Public Chalk

Sorry for a Sample-less Saturday last week my fellow diggers.  I was lucky enough to be enjoying a quick vacation in my new second favorite American city; San Francisco (first NYC, where else?).  Back to work…

Each member of The Fugees contributed to the production on The Score, along with hip hop super veterans Diamond D and Salaam Remi.  Co-producing the entire album was Jerry Duplessis, a name not as widely recognized, though it should be synonymous with The Fugees.  Duplessis is a Haitian born musician and producer, who’s arrangements and contributions on bass, guitar, and percussion were vital to the sound of the album.  With Duplessis’ instrumentation used tastefully on several tracks, the core of the album’s production is built on samples and loops.  As a result, I remember in an interview Salaam Remi saying that his dad, studio musician Van Gibbs, used to jokingly refer to him as “Looper Vandross”.  Regardless of how they made it work, they did, and The Score had a heavy influence on hip hop production for the rest of the decade.

The backdrop to “Ready Or Not” is a slightly slowed down sample of “Boadicea” from Irish singer Enya’s debut album.  When slowed down, her vocal tone takes on a whole new sonic shape, creating an extremely eerie atmosphere of sound.  The same loop was re-worked for Mario Winans 2004 hit single “I Don’t Wanna Know”, which peaked at #2 on charts, where it stayed for eight consecutive weeks. Back to the Fugees record… the hook for “Ready Or Not” is actually an interpolation of “Ready Or Not (Here I Come)” by The Delfonics.  The beat is not complete until the drum chops join in, which programming wise sound very Salaam Remi-ish to me (break courtesy of Headhunters).

Enya – Boadicea

The Fugees – Ready Or Not

via KevinCaseyMusic

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