…for that Trim grime tune we were talking about recently. As Tim Abdellah enlightened us in his comment, Radioclit sampled a few bars of the Gnawa Diffusion’s Bab el-Oued Kingston album to make this beat. Check the original, it’s great:
Gnawa Diffusion – Gazel Au Fond de la Nuit
huge thanks for all the latin american literature recommendations! great stuff, very useful.
amazing track.
yeah, i have to admit that i’m feeling stooopid about my charges of “conflation” hearing this. it’s still a jarring juxtaposition in its way, but it works.
i had a gnawa diffusion album once… it was a funny 50/50 mix of solid gnawa grooves and goofy-but-somewhat-listenable reggae rock tunes, like “charla-town”.
this discussion reminds me of jay-z sampling “khusara khusara” by hossam ramzy for “big pimpin”. he actually got sued for that. folks can get two discs of jay-z’s sample sources here… including the “big beat” also used by dizzee ras for “fix up, look sharp”.
i’ve always found it ironic all the interest in middle eastern or indian sample sources by “mainstream” musicians, given their (often) total ignorance (or hate) of middle eastern or indian people. note that i’m not saying the rza or timbaland is ignorant or a hater of middle eastern folks, more that the yuppies shaking in their khakis in the clubs on the east end of long island are, well… you know.
on the other hand, it’s an opening. it’s evidence to some that maybe we shouldn’t bomb (or politically strangle) these countries… i just doubt that tablas in a pop song is enough.