Heard this song on the radio today and two things came to mind:

1) Damn shame

2) "We're were you when I needed you"-reminds me of a song?

And then I remembered Stevie's Superwoman where the subject of the second half of the song was about the narrator's lover not being emotionally and physically present and supportive at a crucial time in the narrator's life. Sounds to me like it compliments what Lauryn is saying in her song.

What do ya'll think?

A lot of what that album's about is referencing the music that had gone before, and it's no secret she's a big fan of all those people, so, yeah, I think she was probably quoting Stevie.

Looking backwards in order to look forwards worked then, I think, but it seems like Lauryn got stuck somewhere along the line. When I read about her shows with perfectly recreated versions of I Only Have Eyes For You, it sounds to me like she's just fetishising a 'golden age' of music history, rather than trying to bring something new and relevant to the present moment.

[Edited 6/16/11 3:55am]

deebee said:

A lot of what that album's about is referencing the music that had gone before, and it's no secret she's a big fan of all those people, so, yeah, I think she was probably quoting Stevie.

Looking backwards in order to look forwards worked then, I think, but it seems like Lauryn got stuck somewhere along the line. When I read about her shows with perfectly recreated versions of I Only Have Eyes For You, it sounds to me like she's just fetishising a 'golden age' of music history, rather than trying to bring something new and relevant to the present moment.

[Edited 6/16/11 3:55am]

pretty much...

Sandino said:

Heard this song on the radio today and two things came to mind:

1) Damn shame

2) "We're were you when I needed you"-reminds me of a song?

And then I remembered Stevie's Superwoman where the subject of the second half of the song was about the narrator's lover not being emotionally and physically present and supportive at a crucial time in the narrator's life. Sounds to me like it compliments what Lauryn is saying in her song.

What do ya'll think?

Yes. And the first line of the song: " It could all be so simple.. " is a nod to the song The Way We Were (Try To Remember) from Gladys Knight & The Pips .

musicman said:

And the first line of the song: " It could all be so simple.. " is a nod to the song The Way We Were (Try To Remember) from Gladys Knight & The Pips .

The instrumental for "Ex-Factor" was built off of Wu Tang Clan's "Can It All Be So Simple" which was already considered classic by the time Lauryn was recording her album in 1997.

Wu Tang sampled Gladys, but Gladys is not who Lauryn was making a nod to at all.

HohnerCatcher said:

musicman said:

And the first line of the song: " It could all be so simple.. " is a nod to the song The Way We Were (Try To Remember) from Gladys Knight & The Pips .

The instrumental for "Ex-Factor" was built off of Wu Tang Clan's "Can It All Be So Simple" which was already considered classic by the time Lauryn was recording her album in 1997.

Wu Tang sampled Gladys, but Gladys is not who Lauryn was making a nod to at all.

That might be debatable. I know the Wu song is a classic and the sample, but seeing she also gave a nod to Stevie- I think she was also going for an old school vibe.

musicman said:

HohnerCatcher said:

The instrumental for "Ex-Factor" was built off of Wu Tang Clan's "Can It All Be So Simple" which was already considered classic by the time Lauryn was recording her album in 1997.

Wu Tang sampled Gladys, but Gladys is not who Lauryn was making a nod to at all.

That might be debatable. I know the Wu song is a classic and the sample, but seeing she also gave a nod to Stevie- I think she was also going for an old school vibe.

I can actually see that, a meta reference to a nostalgic rap song ("Can It Be All So Simple") that sampled a nostalgic soul record ("The Way We Were").

HohnerCatcher said:

musicman said:

That might be debatable. I know the Wu song is a classic and the sample, but seeing she also gave a nod to Stevie- I think she was also going for an old school vibe.

I can actually see that, a meta reference to a nostalgic rap song ("Can It Be All So Simple") that sampled a nostalgic soul record ("The Way We Were").

Right! That's how I was seeing it, and she basically starts the song like Gladys.

But now you making me wanna go listen to 36 Chambers.

Love this performance of the track, with Lauryn looking fine as hell.

This woman wasted her gift of music imho.