IT'S SETTLED - 1 - Loungecore.com

IT'S SETTLED - 1

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PRINCE PAUL PRODUCES A MONSTER - 3 FEET HIGH & RISING

In 1989 rap trio De La Soul released their debut album 3 Feet High And Rising, it was the first of three albums they recorded alongside producer Prince Paul. At the time DJ/rapper/musician Prince Paul was keyboardist for the old school hip-hop group Stetasonic, which he was a founding member of in 1979. As a producer Prince Paul had worked on successful hip-hop albums from various artists, including BDP, 3rd Bass, MC Lyte and Big Daddy Kane. 3 Feet High And Rising is a landmark hip-hop recording that pioneered the use of sampling and production. The album was the first ever to use hip-hop skits - comedic skit interludes between tracks. Many of the album's songs are produced by sampling five or more songs, and mixing them all together:

SAY NO GO

Freebase - Don't Do It! That is the message in De La Soul's Say No Go. The song's title is inspired by First Lady Nancy Reagan's ant-drug slogan - Just Say No. This song was part of a movement in hip-hop music to address the crack epidemic that was devestating city streets in the late eighties and early nineties. Unfortunately, at the same time there was a even bigger movement to promote crack in music, which helped to build many successful record labels and rap careers.

Say No Go is made up of pieces of seven different songs. The song is largely based on the eighties pop hit from Hall and Oates Method Of Modern Love. The distinctive drumbeat is sampled from the 1968 song by The Turtles - I'm Chief (We're The Royal Macadamia Nuts). The intro on The Detroit Emerald's 1972 song Baby Let Me Hold You provides a nice riff to toss into the mix. Another nice riff comes from Sly Stone's 1975 song Crossword Puzzle. The "Ahhh" snip on Say No Go comes from The Emotions on the chorus to their disco hit Best Of My Love. Late in the song you will find two other snips, including "It's The Joint" which comes from the Funky 4 + 1 song It's The Joint. The final sample credit goes to the theme for Dragnet, this for the spoken lyric "da da da da", which is a interpolation of the main riff from the 1951 Dragnet Theme.

HALL & OATES
I Can't Go For That (No Can Do)
1981

THE TURTLES
I'm Chief (We're The Royal Macadamia Nuts)
1968

THE DETROIT EMERALDS
Baby Let Me Take You
1972

SLY STONE
Crossword Puzzle
1975

THE EMOTIONS
Best Of My Love
1977

TV theme
Dragnet
1951

FUNKY 4 + 1
It's The Joint
1980

ME MYSELF & I

ME MYSELF & I was the second to last song recorded for the 3 Feet High And Rising album. When the album was being finalized, their label (Tommy Boy) pushed the trio to produce a song that would introduce the album. Under pressure they wrote the humorous Me Myself And I, it was a proclamation that, despite all the peace signs and flowers, they are not hippies - they are just being themselves. The song was De La Soul's introduction for us to the D.A.I.S.Y. AGE - which stands for: Da Inner Sound Y'all

Me Myself and I was the only US number one R&B hit for De La Soul, and it was the song that solidified their presence. The US 12" release was a 3-sided single, on one side of the record there were parallel grooves - two different tracks could be heard depending on which groove the needle is playing. The song is heavily based on elements from Funkadelic's 1979 song Knee Deep. The dominant drumbeat is sampled from Edwin Birdsong's Rapper Dapper Snapper. The "What, say it now" snip that follow's "it's just me, myself, and I" is sampled from the beginning of The Ohio Players 1972 song Funky Worm. Another vocal snip is an "ai-ai" is sampled from late in the Loose End's 1986 song Gonna Make You Mine. Also sampled and tossed into the chorus is a clip of Doug E Fresh's Original Beat Box record.

FUNKADELIC
(Not Just) Knee Deep
1979

EDWIN BIRDSONG
Rapper Dapper Snapper
1980

THE OHIO PLAYERS
Funky Worm
1972

LOOSE ENDS
Gonna Make You Mine
1986

DOUG E FRESH
The Original Human Beat Box
1984

EYE KNOW

"EYE KNOW I Love You Better" - that is the line from Steely Dan's song Peg that inspired the title of this song. The song is a lyrical love note that pushes the De La Soul agenda of peace and harmony.

Eye Know was never released as a single in the US, but a 12" single was released in the UK which charted there. The song is largely based on music and vocals sampled from Steely Dan's 1977 song Peg. There is also a nice riff in the mix that comes from the intro to Make This Young Lady Mine by The Mad Lads. The drumbeat on Eye Know comes from Lee Dorsey's Get Out Of My Life Woman. The whistling on the song is Otis Redding, and it is sampled from the end of his song Sitting On The Dock Of The Bay. The final element in Eye Know is a horn break found mid-song on Sly & The Family Stone's Sing A Simple Song.

THE MAD LADS
Make This Young Lady Mine
1969

LEE DORSEY
Get Out Of My Life Woman
1966

STEELY DAN
Peg
1977

OTIS REDDING
Sitting On The Dock Of The Bay
1968

SLY & THE FAMILY STONE
Sing A Simple Song
1968

POTHOLES IN MY LAWN

STOP STEALING MY RHYMES is what De La Soul is saying here. The "lawn" symbolizes De La
Soul's rhymes, and the "potholes" represent pieces of their lyrics that have been taken by other rappers.

Potholes In My Lawn was the first charting song for De La Soul. In 2004 it was the first hip-hop song played on Mars. The songs rhythm is created by looping the intro riff from War's Magic Mountain. The drum break comes from Barry White's I'm Gonna Love You Just A Little Bit More. The yodeling and jaw harp is sampled from Parliament's Lil' Old Country Boy. Another nice riff comes from Synthetic Substitution by Melvin Bliss. The final sample appears late in Potholes In My Lawn, it is a snip from Cookies by Brother Soul - "Who Stole The Cookies From The Cookie Jar".

WAR
Magic Mountain
1970

BARRY WHITE
I'm Gonna Love You Just A Little Bit More
1973

PARLIAMENT
Lil' Old Country Boy
1970

MELVIN BLISS
Synthetic Substitution
1973

BROTHER SOUL
Cookies
1974

ENIGMA - RETURN TO INNOCENCE

"NO MORE NO LESS It's The Magic Number" On this first song from the 3 Feet High And Rising album, the trio of rappers introduces themselves - Mase, Dove and Posdnous. The Magic Number also contains the sampled snip from which the albums title is inspired.

The Magic Number is based on Three Is A Magic Number by Bob Dorough, which was a segment from the animated TV series Schoolhouse Rocks. The song heavily samples Lesson 3 by Double Dee & Steinski, it also samples from many of the 19 individual tracks that song is made up of. Late in The Magic Number there is a scratched "1,2,3" snip that comes from Run DMC's Jam Master Jay. Another "1,2,3" snip comes from James Brown's Funky Drummer. The vocal snip "anybody in the audience ever get hit by a car" comes from a Eddie Murphy skit. Another snip scratched in comes from Fatback Band - "Is This The Future". The "do the shing-a-ling" snip comes from Sly Johnson's Different Strokes. And the sample of "how high is the water mama" comes from the song that inspired the title De La Soul's debut album - Johnny Cash's 1959 song Five Feet High And Rising.