Towa Tei: Dubnova (Part 1&2)
From Future Listening! [Elektra, 1995]
A Tribe Called Quest: Find a Way
From The Love Movement [Jive, 1998]
A homie of mine bumps this Towa Tei stuff non-stop. Most of you probably know Tei best as the dude with the Air Jordans from Dee-Lite, but he’s spent even more time as a DJ and a solo producer. This joint comes from his first solo record, Future Listening! You’re kind of setting people up for disappointment when you give your record a title like that, but this albums’s mix of bossa nova, lounge and hip hop holds up just fine.
When I first heard “Dubnova,” I was thinking that Tei had flipped the same sample as Jay Dee and the Ummah did for Tribe’s “Find a Way,” beating them to the punch. As it turns out, the Bebel Gilberto vocal is actually the result of a collaboration specifically for the record. I love it when Jay Dee grabs something off a fairly new record. It seems like that must have been the vibe in the late 70’s, when much of the funk backing for rap tracks came from contemporary records. It’s also fresh how Tribe write their chorus to fit the Portuguese in the Gilberto version. It’s like a rap version of Paul Simon’s “I Know What I Know.” Yeah, something like that…
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Damn, that kinda hurts. i was about to post up some towa tei but keak and mac dre tracks popped up. Oh well. good lookin out. Towa tei is boss. or something.
Great post man. I never realized how innovative that Tribe track was until now. Oh and I completely agree with the praise of J Dilla sampling recent songs, like when he sampled stereolab for that busta rhymes song.