A small introduction to the G-Funk era…….

Leon Haywood: “I Want’a Do Something Freaky To You”
From: The Best Of Leon Haywood

George McCrea: “I Get Lifted”
From: Rock Your Baby

Killermike’s recent post on a couple of G-Funk classics inspired me to trawl back through my collection for a couple of songs that Dre used back in the day when creating the classics The Chronic and Doggy Style.

First up we have the extroadinarily sleazy funk of Leon Haywood’s I Want’a Do Something To You. An artist who had various solo and collaborative hits in the sixties, Leon really took it to another level with this 1974 opus. I love the opening riff, so famously used in Nuthin’ but a “G” Thang, but also the Isaac Hayes style strings that lace the track and the Lil Louis style woman breathing erotically over the top. Ignore the absolute banality of the lyrics and focus on the layers of the production, with wailing guitar, falling strings, a chugging bassline and, of course the ultimately in sleazy orgasming backing vocals. You can find out more about Leon’s career here.

The second track for your listening enjoyment is George McCrae’s I Get Lifted. Still probably most famous for his cheap soul compilation classic Rock You Baby, George actually has a lot more strings to his bow including this little number from the album Rock You Baby. Used in Snoop Dogg’s Gin N Juice it’s got the kind of funk break begging to be sampled, and dear god has it been sampled, utilised for tracks by Snoop, Big Daddy Kane, Redhead Kingpin and, cough, Montell Jordan among others. It’s one of those superb tracks where less is more, a song built on a killer riff with George laying down some very seductive vocals over the top and a “cha cha” breathing sound complementing the chorus. You can read a full bio of the man at his website here.