Tuesday 19 October 2010

6 degrees of seperation : Vanilla Ice to Fabolous?

I can do it in one move with Pharrell as the link between them.

So, can you guess the connection between these three without making a joke about Fabolous and Vanilla Ice having a Filipino grunt doing all the hard work while they take the credit? Here's a hint : it isn't that Fabolous and Pharrell are the other two favourite rappers of Vanilla Ice fanatic/White Rapper Show contestant G-Child, nor is it that Vanilla Ice and Fabolous each have lyrics as worthy of a Mr Humphries raised eyebrow as Pharrell's "just last week I was out in Italy/Italian heartthrobs could not get rid of me" line from Mr Me Too, or that Jedward have also added Frontin' and Toss It In The Bag to their repetoire of cover versions, and it definately isn't that Nigo has hired Ice and Fab to both issue tacky diffusion lines through A Bathing Ape after the success of Pharrell's BBC brand.

The connection seems startlingly obvious once you know it, but you probably won't have picked up on it unless you heard Pharrell's interview on Westwood in 2003 when Cormega also happened to be in the studio and revealed an unlikely seam between the two of them as his sister did back-up vocals on some old Neptunes shit when they were producing for Teddy Riley. Pharrell was talking about various productions of his and how they'd were loosely based on old rap songs so how he'd instruct whoever was rapping on them to channel the spirit of the original songs or adopt the flows or mannerisms of the rappers who created them with the most obvious example being Nothin', which is effectively a Jungle Brothers song from the perspective of a QB thug-rapper and two Filipino production nerds (or half Flip' in the case of Pharrell). Moreover, he confessed, there were certain Neptunes productions where he'd talked the rappers involved into experimenting by emulating something flagrantly corny to see if they could turn shit into shinola, before he dropped the bombshell that he'd gotten Fabolous to mimic Vanilla Ice's rhyne pattern on Ice Ice Baby for Young'n (Holla Back) and had an incredulous Westwood play it to authenticate his bold claim :

Vanilla Ice - Ice Ice Baby



Fabolous - Young'n (Holla Back)



Whaddaya know, right? I still say that's as good a single as Breathe and everybody at my school liked Ice Ice Baby the first time they heard it in 1990. Keep your eyes peeled for an exclusive interview I did with Pharrell recently where he reveals that he's had The Clipse fashioning their rapping on Freedom Williams's stoic lyricalz from C&C Music Factory's Gonna Make You Sweat (Everybody Dance Now) for the last four years, which would explain why they've been so utterly boring and one-dimensional since Hell Hath No Fury.

20 comments:

hl said...

I never really linked the two, but you're right. It does sound like Fab was inspired by Vanilla Ice on "Holla Back". Never been a fan of Fab at all.

Asher said...

Holla Back's a way BETTER single than 'Breathe.' But my favorite Fab song ever, from my very limited knowledge of his work, is still the Can't Let You Go Remix - the thing where he flips all the sweet bland nothings from the original into cutting misogynistic jibes over this really dark Just Blaze track. More rappers should do that.

Kelvin Mack10zie said...

Not even the old Clue freestyles, HL?

I've never heard that before, Tray, so I just youtubed it. Damn.

step one said...

Loso can definitely go line for line with most rappers as far as punchlines go. Alot of purists sleep on him due his commercial joints but he's got some good stuff in his catalogue

2SHIN said...

Mind = Blown.

Gonna throw out the suggestion that Luda gets the inspiration for his guest verses from Mel Brooks' Hitler rap.

Kelvin Mack10zie said...

To be or not to be..

d said...

i pretty much agree with you on clipse recently but they still have their moments:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EpU5ChiAdQc

great post, speaking of vanilla ice:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nbpSzZTPAks

is this the first time he admitted the suge hangin him off the balcony for his publishing rumour is true?

Kelvin Mack10zie said...

That was the first time I ever heard him admit it, yeah.

I agree on Ill'n and there's maybe 2 or 3 other songs I like such as Dey Know Yayo, but they're few and far between.

d said...

yeh dey know yayo is good, especially considering it made me forget the annoying as fuck original. i liked 20,000 money makin brothers too, but more so for the beat.

Kelvin Mack10zie said...

That was another one I had in mind.

I totally managed to miss Dey Know and didn't hear it until after the Clipse song. Such a great beat.

d said...

went back and relistened, second thoughts they fuckin ripped 20k money makin brothers. rainy dayz too but malice's delivery sounds like an emotional 12 year old's its hilarious.

Kelvin Mack10zie said...

Ol' the teacher from Ferris Bueller sounding ass brother.

d said...

ha! got it in one. apparantly dudes not even an actor hes actually a real physics teacher.

typical malice/ malice on rainy dayz is like real life al gore/ al gore in south park.

Kelvin Mack10zie said...

Hey Done - does Suzanne Cowie present many shows on Irish tv these days? I always had a thing for her ever since she used to present on Trouble TV a decade ago.

d said...

i stopped watchin telly a year or two ago but i think i remember seein her do tho odd show on utv, she would definitly get it.

my slightly chubby blonde obscure presenter of choice is that one who introduces shows on current tv, if she can make me overlook her having facial peircings shes a keeper. them things turn an 8 to a 5 easy.

Kelvin Mack10zie said...

I don't know who that is, but agreed.

Pussy piercings are as bad too.

Sha Deezy said...

A personal favourite, Rap City 2004 Freestyle:

http://www.56.com/u96/v_MTQ2NjYyNTM.html

Kelvin Mack10zie said...

Good find, Deez', especially since that site's got all the old BET Dipset freestyle sessions too.

d said...

cheers man, theres heaps iv never seen there.

Kelvin Mack10zie said...

Got my favourite Rap City freestyle ever on that site too : Cam'Ron over Dreams by Game.

http://www.56.com/u32/v_MjI4NTExNw.html

Glare at the gems
Yes, stare at 'em, friend
take a good look, 'cause I swear I won't wear 'em again/
These a one-time wear
earrings a one-time pair
one-time for one-time
damn, look how one-time stare