Listen, if any of y’all reading this know Ben Joyette, please direct him here, because he is the reason I have such a deep love and respect for hip-hop. Ben introduced me to BIG and Pac and more circa….97/98-ish. From there, Napster/Limewire provided introductions to DMX, Ludacris, Jay-Z, Snoop, Busta Rhymes, etc.
The Game was in there at some point. It was probably the one he did with 50 Cent, Hate It or Love It or How We Do that introduced him to me. What endeared him to me though was Ali Bomaye (an amazing Florence and the Machine Seven Devils sample).
So here he is, sampling a soccer stadium chant, with none other than Weezy himself.
Game’s first verse sets a gritty tone for the rest of the song that Wayne matches pace for pace.
To me though, the highlight of this entire song, is this last verse from Game. ”Here it is,” as Hrishikesh Hirway of Song Exploder (amazing podcast, please check it out) fame says, “in it’s entirety”:
“Russia got a Red Flag, US got Red Stripes, last train to Paris, round the World in these red Nikes, Che Guevara of the New Era, test me Louieville slugger, you’ll get buried in my new era, got that natty on, tighter than a magnum, walk in the club saggin’ with a 38 magnum, Red Ralph Laurens, the double R sittin’ on a hill like Lauren, her and the car foreign, got my red Dre Beats on, tryna put my peeps on, and I keep it hood like this Phantom is a Nissan, where my n-gga Jim Jones at? Roll up the weed son, so many bloods in Compton had to get a NYC song, and while I’m out here, I might as well go shopping, and put this new bad bitch I got her some red bottoms, and all these hatin’ ass n-ggas want me dead cause I’m Malcolm X before he turned Muslim, RED”
…and then that soccer chant sample again. Just an incredible collaboration from these two.
Seriously though, let’s get Ben Joyette in these comments! It’s been too long! Have a great day everyone, or great night, or great whatever you need to be great right now. Happy listening!
everything, etc. 