I'd like to share something I created a few years back, because I think it touches on a lot of the elements of remix that were discussed in a class I took in Fall 2018 called Remix Practices. It's a song called is "Can I Kick It? [Remix]."
I've been interested in rap and hip hop since about 7th grade, and I've been making my own music since 2011. One of my favorite rap groups from the early 90s was A Tribe Called Quest (ATCQ), led by the legendary "5-foot assassin," Phife Dawg. Their laid-back beats and funky rhymes were (and continue to be) extremely influential for me. When Phife Dawg passed away in early 2016, I felt compelled to make a song as a tribute to him and his impact on my passion for hip hop. The link can be found here:
I began by using an MTV News interview of Phife Dawg from 2000. I clipped segments and included them over the original ATCQ instrumental for "Can I Kick It?" (which uses the same bassline as Lou Reed's "Walk on the Wild Side").
After Phife's interview intro, I transitioned the song into a remixed version that one of my favorite modern rappers, J. Cole, produced in late 2015. I layered the remix (with original vocals) over an instrumental version of Cole's remix. After the initial call and respond chorus (Can I kick it? Yes you can!), I added my own verse over the instrumental.
At the time I was working at a high school, tutoring at-risk students in math and reading, so I modeled my verse after that experience to keep the message that Phife Dawg addressed in the intro ("These kids, they'd rather listen to us than to listen to their own teacher at school...so we gotta kick something else to them other than 'what kind of car I drive...'").
After my verse, I added a bridge: "Take it back, take it back, take it back now/ Owe it to these OGs who helped to shape my rap style" and then segued into Phife Dawg's original verse from "Can I Kick It?" as a further tribute to the deceased MC.
This remix was intended to serve as a tribute to Phife Dawg and other influential artists who passed away too soon, and as an inspiration for future artists and listeners to be conscious of the messages they convey. I combined elements of past (Phife's verse) and present (J. Cole's remix) to make a song that was accessible and relatable to a wide audience, and I hope it has served its purpose. Since I released it, the track has gotten almost 1500 plays on SoundCloud, and I even got to perform the song at a live show in Portland, Oregon in 2017.
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