alot of Artists in the Rap Game have Paid the Witty,Cleaver Word-Play&Grooves of Steely Dan into there Work.what are your takes with Steely Dan's Music used with Rap&Hip-Hop?? would You Like to see them do a Rap Project? I was Listening to there Song "Glamour Profession" tonight&was thinking of the La Lakers circa 1979-1980 wondering who the Player was they were talking about??

"would You Like to see them do a Rap Project? " It would be ridiculous

mistermaxxx said:

Maxxx, stop reading Tiger Beat!

Steely Dan couldn't rap if their lives depended on it... They r good at what THEY do!

However, having said that... when the album "Thriller" was hot, and "Billie Jean" was all over the place, someone mixed "Billie Jean" with "Do It Again" and I loved it!

So, if someone wants 2 fuck with their music and mix and match it with other stuff...more power 2 them. Otherwise, just b glad we were able 2 get "Cousin DuPree" (however u spell it) out of 'em!

June7 said:

Yeah,I remember that! It came out in the summer of '83.I think it was titled "Do It Again,Billie Jean" but I can't remember who remixed it.I also remember an "answer record" to "Billie Jean",where the woman tells HER side of the story.The chorus goes...

"I'm Billie Jean and I'm mad as hell
I'm a woman with a story to tell
Superstar,you know just who you are
Superstar,you know just who you are"

(I guess MJ was a player after all...lol...

I listen to VERY LITTLE hip-hop as it is..

so the only SD song I've heard sampled is "Black Cow" on somebody's rap song 2 or 3 years ago. of course, I don't know- or care to know- the name of those petty thieves..


I
H A T E
the idea that anyone would sample music as good as Steely Dan's; their talent & musicianship is SO FAR ABOVE these rappers it's not even funny.

If I had the money, I'd buy the publishing rights to the ENTIRE catalogues-
for posterity-
of:

- Steely Dan
- Ohio Players
- Earth Wind & Fire

& a few other of my favorite groups so that these hackers-
pardon, rappers-
couldn't just sample their way to the 1 hit (in most cases) of their career..
Clearly, should I ever be blessed to make a record 1 day (something that I would like to do)..
even if the only person who buys that record is my mother..
I GUARENTEE you that not even 1 note of my music will never be allowed to be sampled by some rapper.


Though it may seem that way, I am really not THAT "anti-rap"..
I do acknowledge the
skill involved in rapping itself, & several rappers are today's "street poets" & they are good at creating an image, a mood, a look into their lives & their world. That part of it I can appreciate.
What I don't appreciate is how most of them have no musical ability whatsoever, which in large part means that all they can do is sample someone else's musical creativity/inspiration/etc. & then have the nerve to call it "their" song. In fact, I can actually say that I liked rap "better" in its early days, when it was definitely more the (often innovative) beat, when there was much less sampling.

All this talk about Steely Dan is making me run to my cd player to put on "Can't Buy A Thrill"..


reelin' in those years..

DavidEye said:

I have that Steely Dan&MJ Version.the Billie Jean answer back I Believe was Shirley Murdock?I think it was Her or somebody close to Her in Vocal Range.Nevertheless it worked.

Supernova said:

You truly Missed what I was Getting at with the Question? these Guys were Sampled with two Hits for there Song"Black Cow" for the Young Lady that use to Be on "The Fresh Prince of Bell Air"&before that Lord Tariq&Peter Gunnz"for the song "Uptown".Mos Def payed them a Helluva Compliment in Rolling Stone a Few Years back.in fact on a Steely Dan Group on Yahoo there was a Post dedicated to all the Rappers that Have Sampled,Looped there stuff.

jnoel said:

Rappers could pick the Song's or Hooks they want from them.not them Rapping but for a fee they could allow Rappers to Pick what they want to Groove on.

mistermaxxx said:

Well the question you posed was more like you wanted to know if people wanted to see Becker & Fagen rap.

"Black Cow" was first sampled by Tone Loc aka the Dust Bros. on his Wild Thing album. See if you can find it.

I also have that Billie Jean/Do It Again 12". It was one of the first samples I can remember hearing. Now it's a bit dated, but it was cool to hear it that summer of 1983.

Other funky favorites of Steely Dan are:

FM
Daddy Don't Live in That New York City No More
Peg
Josie

I've told this story before, but one of the highlights of my life was to hear El Debarge play and sing "Peg" solo on a piano when I was lucky enough to se a Babyface/El recording session back in 94. El was messing around, and he broke into it, it sounded better than the original. He's a great singer but also a great piano player too.

DMSR said:

thank you on that Last Post.I want to share that in a Debarge/Switch Group.thank you

mistermaxxx said:

I got to play pool against El too. He is the nicest guy and so was Babyface. Really normal and really shy. I would love to see El do an acoustic album. He is really talented. He was playing all these gospel songs too. This was when Babyface produced some of his songs on his solo record. It was awesome.

DMSR said:

I enjoyed that Album they did together.EL is very much into Gospel Material.He has been doing alot of Background Work though However with DJ Quik over the past few years.He is suppose to drop a Album as well.thanks for sharing the Info.Appreciate that.

Steely Dan only release albums every 20 years didn't you know that! That hip hop album will never come out!

Did anyone else like their latest release, "Two Against Nature"? I had 2 run out and buy it, since it had been over 20 years since their last release.

They didn't change a stroke...still as smooth as ever.