AudioTake

▶

▶ 6K ❤ 0 💬 0

MF DOOM - ALL CAP There’s only one rule you need to remember when talking about this man. ALL CAPS when you spell the name. In 2004, MF DOOM and Madlib came together as Madvillain and released Madvillainy. An album that didn’t sound like it was trying to compete with mainstream hip-hop. It sounded like it existed in its own universe. And sitting near the end of that album was one of MF DOOM’s defining records. “All Caps.” The title comes from one of DOOM’s simplest requests: Respect the name. And DOOM didn’t need a traditional song structure to make his point. There’s no giant pop chorus. No attempt at a radio-friendly hook. Just Madlib’s production… and DOOM doing what made DOOM different. Dense rhymes. Internal rhymes. References stacked on top of references. Words connecting in places you don’t expect. All delivered with that calm voice… like the villain already knows how the story ends. But to really understand “All Caps,” you have to see it. Because the music video turned MF DOOM into what he had always presented himself as: a comic-book supervillain. Director and animator James Reitano created the video almost entirely by hand. Around 900 to 1,000 individual drawings. And its visual language came straight out of old Silver Age comic books and limited-animation cartoons. DOOM himself was heavily involved in the idea. And there was a reason that aesthetic fit him so perfectly. MF DOOM was a huge Jack Kirby fan. Kirby, of course, helped create some of Marvel’s most recognizable characters… including the Fantastic Four… and one of comic books’ greatest villains: Doctor Doom. And that’s where this story gets even more interesting. Daniel Dumile didn’t originally start his career as MF DOOM. He had been Zev Love X of KMD. But after the death of his brother Subroc and the collapse of the group… he disappeared from hip-hop for years. When he returned… he didn’t simply come back as another rapper. He came back as a character. The mask. The mythology. The aliases. The idea of the villain operating outside the traditional rules of the industry. MF DOOM turned anonymity into part of the art. You weren’t supposed to obsess over the celebrity behind the music. You were supposed to pay attention to the character… and most importantly… the rhymes. That’s why “All Caps” feels almost like the perfect MF DOOM record. Even the title is about protecting the identity he created. And now… more than 20 years later… something pretty interesting is happening. The internet is talking. Marvel’s Avengers: Doomsday is coming. Doctor Doom is finally taking center stage in an Avengers movie. And fans have been saying Marvel should find some way to acknowledge MF DOOM. Personally? I agree. Imagine the Marvel Studios intro starts. The pages begin flipping. That familiar logo appears… and instead of the music we’re expecting… Madlib’s “All Caps” instrumental starts playing. My vote? This one. Not because MF DOOM and Marvel’s Doctor Doom are the same character. They’re not. But because DOOM took inspiration from comic-book villainy… built an entirely original mythology around it… and created one of the most recognizable identities hip-hop has ever seen. And now Marvel has an opportunity to let that influence travel back in the other direction. Not some giant tribute that interrupts the movie. Just a moment. A beat. A musical acknowledgment for the hip-hop villain who spent decades reminding us exactly how his name should be written. So I want to know: Should Marvel use an MF DOOM song in Avengers: Doomsday? And if they do… which song gets your vote? “All Caps”? “Doomsday”? “Rapp Snitch Knishes”? Something else? Let me know in the comments. And if you’ve been enjoying these AudioTakes… which song should I do next? Because before Doctor Doom takes over the big screen… there’s another DOOM whose legacy deserves to be remembered. And remember… ALL CAPS when you spell the man’s name. This is AudioTake. #audiotake #mfdoom #allcaps #marvel #doomsday

