” t-shirt and hope he picks me out of the audience to jump in his inflatable raft and crowd surf. Sigh, I love me some Girl Talk.
