When Coming Back, Make Sure you Pack a big breakbeat

In the first few moments after I’d hit “play” on the sneak preview of “Ch-Check it Out”, all those weeks ago, something hit me like a fish to the head. Not only was the song going to be amazing, but that the Beastie's had come back hard with a break-beat heavy single. This instantly reminded me of two similar comeback singles in recent years, “Uzi” by the Wu-Tang Clan, and “Made you Look” by Nas. In fact, when you listen to all three, there’s a striking similarity: a fast-paced shuffling breakbeat and stark horn stabs. Interesting enough, at recent shows Mix Master Mike has been known to drop both “Uzi” and “Made you Look” into the mix. It’s a testament to the originality and artistic vision of all three, that for their all-important “jump off’ single they went with this radio un-friendly mix of stabs and beats, with not much more in the way of melody. Both Nas and the Wu were coming back after disappointing comeback albums (Stillmatic and the W), and the Beastie's were returning after six years in the wilderness (don’t mention the sasquatch), yet all three took the approach of abandoning any pop-song chemistry and went in hard with straight up hip-hop, the type not heard on major labels for a while. In the case of Nas, it paid off as his album “God’s Son” went to number one, and he reclaimed the attention of the hard core heads with the Apache-sampling nuclear device of a single that “Made you look” is, the Wu however faired less well. Although “Uzi” was a great single for the Staten Island legends, the album “Iron Flag” was their worst received ever, and has left the crew on the edge. And the Beastie's? Well, the view is almost unanimous, “Ch-Check it Out” is a blinding return to form after the much maligned “In A World Gone Mad”, and the hype machine is in overdrive for their new album. The song has been on constant rotation on radio, in a time when rival singles between bitter ex-lovers rule the air, and “hip-hop” consists of piss-poor Busta Rhymes/Mariah Carey duets. A universally loved song, it paves the way for June 15 th, but only time will tell what the world makes of “To The 5 Boroughs”.

In contrast to all this was Jay-Z’s promotion of his final studio album “The Black Album”, for the lead-off single Jay went with the weak Neptunes-produced pop fodder that was “Change Clothes”. It helped sales, but left many fans scratching their heads as one of the most gifted emcees of our generation was bowing out on the radio with such a poor pop-song. It took Jay until his final single to realize what we want when he dropped the Beastie's-influenced Rick Rubin monster “99 problems”, one of the best singles of his career. What’s it made of? You guessed it- stabs and break beats.

The moral of the story? The Beastie's know it, Nas and the Wu know it, Jay found out eventually, and the Ultramagnetic MC’s always knew – you want a classic hip-hop single? Get your self a stab and a break beat and get on the mic……

Author: Roosta