#80's hip hop

[hiphophardware]

Black Thought🔥🔥🔥

[artoounces]

80s Retro-futuristic 3D Neon Text Effect By: Creative Veila

80s Retro-futuristic 3D Neon Text EffectBy: Creative Veila

[gabrielamarcia]

[possible-streetwear]

[kellymagovern]

R.I.P. Trugoy from De La Soul

[eightiesfan]

K-Way Ads (France mid 80's)

[sarcoptid]

WAIT TRICKY *ISNT* BY THE BEASTIE BOYS?! FUCKIN WHAT?

IT'S RUN DMC, FRIEND

[randomvarious]

Snap! - "The Power" 1990 Eurodance / Eurohouse / House / Hip Hop / Hip-House

OK, folks, strap in, because we're about to dive *deep* into a *very* convoluted history behind this legendary Eurodance-hip-house classic that most people, I'm willing to bet, are actually completely unaware of. German dance group Snap!'s momentous debut single, "The Power," may have set the world aflame in 1990, but the version that you're probably most familiar with isn't actually the initial iteration of this spacious jam 😯.

The first ever version of "The Power" was released in 1989 in Europe, on Logic Records, the Frankfurt-based label that was founded and owned by Snap!'s own two producers, Michael Münzing and Luca Anzilotti. And the biggest difference between this rendition and the one that you've likely come to know and hopefully love over the past three-plus decades is that every single lyric on the original was actually sampled, including the rapping.

Those lines happen to come courtesy of an a cappella version of rapper Chill Rob G's song, "Let the Words Flow," which appeared on the B-side of his 1989 12-inch, The Court Is Now In Session. And the bits of addled sax that were used in "The Power" were also lifted from the full version of that song too, which appears on that same 12-inch, as well as Chill Rob G's overlooked, classic-in-hindsight 1989 LP, Ride the Rhythm. But Snap! never asked permission from either Rob himself or his label, Wild Pitch Records, to use any of his music.

But Wild Pitch doesn't actually seem to have really minded the unauthorized use of their songs. Owner Stu Fine even wanted to release "The Power" Stateside, and seeing how successfully it had managed to perform in both Germany and the UK, Chill Rob G thought it'd be beneficial to his own career too. So, on March 5, 1990, Wild Pitch released "The Power," which seems to have been the same exact version as the previous one, but rather than being credited to Snap!, the artist was listed as Power Jam featuring Chill Rob G instead; and somewhat inexplicably, although hip hop legend Mark the 45 King had produced every song on Ride the Rhythm, the production credit for this release of "The Power" was given to him too 🤷‍♂️.

But a much bigger label than Wild Pitch, Arista Records, also wanted in on some of this action as well. And for legal reasons that I'm not really able to fully comprehend, they were barred from releasing the same exact song on their own label in the US, so they decided to just have it re-recorded instead. And this is where the version of "The Power" that you're most familiar with comes from. The sampled Chill Rob G verses were replaced with the intimidatingly deep, clogged-sinus bellows of frontman-rapper Turbo B, and other brand new additional vocal wrinkles, like the "he will break my heart, he will break my heart of hearts" portions, which were inspired by Chaka Khan's 1978 song, "Some Love," were supplied by singer Penny Ford. But not all of Chill Rob G's lines were erased from this new version either; the famous refrain of "it's gettin' kinda hectic" managed to stay, even though it would be mouthed by Turbo B in the music video.

However, the funniest part of all of this is that Turbo B, who wasn't even in Snap! when they first released "The Power" in 1989, still warns everyone in one of his verses that they better not try to steal *his* words—which is exactly what Snap! did to Chill Rob G—or there will be some serious hell to pay! 😂

Copy-written lyrics, so they can't be stolen If they are, "Snap!", don't need the police To try to save them, your voice will cease So peace, stay off my back Or I will attack, and you don't want that

So, while Wild Pitch and Chill Rob G tried to capitalize on "The Power" with their own US release of it, just a few weeks later, Arista would drop their own re-recorded version of it in the States too, and then that one would fully succeed as the most popular version in the world.

