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August 30, 2005
When They Play That New Jeezy
A bunch of hip-hop-friendly blogs and websites have been buzzing about Atlanta (t)rapper/Def Jam artist Young Jeezy and his new joint "Go Crazy". Partially because of the hot remix featuring none other than the president of Jeezy's label (which reminds me, cheers and celebratory cymbal crashes to Tono Bungay drummer Tony Cenicola for snapping those eye-catching Hova-photos). The other reason all the so-called "dope boys" seem to be goin' crazy for the Jeezy track is its distinctive beat propelled by those soulful horns and tympani rolls. When I first heard the song a few weeks back it sounded really great but seemed oddly familiar...and not because I was somehow thinking of the original source of the sample, which turns out to be "Man Oh Man" by The Impressions. After a few days I finally realized that "Go Crazy" reminded me a whole lot of a song that local rapper Spectac did last fall during the Bandwidth release party at Local 506. Luckily, WXYC simulcasted that show over the radio and eventually made the audio files available online. So I went back and found the live version of a song called "Pushin'", which at the time Spectac said was "comin' off the new album". Here it is:
Spectac - Pushin' (live at Local 506, November 6th, 2004)
The "Go Crazy" beat is a little more handclappy, whereas the drums on Spectac's tune are a little more sparse and empty. But damn if the sample isn't exactly the same. According to the Thug Motivation 101 liner notes, the Young Jeezy joint was produced by Atlanta DJ/producer Don Cannon. I'm really curious as to whether some version of Cannon's beat might have been spread around or shopped around before Jeezy/Def Jam bought it and released it, or whether this is a strange situation where two distinct producers just so happened to independently use the same opening seconds of a lesser-known Impressions b-side from 1965. I need to email that kid Spectac and see what he knows about this.
For what it's worth, the Young Jeezy album sold very well in its first week (176,000 copies), debuting at #2 on the Billboard album chart. Given that today's highly-anticipated new release features a surefire-single ("Touch the Sky") heavily based on Curtis Mayfield's classic 1970 cut "Move On Up", I suspect that the estate of the late great Mr. Mayfield will be getting some major checks from Def Jam this year. If there's a hell below, maybe it has some ATMs...
Posted by Tim at August 30, 2005 11:11 PM
Comments
Interesting post...I know I'm a little late but good info is timeless.
Posted by: Sound Man Smuve at December 29, 2005 07:12 PM