DJ JS-1 ft. O.C. & Pharoahe Monch “Ridiculous“
Just throwing this up to connect some dots. You’d think from the song title that it might be another Gucci Mane song but it’s not (though I wonder if it’s trying to make a comment on Gucci at all). It’s just a dope battle track from long-time rap friends O.C. and Pharoahe. As usual, Pharoahe kills it and does so with a bunch of ‘M’ alliteration. Bonus points for classic literary devices. The track comes off DJ JS-1’s upcoming album, No Sellout, due next week and boasting a long list of dope guest rappers.
If the beat sounds at all familiar, that’s probably because you remember the same sample being used on Talib Kweli’s “This Means You (ft. Mos Def)” off the Reflection Eternal LP. Well, come to find out that the original (I think?) goes back a few years before that even. The Amsterdamian (or Amsterdamanian, Amsterdamman?) rap group above released that song in 1999 and if the amount of Youtube comments is to be believed, it looks like it was kind of a big deal. Someone let me know if this is definitely the right sample.
via Steady Bloggin, my current favorite rap blog simply because they have great taste.
UPDATE: DJ Tanner Shantanu comes through with the O.G. sample, illustrating my ignorance regarding all things Indian Native-American. Redbone was an all Native-American band from the 1970’s. “Clouds In My Sunshine” comes from their 1974 album, Wovoka.
*You didn’t think I could alliterate Pharoahe Monch’s name in the middle of the week, huh? I guess I’m just a classical rap thesaurus addict like that (……).
Original sample is from Redbone’s “Clouds in my sunshine.” Peep the track at roughly the 1:10 mark – http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ipWLU3O6ouQ. The first minute of the track is pretty dope too…a good mc can rhyme on it without even adding anything else.
Good lookin out Shants. Yeah, I thought it sounded weird that Hi-Tek would sample from a rap song that was only like 3 years old at the time.