Schubert Dip Set

When I was but a small boy, one of the first things I ever fell for was this. It was a very short-lived love. I never cared for Dad's records since they had nothing to do with baseball, so said song gave me this weird, child-sized feeling of ownership that outlasted my actual appreciation for its content. Let's face it, the raps were bad and the beat was silly, a situation made worse by the atrocious Aryan-funk-isms of its video (cue: keyboard-handplant). But for a good week, I was hooked. (Did I mention I was in Malaysia at the time, and the song was everywhere?)

I watched an interview with two minor members. They mentioned the Doors and Cream as key influences.

My father had all the Doors records and, upon investigation, I agreed that this band did, indeed, listen to the Doors - it was in the keyboards. I had never heard of Cream but I was excited. Did this Cream band traffic in hefty beats and retarded cowbells, like my newfound heroes? Was Cream this savvy with the drum machine? Did Cream wear skate gear and stocking caps? Did Cream rap, too? Was there a member of Cream named Derry?

The answer, of course, was yes. Cream was all of these things - they were cowbell-ripping, beat-making, skate culture-loving, stocking-capped beasts of rap music, and they were all named Derry. The thing is, they sounded nothing like EMF. I would soon discover that EMF's drummer Mark Decloedt wasn't doing anything - it was actually "Ashley's Roachclip" - and I decided that I was more of a Cream guy. Soon after that, I learned that sampling wasn't stealing, that I didn't really like Cream that much and that I could spend the rest of my life weaning myself on my heroes' heroes. This, it turned out, was the best possible conclusion.

Posted by Hua at October 26, 2004 09:27 PM