FROM DA BRICKS

Reasonable Doubt Deconstructed

For those of you who have been following my ‘work’ for a while, you may well remember the piece I put together for Oh Word back in February last year on Illmatic where I deconstructed all of the key sample sources that went into the production of the album.  The second installment in this series is now beginning over at The Passion of the Weiss, and this time it’s Reasonable Doubt that is receiving the full album deconstruction treatment.

Part 1 is already up over at Jeff’s spot now, with further installments throughout the week.  We took the decision to break this bad boy up a little because at over 3000 words in total for the whole album, I doubt your internet dented attention spans would have made it through the whole piece in one go.  I know mine probably wouldn’t.  Enjoy and make sure you chime in with some comments to make me feel like the labour of love was worth it.  Huge props to Jeff for the opportunity to let the piece reach a wider audience than it could ever have hoped to here at FDB.

Although only a handful of cuts ever make it to the fully blown beat deconstruction process, my desire to understand the craftsmanship behind my favourite bangers means that I’m constantly on the digital dig.  With such a wealth of information out there on these here internets (shouts to Dallas) it’s not often that such searches end in disappointment, but they do sometimes result in having to scrape my jaw off the floor after marveling at the revealed ingenuity of the producer behind the boards.

Clear leader in the ‘how did they do that?!’ stakes is unsurprisingly the inimitable DJ Premier whose legendary status requires no further exposition from yours truly.  Instead, here are a handful of Preem-honed cuts and their sources that failed to qualify for the beat deconstruction process on the grounds that I simply have nothing intelligible to say about them that enlightens the composition process.  Commentary will be sparse because – and this goes against all my blogging tendencies – the music speaks for itself.  Hats off to Premier: the man’s abeast.

All City – ‘The Actual’ 
taken from Metropolis Gold (MCA, 1998)

Chi-Lites – ‘We Need Order’
taken from A Letter To Myself (Brunswick, 1973)

Okay, so the stabs are there at the beginning, and that percussive roll kicks in after six seconds… this flip is blinding.  On a side note, half of Metropolis Gold is brilliant, half is awful.  Weird album.

Gangstarr – ‘Royalty’ 
taken from Moment Of Truth (Noo Trybe/Virgin/EMI, 1998)

Latimore – ‘Let’s Do It In Slow Motion’
taken from It Ain’t Where You Been (Glades, 1976)

What?!  You can hear the chimes that make up the Gangstarr track in the first few bars, but basically Latimore’s smooth groove is rendered completely unrecognisable at the hands of Premier.  You’d have to know: now you do.

Common – ‘The 6th Sense’
taken from Like Water For Chocolate (MCA, 2000)

Intruders – ‘Memories Are Here To Stay’
taken from Save The Children (Philadelphia International, 1973)

Clearly this has been sped up, pitch shifted and chopped all over the place, but you can hear the solitary piano chord at 0.23 that makes it into this fine track from Like Water For Chocolate.  That’s about the only sensible thing I can say about this though: ludicrous flip.

Mos Def – ‘Mathematics’
taken from Black On Both Sides (Rawkus, 1999)

Fatback Band – ‘Baby, I’m A Want You’
taken from Let’s Do It Again (Perception, 1972)

Oh, actually this one’s straightforward.  Chop that section at 0.02, splice it in with that other bit at 0.05, chuck in that cheeky guitar lick… who am I kidding.

Royce Da 5′9” – ‘Hip Hop’
taken from Death Is Certain (Koch, 2004)

Jerry Goldsmith – ‘Overture’
taken from The Sand Pebbles OST (20th Century Fox, 1966)

You can actually pick up on the one bar that becomes the main loop with this one (check the 0.40 mark), but those chops at the beginning? Get outta here.

