I’ll admit, I have a thing for wonky samples in hip-hop and R&B — I’d rather hear freakin’ John Denver (he’ll fill up your senses!) over one more tired P-funk/James Brown/Kool & the Gang retread.
After all, what would Eminem’s “Stan” have been without its hook from British songbird Dido’s bath-time ballad “Thank You”? Or Jay-Z’s “Hard Knock Life (Ghetto Anthem)” without its genius appropriation of a song from the Broadway musical Annie? Oh, that saucy little orphaned urchin! So street.
Now, look at Jason Derulo — man enough, apparently, to take singer-songwriter Imogen Heap’s a capella hymn “Hide and Seek” (best known for its pivotal Marisa’s-got-a-gun cameo on The O.C., and in a subsequent, mocking SNL skit) and turn it into a radio hit with “Watcha Say”:
He’s not exactly blowing my mind with the lyrical science here, but it’s got its charms. And clearly, the song’s already got plenty of fans; Derulo’s MySpace plays for the track are up to nearly 7 million.
You tell me, Music Mixers — are you a fan of these kinds of inter-music-species pollinations? What are your favorite unexpected-slash-bizarro samples?
More from EW’s Music Mix:
Jay-Z feat. Rihanna and Kanye, ‘Run This Town’: Watch it here!
R. Kelly: Yet another crazy sex metaphor
Guilty pleasures bracket revealed!
it’s a shame what happened to R & B after the 70′s. now it’s all imbeciles operating machines and terrible lyrics. the JD “song” above barely sounds human. forget the samples. play me a good song by a band, not machines.
Yeah I gave up on rap and R&B. It basically sucks now. I’ll stick to the soul of the 70′s, rap of the 80′s and early 90′s hip hop thank you very much.
Gotta love Kid Cudi, Kanye, and Common’s Make Her Say. That Lady Gaga sample is fierce. And Jay-Z, Kanye, Lil Wayne, and T.I.’s Swagga Like Us. Noone could’ve sampled M.I.A. like them. And their grammy performance (with M.I.A. 9 months pregnant) was rediculous
Please stop enabling tired crap like this, EW. Raekwon has a fantastic new single which is basically a ’95 Wu-Tang reunion… Maybe highlight THAT instead?
I’m really laughing at the thought of there being no good R&B in 30 years. I mean, even if you’re opposed to modern radio sounds, did you all miss the whole neo-soul movement? Erykah Badu? Maxwell? D’Angelo? Jill Scott? WHAT IMBECILES!
The ultimate sample: Mariah sampling Tom Tom Club’s ‘Genius og Love’ for ‘Fantasy.’
Of course I meant ‘Genius OF Love! Ah, those typos, lol…..
As much as I can’t stand Diddy, I have to say the sample of Diana Ross’s “I’m Comin’ Out” on he and Biggie’s “Mo’ Money Mo’ Problems” was inspired, brave, and fun.
That’s his only good sample in my opinion. The rest are pretty lazy. There was an Onion article once that said something along the lines of Puff Daddy takes Billie Jean, adds nothing, releases it as a single.
I thought “Ghetto Superstar” made excellent use of “Islands In the Stream”.
The Numa Numa song in “Whatever You Like.” I just love the idea of T.I. wasting an afternoon on Youtube, coming across that lip syncing video, and thinking, “Eureka!”
i hate Jason Derulo’s song..HORRIBLE! i can’t believe imogen heap allowed him to sample one of her best songs. now people are on youtube commenting on it like “dis shiiit is off da hook! dat chicks vocals r tite” and people are quoting the lyrics on their facebook status’ ugh.
if people want to listen to good music then they should buy imogen heap’s new album “ellipse”..kanye referred to his “808′s and heartbreaks” as art cause he combined hip-hop and vocoders and electronics but its nothing compared to what imogen can do with technology and real instruments
Dude, its all done for more popularity. Alot of people wouldnt know who Imogen Heap is, then they hear this song and poof, they know… Then they like her, buy the album, and she is better off. She wouldnt do it if she didnt get anything out of it. She will also get money from sharing her song with him. So its a good idea to do something like this. She will be more well known now, espesially from people who dont listen to her genre of music, now might. Its all above broadening.
I am disgusted by this sample. It really disturbs me when a song that I really like is butchered in such a way. imogen Heap is a brilliant songwriter and producer and for her to allow this is the lowest form of “selling out” in my opinion. It also shows little to no creativity on the rapper’s behalf. Another among many that was upsetting to hear was Daft Punk’s “Harder, Better, Faster, Stronger” used in Kanye West’s song “Stronger”….if I dare even call it a song. Hey, let’s rap over someone else’s song and call it our own. That’s creative. Someone should start sampling rap songs and turning them into rock songs. See how that goes.