Prince Be certainly knows how to allude to everything, from Joni Mitchell to Wham!’s “Careless Whisper” to the Pointer Sisters’ “Neutron Dance” to A Tribe Called Quest’s “Bonita Applebum,” quaintly renamed “Christina Applecake,” to his own song “Reality Used to be a Friend of Mine.” There is even a cameo shot of Julian Lennon, from his tribute to his father, “It’s Too Late for Goodbyes.” The song is a reading, an interpretation, of a Spandau Ballet song (“True”), which itself seems to be trying to copy or evoke something, to do justice to something, in the way that Number 1 hits so often do, as if they were busy quoting one another in some strange heaven for pop tunes. I found this so poignant in my brother’s listening to this tune, my own cherished memory of my brother which I turn over and play again and again, reciting it to you now, like an ancient Greek rhapsode, the original rappers, the guys who memorized swathes of Homer and Hesiod and, as they say of musicians, interpreted them. Treasuring an illusion, while kissing it goodbye. And of course these pieces of objects are also elegiac, also about holding on to the feeling of something slipping away, being faithful, being true, but knowing that you are losing something. The song is almost like something you’d sing over one of your favorite records, a cherished object you play over and over again. It’s a hip-hop song, made of pieces of other songs, samples. And of course, that’s what the song does: it attends to an affective state, memory bliss, over and over, as a way to say goodbye to someone-or to hold them in mind, not letting go. It was so sad to watch Steve doing this: it was as if he was saying goodbye to his mind. I heard it emanating over and over again from my brother’s bedroom, in the summer of 1992, while he was rapidly descending into schizophrenia. The corniness of the tune and the video is a little threatening, and it has a personal resonance for me. Dawn song “Set Adrift on Memory Bliss” and the accompanying video, in particular the extended mix that features footage from Spandau Ballet’s song “True,” which provides the backbone of the tune. And Mobb Deep’s Prodigy delivers on the threat with his astonishing first verse: “Rock you in your face, stab your brain with your nose bone…” It’s the kind of thing that should get you locked up for life.I love the disturbing corniness of the P.M.
It’s the sound of a looming threat that could exist in any era.
II” so timeless is that it’s also somewhat generic. II,” Mobb Deep’s Havoc combined three equally mercurial jazz samples: Herbie Hancock’s “Jessica,” “Daly-Wilson Big Band’s “Dirty Feet” and Quincy Jones “Kitty With The Bent Frame.” The songs are so obscure (at least to hip hop fans), their presence in the track remained somewhat of a mystery for a decade and a half. II.” That slow drum beat and those sirens seemingly ripped out of a horror film.
There’s something immediately terrifying about “Shook Ones, Pt.
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