AZ – ‘The Come Up’
taken from A.W.O.L. (Fastlife, 2005)

Lawrence Hilton Jacobs – ‘Holdin’ On’
taken from Lawrence Hilton Jacobs (?, 1978)

I need my mate Geoff to tell me if this is tremolo or vibrato on those strings at the 0.10 mark.  Unfortunately, I don’t think he’ll be able to shed much light on the construction of Preem’s loop though. I’d forgotten how good this track off A.W.O.L. was: I bet you had too.

Black Eyed Peas – ‘BEP Empire’
taken from Bridging The Gap (Interscope, 2000)

Curtis Mayfield – ‘Billy Jack‘
taken from There’s No Place Like America (Curtom, 1975)

Mr Martin, you blow my mind.

LL Cool J – ‘Doin’ It’ (Instrumental)
taken from Mr. Smith (Def Jam, 1995)

Grace Jones – ‘My Jamaican Guy’
taken from Living My Life (Island, 1982)

Audio Two – ‘Top Billin” (Instrumental)
taken from What More Can I Say? (First Priority, 1988)

Everybody knows about Rashad Smith, right? Well, if it’s any consolation it’s not a name that particularly resonates with me either and yet I’ll bet my bottom dollar that you’ve been bumping your head to his music for more than a minute.  Describing his back catalogue as illustrious would perhaps be forcing the point a little, but credits on Project: Funk Da World, Mr. Smith, Beats, Rhymes And Life, The Coming (‘Woo Hah!! Got You All In Check’ no less) and It Was Written ain’t nothing to sniff at by anybody’s standards and yet it was only in my research for this particular post that I even truly acknowledged his existence, having always mistakenly thought of ‘Doin’ It’ as a Trackmasters’ production. Hardly earth-shattering news I know, but sometimes even a music blogger’s ostensible omniscience is flawed.

It’s a shame that I feel the need to justify today’s selection for deconstruction but given that this is admittedly a pretty corny crossover hit, here it is in four words: the beat knocks hard.  Take away the cringe-inducing bedroom talk and what you’re left with is a dark and gritty piece of production work that would rock a basement party in Hollis as viciously as it did the Billboard Top 100 in 1995.  Those on the come-up take note: the power and commercial viability of the irritatingly catchy chorus hook delivered by the fairer sex should never be underestimated.

In terms of sample manipulation there’s not too much to discuss here as Smith basically loops up a couple of bars from the opening of Grace Jones’s ‘My Jamaican Guy’, the lead single from her sixth studio album that enjoyed commercial success in its own right.  I kind of like this song in all of its reggae/disco/electro mashed up weirdness, but I can’t say that this particular track or indeed Living My Life in more general terms have particularly encouraged me to delve further into her work.  However, I’m all ears so hit me with recommendations if you have them and school my sorry behind.  It’s interesting to note that Smith imitates the drum pattern found on the Jones’s record, setting the second snare in each bar slightly before the beat and pretty much replicating the kick drum pattern as well, albeit with a few extra flourishes for increased momentum.

However, the true genius of this track lies in the bass because there are actually two separate parts at play.  The most prominent doesn’t drop until a whole 53 seconds into the track and its arrival clearly adds an extra bounce to ‘Doin’ It’ that is beautifully judged and weighted.  From this point onwards its dropped in and out of the mix with aplomb, creating those necessary change ups that save the beat from overt monotony.  But it’s the alternate bassline run through a gate with the kick drum that really seals the deal.  For those not necessarily up on production jargon, a gate allows the signal from one track to be activated by the signal on another, so when the kick hits the bassline is allowed to play as well.  This subtle touch fills the beat out masterfully and explains why it feels so rich even before the main bassline drops.  As always, success lies in the minutiae folks.

Chuck in Audio Two and Daddy O’s “Go Brooklyn!” shouts from the timeless classic ‘Top Billin” during the chorus sections and the joint’s a wrap.  But it’s that bass… I guarantee that if you’ve never noticed that detail before you’ll hear this banger with a fresh new pair of ears, as it completely changed my perception of ‘Doin’ It’ once I’d locked into it.  If it does the same for you I’ll consider this a job well done: thank me later.