Sometimes I get sucked into a rabbit hole because of something I found interesting. This time, it was a sequence of songs. What comes next is meant to help you pass the time, find out some new music, and maybe find a cool website. Follow me.
The Truth, by Handsome Boy Modeling School
I found this song when for some reason I stumbled about Jam Session 2.0. A YouTube video where the artist Dumbfoundead put together 8 musicians streaming live (apparently).
I liked the song and the melody stuck so much that I went to find out where it came from. It let
It caught my eye and it caught my ear, specially because at some point there is a bit in Portuguese. The video was big and Jonathan Park aka Dumbfoundead made the headlines according to wikipedia:
He has been featured on NBC for his viral video Jam Session 2.0, consisting of 8 different musicians from around the world sharing the spotlight individually via split screen but collaborating on one cohesive track.[Wikipedia citation 14] He has also been on Los Angeles Times,[Wikipedia citation 15] Last Call with Carson Daly,[Wikipedia citation 16] MTV Hive,[Wikipedia citation 17] and Mnet.[Wikipedia citation 18]
The good thing about samples, is that if you pay attention and dig a bit deeper you can find new songs. That was how I found out about Handsome Boy Modeling School, a project by Dan the Automator (Gorillaz) and Prince Paul (De La Soul). They have two songs that became favourites for me, The Truth and I’ve been thinking.
Last week, spotify picked up on this and shared Coffee Cup by Boztown.
A few days later, the Sample School playlist shows up on my recommendations. A playlist of Lauryn Hill’s album followed by songs that use it for samples.
“Man, it would be great if there was a way to track down the samples used in a song.”
Fortunately, the internet is vast and full of wonders.
WhoSampled
This is the sort of old school website that shows some of the best that the internet can offer. Whosampled.com describes itself as a place to “Discover Music Through Samples, Cover Songs And Remixes”.
And of course I had to give it a go with an old favourite track:
The Truth by Handsome Boy and quickly I circled back to Galt MacDermot, and the original sampled song Coffee Cold.
Galt MacDermot is a composer, pianist and writer of musical theatre, who won a Grammy for the song African Waltz.
A friend actually teased me for not knowing him, but the biggest kick in the head was discovering Galt’s website. As I was browsing I came across a page called Samples where some of my favourite hip hop artists are listed:
- Run DMC. Down with the King. sample: ‘Where Do I Go’
- Busta Rhymes. Woo-Hah! sample: ‘Space’
- NAS. Halftime. sample: ‘Dead End’
- LL Cool J. New Love. sample: ‘Ripped Open by Metal Explosions’
- Snoop Dogg. Loosen Control. sample: ‘Space’
- Public Enemy. I. sample: ‘Ripped Open by Metal Explosions’
- Mos Def. Excellence. sample: ‘Ripped Open By Metal Explosions’
- Handsome Boy Modeling School. Truth. sample: ‘Coffee Cold’
- Wax Tailor. Que Sera. sample: ‘And He Will Not Come Again’
- MF DOOM. That’s That. sample: ‘Princess Gika’
So to make this come full circle, I went searching Spotify to create the playlist where my favorites were all listed. And because the web, and music, is about sharing, here it is for you to have a listen.
Bonus, digging the crates
Because Spotify got onto my musical trip down the rabbit hole, it began suggesting related playlists and sampled tracks. So far, this is one on my phone ready for the next commute or walk around Lisbon.
Thank you for sharing this trip with me, and if you have any recommendations do leave me a note or reach out on Twitter.
