With homegrown beats,
Food & Liquor made Lupe Fiasco 2006’s “it” MC.
story OLIVER WANG
rockin’ enough hipster gear to hang with fashionistas like Pharrell but still grounded in a concrete world of skateboard rebellion, Lupe Fiasco’s become one of 2006’s most heralded artists. For Food & Liquor, Lupe rolls with both sides of the A-list, bringing aboard the Neptunes and Kanye West alongside his home team versions of Soundtrakk and Prolyfic from 1st & 15th Productions. Between them, soul, fusion, electronica and even classical crates get raided for Lupe to kick-push his way through his debut.
|
Real Soundtrakk gets things started with a loud and brash beat built around an equally funky source: “How Does It Feel?” by veteran studio drummer Harvey Mason Sr. Though Mason began in the straight-ahead era, he made his main mark in disco through hit albums like Funk In a Mason Jar. This mesh of rock, disco and soul came off his 1981 album, MVP.
|
|
Just Might Be OK Speaking of veteran studio drummers, Soundtrakk’s partner Prolyfic borrows from another one here: Paul Humphrey (of the Cool-Aid Chemists). Humphrey’s well-known to sample hounds as the source of A Tribe Called Quest’s playful, Low End Theory-era cut, “What?” but Prolyfic turns to one of his most obscure tracks – “Humphrey’s Overture,” a song only found on the blaxploitation-meets-kung-fu soundtrack, Black Fist from 1977. Suitably, the producer chops things up to drizzle Humphrey’s funk loops amidst a collision of electronic swirls, roaring horns, and rattling drum fill.
|
|
Kick, Push The clearance isn’t credited here but we have it on good authority—Soundtrakk himself—that he snuck through his dad’s collection of Filipino pop records to find the romantic strings he plucked for this memorable beat. Kabigha-bighani!
|
To read the rest of this story, get this issue at your local Newsstand now! Or get 8 Issues for only $12, Subscribe Now! Save 70% off the newsstand price!!!