Music

30 Day National Hip Hop History Month Challenge Day 13: You’re all I need to get by

Hey there! So here it is, Monday- a new week, new challenges, new convos, new discoveries, etc.

Let’s go ahead and get this part over with- of COURSE Sean ‘Puff Daddy/P Diddy/w/e’ Combs did not invent the remix! Did he popularize it? Sure! Was his production influential in getting hip hop to cross-pollinate with R & B in new and interesting ways? Absolutely! Should we disregard him because he was mainstream and popular and formulaic and blah blah blah? Nah. We’re all about the love here at The Avocado!

If it wasn’t Puffy, who was it? Well, we’re less interested in who ‘invented’ the remix (because of course there’s debate about that) than we are in enthusing/talking about the remix and its importance to hip hop. From adding verses from guest artists to changing up the tempo, from dropping a new beat to flipping the melody, the remix presents a song we might’ve been familiar with as being assembled one way..another way. I like to think of the remix like a jazz band playing an old standard-the pleasure is not just in recognizing something original or even seminal, but also in the introduction of new elements, the re-prioritization, the unexpected new direction. In the right hands, a remix can change the way you think about a song, a beat, a lyricist..an entire vibe.

Off the charts genius, right here.

Let’s hit it- drop those remixes, and tell us about the original, if you can!

1.) The tricky/fun thing about this 30 day ‘challenge’ is that you get one choice (see, it’s a challenge! If you’ve already mentioned a producer or artist or album, etc in a previous day, it’s cool- just tell us about a different song this time. 🙂

2.) In order to keep the thread from borking, please limit yourself to one YouTube/media link per post. If someone ‘beats you to it’ and posts a song you would’ve posted, reply under their post saying why you like this song/why it was your pick as well, etc. Let’s not give Disqus a reason to make the thread hard to navigate for those of us listening to the songs! If you want to mention some others, of course that’s fine!

3.) Let’s keep this as positive as we can. Don’t yuck anyone’s yum, don’t snark on someone who may not be as familiar as others, don’t ‘Um, actually’ people, etc. Remember that it’s not always possible to know what a song or artist means to someone, and try to give grace around that. Ain’t nobody earning any Internet Points out here.