Bloggin 4 Beats: Common’s “Come Close” Remix
October 30, 2008 by JLBarrow
I few days ago I was lucky enough to hear Common’s new CD, Universal Mind Control, and in the conversation to the room full of journalists he said “People keep wondering if I’m doing Electric Circus over,” because of the left field direction of the new CD, produced by The Neptunes and Mr. DJ. I don’t know what it is but I LIKED Electric Circus, I still play “Soul Power” and “Between You Me and Liberation” quite often. I told him that if EC had come out today after the Gnarles Barkleys of the world people would be more accepting. But what was more frustrating about EC to me was that he was still paying tribute to the roots of hip-hop (as he does often on this new CD as well) and it went over people’s heads. The Tribe influence of “Come Close” was so obvious that they just went all the way to the house and re-sampled Roy Ayers’ “Daylight” from “Bonita Applebum” for the remix. So it got me to thinking; why not put my own Tribe twist on my Come Close remix? With some help from the folks at the Hip-Hop Sample Archive I grabbed the Grant Green drums from “Vibes and Stuff” and stacked them on top of the Shades of Brown joints from “Excursions.” At certain parts I put those ethereal moans from Al. B Sure’s “Ooh This Love” and then I used Bobby Womack’s “Woman Gotta Have It” on the hook. The tricky part was making sure that Common’s verses dropped in-between the snares to keep the original time of the his Q-Tip flow.
I know this is a little out of sorts with the horrific climate of both the holiday and the economy but if you’ve got somebody to weather this storm with, hold them close.
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Electric Circus is in my ride and I listen to it often.
Jimi was a rock star.
I am music.
I like your remix!
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