Still Waiting for Infinity (This is an Artest)

93 Til Infinity (LP Version) - Souls of Mischief
from 12" on Jive (1993).

Wheelz Fall Off (06 Til) - Kidz In The Hall
from 12" on Rawkus (2006).

Heather - Billy Cobham
from the album Crosswinds on Atlantic (1973).

I was fortunate enough to have an out-of-town friend stay with us last week for a couple of days while around for work. Prior to heading out for an early morning racquetball match (sports of the 00s, for real) I put the new Kidz In The Hall (not to be confused with these guys) record on and it got props right away. My man said, "What's this? It's good and almost familiar." Of course the reason it is almost familiar is that the beat is lifted from Souls of Mischief's Golden Age I hip hop classic "93 Til Infinity."

People differ wildly in their response to re-used beats in this manner. Some up jump the boogie with backpacks in a twist and cry foul and (worse) unoriginality. Others lay back in the cut and wave away the situation with a simple, "If its good, who cares?" Personally, I'm somewhere in the middle...I didn't enjoy Puffy ripping off the Hot Sex beat for that Mary J. Blige track a few years ago (or most of Puffy's other hits from the 80s-sounds-so-crazy beat thefts) and I'm pretty much turning away from the Kidz in favor of the Souls immediately too.

Of course, both songs lift the horn work (Brecker Brothers and Garrett Brown) from drummer/composer/arranger Billy Cobham's "Heather." Heather is a really mellow outing from the often bombastic Cobham, but A-Plus flipped these ethereal samples beautifully for "93 Til Infinity." It is certainly up to every artist and listener how they feel about beat jacking (or humble homage) and it is a topic that has been widely discussed and certainly should continue to be. The Souls shouldn't be too offended though because the B-side to "93" is "Disshowedo" which contains a sample of "Fakin' The Funk" by Main Source, which was only a year old at the time.

Bonus sports trivia plus rant: wanna-be hip hop mogul and NBA baller Ron Artest has at various times mentioned the reason he wears number 93 for the Sacramento Kings is in honor of the Souls song. While Artest's album continues to wildly undersell Kevin Federline's, he continues to be cautiously praised for his basketball skill with the reservation that he is a loose cannon that can possibly sink an entire season. My rant is that while his defense is great and his overall play solid, Artest is one of the worst (meaning least productive) ball hogs in crunch time in the league currently?