SuzieQ, I've got a List Of Demands

Wow, it's been just under three months since I last wrote anything on here. And to be honest, I'm only writing now so that I can get some practice in before I start writing a myriad of papers for university. But also, I've been listening to a ton of music in that time (I mean a lot of music; since my last post I've had the following fill up my iTunes: Stars, Bon Iver, The Avalanches, Shout Out Out Out Out, Pink Skull, HEALTH, The Pains Of Being Pure At Heart, Yeasayer, Dan Deacon, Dinosaur Jr., Interpol, The Ghost Is Dancing, The Mantles, The Weakerthans, Do Make Say Think, Broken Social Scene, The Besnard Lakes, Los Campesinos!, Neko Case, Neutral Milk Hotel, Islands, Hockey, Fucked Up, Slow Club, Liars, Free Energy, Crystal Castles, Thrush Hermit, The National, The Antlers, Camera Obscura, Hawksley Workman, and today's subject, Gonjasufi) and obviously, my mind's been thinking of possible subjects I can talk about on here.

So whether this is trivial or not, I thought I'd take a quick look at the subject of sampling. I'm not talking about like, old soul samples, the kind Kanye West worked to perfection back before AutoTuning himself to death. I mean the kinds of samples where it's a simple riff taken from one song and placed as the backbone of another. I know a few examples I've only heard of, but none that I've been able to experience first hand, i.e. having both songs in my library. This happened to come up though as soon as I delved into the new album by Gonjasufi, A Sufi And  A Killer.

I had no idea what to expect from the album, even after I'd read Pitchfork's favorable review. Maybe some "head-nod" music, but "what is that anyway?" I thought. The sixth track, "Suzie Q," piqued my interest however. Now, after giving it a few listens, this is an album I've explained to friends sounds like a mix of rock, hip-hop and jazz. There's stranger combinations, but I've never heard anything that sounded so...listenable while having that many influences. "Candylane" is my personal favorite, but I'll leave that one for another day and subject. Today, I want to look at how "SuzieQ" samples the crunchiest bits of Saul Williams' "List Of Demands (Reparations)" from his acclaimed self-titled 2004 album.

You may recognize "List Of Demands" from some Nike SPARQ commercials that ran a few years ago, and indeed that's where my first exposure to the song came from. It's a powerful song, both musically and lyrically, which made it a great song for Nike to use in promoting its then-new line of training equipment. For the sampled part in question, I'm not sure that it's a guitar, because it seems bouncy and synthy in a way a guitar never really is. But whatever it is, on "SuzieQ," the effect is replicated by what most likely is a guitar. Now it's not just that the "SuzieQ" reinterpretation sounds vaguely similar -- it's exactly the same, right down to the pace of the sample.

One thing that intrigues me is whether or not Gonjasufi's producer, Gaslamp Killer, took his cue directly from Saul Williams' tune, or even if Saul took the sound from another song that came out even before his. That's where this investigation kind of stalls. But in the meantime, take a listen to both the tunes, and judge for yourself the similarity.

Gonjasufi - "SuzieQ"

Saul Williams - "List Of Demands"