▶

▶ 463 ❤ 0 💬 0

What if I told you one of the biggest rap songs of the 1990s started with Stevie Wonder… and a friendly competition over who could find the better sample? In 1995, Coolio released a song that would become much bigger than anybody expected. “Gangsta’s Paradise.” But the story doesn’t start with Coolio. It starts almost 20 years earlier… with Stevie Wonder. In 1976, Stevie released “Pastime Paradise” on Songs in the Key of Life. And the song wasn’t exactly a celebration of paradise. It was about people becoming trapped in an idealized version of life… while ignoring the problems happening right in front of them. Nearly two decades later, producer Doug Rasheed was digging through his record collection. He and DJ Paul Stewart used to compete with each other… basically trying to see who could find the best sample. One day, Rasheed pulled out Stevie Wonder’s album. He found “Pastime Paradise.” And he heard something. That haunting synthesizer. Those strings. That almost spiritual atmosphere. He flipped it into a new beat. And then L.V. heard it. L.V. began experimenting with the melody. But instead of singing “Pastime Paradise…” he changed the idea. “Gangsta’s Paradise.” And suddenly… Stevie Wonder’s world had been transformed. Then Coolio walked in. He heard the track. And according to Coolio, the opening line basically came to him immediately: A man walking through the valley of the shadow of death… looking back at his life… and realizing there’s almost nothing left. He said the entire song came to him in one sitting. So now think about what happened. Stevie Wonder had created a song about people trapped in a false paradise. Coolio took that concept… and put it inside the mind of someone trapped in a completely different kind of paradise. A gangsta’s paradise. Not a place where everything is perfect. A place where violence, poverty, power and survival have become so normal… that you don’t even know how to escape them. And that’s why the record sounds so heavy. It’s not really a victory lap. It’s a confession. Coolio is looking at the life he’s living… and asking how he got there. “Will I live to see 24?” That’s not somebody celebrating the lifestyle. That’s somebody wondering if the lifestyle is going to kill him. And then L.V.’s chorus comes in like a choir. Here’s another incredible detail: That massive choir you’re hearing? It’s L.V. He recorded the different vocal parts himself… stacking them together until one person sounded like an entire choir. (Sound & Vision) And then Hollywood got involved. “Gangsta’s Paradise” became the lead single from the Dangerous Minds soundtrack. The music video even featured Michelle Pfeiffer, connecting Coolio’s story directly to the movie. And suddenly… a song that started with a producer digging through Stevie Wonder records… was everywhere. It went to number one around the world and became one of the defining songs of the 1990s. (The Irish Times) But here’s what I find most fascinating. Stevie Wonder created “Pastime Paradise.” Coolio created “Gangsta’s Paradise.” Different artists. Different generations. Different circumstances. But underneath both songs is the same uncomfortable question: What happens when you become so accustomed to your surroundings that you stop believing you can leave them? That’s the magic of sampling. It’s not always about taking an old song… and putting it underneath a new beat. Sometimes… you’re continuing a conversation that started decades before you arrived. So here’s my question: What’s a hip-hop sample that you think actually made the original song even more meaningful? Not just a great sample… but one where the new artist completely transformed the meaning. Drop your pick in the comments. And if you’ve been enjoying these AudioTakes… which song should I do next? Because sometimes the greatest hip-hop records aren’t created from scratch. Sometimes… they’re discovered. This is AudioTake. #audiotake #coolio #gangstasparidise #michellepfeiffer #90shiphop

▶

▶ 451 ❤ 0 💬 0

What do you get when you combine Irish music… Philadelphia soul… and hip-hop? One of the most haunting songs of the 1990s. In 1996, the Fugees released “Ready or Not.” And if you’ve heard it, you already know that opening. That eerie voice. That almost ghostly atmosphere. Lauryn Hill coming in over the top… “Ready or not…” But here’s the crazy part. Almost nothing about the foundation of this song sounds like it should belong together. Let’s start with the hook. Lauryn Hill’s famous chorus is built around an interpolation of “Ready or Not Here I Come (Can’t Hide from Love)” by the Philadelphia soul group The Delfonics. That song came out in the late 1960s. Originally… it was a love song. But the Fugees completely changed the feeling. Put that melody over a dark, almost threatening atmosphere… and suddenly “ready or not, here I come” doesn’t sound like somebody chasing you because they’re in love. It sounds like a warning. Then there’s the sound underneath it. That haunting vocal you hear throughout the record? Enya. The Fugees sampled her song “Boadicea.” And “Boadicea” itself carries an entirely different history. The title refers to Boudicca—the ancient British Celtic queen who led a revolt against the Romans. So now we’ve got… 1960s Philadelphia soul. Ancient Celtic history. Irish new-age music. And New Jersey hip-hop. All on one record. And here’s where things get interesting. The Fugees didn’t actually clear Enya’s sample before releasing the song. Enya’s camp was prepared to take legal action. But after learning more about the Fugees and hearing what they were doing with the music… she decided to let it go. And eventually, she received credit and royalties for the sample. That little decision matters. Because without that haunting piece of “Boadicea”… “Ready or Not” doesn’t feel like “Ready or Not.” It’s the atmosphere. It’s the tension. It’s almost like the song is floating through a dream. Then Lauryn Hill comes in… and turns that dream into something completely different. And listen to the Fugees themselves. Wyclef. Pras. Lauryn. Three completely different personalities. Three different approaches. But somehow they all fit inside this strange musical world. That’s what makes The Score so important. The Fugees weren’t simply making rap records. They were pulling from everywhere. Soul. Reggae. R&B. Rock. Pop. And then putting all of it through their own musical identity. “Ready or Not” might be the perfect example. Because when you hear it today… you don’t hear Enya. You don’t hear the Delfonics. You hear the Fugees. And that’s one of the most powerful things sampling can do. It can take something you’ve heard before… something you never expected to hear in hip-hop… and make you hear it completely differently. A song from Philadelphia. A song from Ireland. A group from New Jersey. And somehow… they all became part of hip-hop history. So here’s my question: What’s the most unexpected sample you’ve ever heard in a hip-hop song? Something where you heard the original and thought… “Wait… THEY sampled THAT?” Drop it in the comments. And if you’ve been enjoying these AudioTakes… which song should I do next? Because sometimes the greatest hip-hop records aren’t built from one musical world. They’re built from several. And somehow… they become one. This is AudioTake. #thefugees #thedelfonics #readyornot #audiotake #hiphopmusic