Who was 24-Carat Black?
Hosts Joe Watson and Toby Brazwell take a hard look at legendary tracks of the past and present, connecting the dots on the music they sample and the songs that inspired them. Join us for Season 3, where Riffs takes a deep dive into the tragic world of 24-Carat Black, the band everyone has heard, but nobody has heard of.
When Doves Pray
It takes a village to raise rap’s first-ever Diamond-seller. To help send his breakout album over the platinum hurdle, hip-hop artist MC Hammer enlisted - via sample and interpolation - Rick James, Marvin Gaye, The Chi-Lites, The Jackson 5, Earth, Wind & Fire, Sly & the Family Stone, James Brown (twice) and Prince (three times). It truly is no wonder Please Hammer, Don't Hurt 'Em (released in 1990) has sold over 22 million units to date - more than 2Pac’s Greatest Hits and Notorious B.I.G. Life After Death albums combined!
In this episode, Joe and Toby dive into the prolific life of Prince and how his music helped hammer a career path for a former bat boy of the Oakland A’s. Purple fragments of Prince’s “When Doves Cry” scatter throughout time, including MC Hammer’s “Pray” and many more.
What we geek out over in this episode: Purple Rain (obviously), Kim Basinger (circa Batman), Larry Graham and the slap bass technique, Genuwine, George Clinton’s Parliament “Give Up the Funk” (1975), and Faith No More’s “Epic” (1989) song.
Bonus Material: Drum machines: Chamberlin Rhythmate, Wurlitzer Sideman, PAIA Programmable drum set, Linn LM-1 drum machine, and the Roland TR-808.
Double Bonus: The Metallica Cover “When Doves Cry” Intervention.
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