Now, something else that you may have never realized about this song is that, although in the music video Penny Ford appears to be the one who's singing the song's most iconic line, "I've got the power," those are not actually her vocals. From jump, that line was sampled, and it belongs to an a cappella version of Jocelyn Brown's terrific mid-80s post-disco tune, "Love's Gonna Get You," which Snap! also wasn't first authorized to use either. And to go just a little bit off-topic here with another fun fact: another super popular early 90s dance classic, Bizarre Inc's "I'm Gonna Get You," also uses lines from that same song too; "Why waste your time? You know you're gonna be mine" and "I'm gonna get you, baby, I'm gonna get you, yes I am!" originate from that very same track. But rather than sampling the song, Bizarre Inc just had those lines re-sung by soul vocalist Angie Brown instead.

Anyway, to add more to this already pretty tangled web here, Chill Rob G also shot his own video for "The Power" too, which, again, was just the same song that Snap! had originally released in 1989 and then Wild Pitch had released as their own. So, absurdly, you get to see Rob rap the *same exact* small verse two times in a row, because those are some of the only lines that Snap! actually sampled from his own "Let the Words Flow" 😅. And that video also uses a different woman to mouth Jocelyn Brown's "I've got the power" line too!

And in addition to that, all future re-pressings of Rob's Ride the Rhythm *also* included "The Power" as well, starting in 1990. But *that* version was also *different* from every other version that had been released prior too! And *this* version replaced the Jocelyn Brown sample with vocals by someone named Kim Davis, who sounded *nothing* like Brown. And other than some additional lyrics from Davis, the song was almost the same as Snap!'s original version, but not quite, so an additional production credit was given to someone named Nephie Centeno too.

Now, to go back to literally any of the versions of this song that have been released, they are all anchored by another classic sample that Snap! also didn't receive permission to use at first: Mantronix's brilliant piece of 1988 hip hop-breaks, "King of the Beats," which gives "The Power" all of its great and constantly ring-jing-jinging bells. But Mantronix actually sampled those bells from something else, a 1975 song by smooth jazz keyboardist Bob James called "Take Me to the Mardi Gras," which is an instrumental cover of a song from 1973 of the same name that was originally released by Paul Simon. And those bells from that Bob James song can be heard in a whole bunch of other tunes too, including Run-D.M.C.'s "Peter Piper," the end of Missy Elliott's "Work It," a fantastic early 2000s Bad Boy Records remix of pop group Dream's "This Is Me," Boys Noize's "Rock the Bells," and so many other songs.

And for someone like me who can really never get enough of those Bob James bells, I really appreciate the person who edited and lengthened this video for "The Power" here, in order to have it match the long, eight-plus-minute extended re-recorded 12" version that stars Turbo B and Penny Ford.

So now you know pretty much everything that there is to know about this late 80s-early 90s dance classic. And when it comes to a lot of these Eurodancy jock jams that I've been posting a lot more of recently, I happen to love them in a bit of an ironic and rose-tinted, nostalgic kind of way; but "The Power" is one that I know, for a fact, I would still love, even if it was just some obscure song that I'd just discovered recently instead. It's much chiller than a lot of the other more maximalist and intense commercial dance fare that was out at around that same time, and I think it's a genuinely brilliant tune. So, hopefully this thorough post has helped you develop a deeper appreciation for it too 😊.

More fun videos here.

[k-i-l-l-e-r-b-e-e-6-9]

[soupy-sez]

Mike D in Montreux, Switzerland, 1987

[hiphophardware]

DMX

[dankalbumart]

Licensed to Ill by Beastie Boys Def Jam / Columbia 1986 Hip Hop / Rap-Rock / East Coast Hip Hop

[gabrielamarcia]

[possible-streetwear]

[kellymagovern]

Public Enemy - "Night of the Living Baseheads" [x]

[cinnamon-grump]

Ok so i have a question about Spotify,, if anyone else has noticed this problem pls let me know

I’m admittedly obsessive about music so I noticed right away when there was “new” Kajagoogoo singles…. That were blatantly NOT kajagoogoo. Nobody ever said anything, band clearly didn’t reform.. one day there were just new singles. All (5? I think?) songs were instrumental and vague, but very clearly not even the same style or vibe. It was removed within a month each time, but this has happened at least 3 times now.

My question is… has this been happening a lot? Or is it just someone fucking around with Kajagoogoo specifically?? And if so.. wtf? Lol