The Best Remixes Of All Time
10. Fantasy (Bad Boy Remix) by Mariah Carey, ODB, and Puffy
“Me and Mariah, go back like babies and pacifiers” That line signaled a shift in our musical culture. It may sound silly to say a remix was historic, but this remix was historic. Mariah Carey is one of the top 10 best selling artists of all time. In the early 90s, she mostly made her bones by singing ballads like “Vision of Love” while her husband, the much older music mogul Tommy Mattola controlled every aspect of her career, and by many accounts her life. In the wider musical landscape, hip hop had already broken into the main stream in terms of sales, but one rarely saw collaborations between big selling pop acts and rap artists. The Fantasy Remix changed all that. Puffy and his production team the Hitmen led by D-Dot (footnote 1) took Mariah’s pop single and looped it all up to give it a new feel by added a rapper on it; and not just any rapper, but the undisputed king of crazy, The Wu Tang Clan’s Ol Dirty Bastard. The video was played ad nauseum when it first debuted on MTV and introduced the masses to ODB and Wu Tang but also ushered in many similar collaborations. From Mariah doing countless remixes with Puffy, Jermaine Durpri, and others after this, to Christina Aguilera working with Redman off all people to Snoop appearing on Katy Perry’s California Gurlz. Now days, it is almost expected that a pop single will have an eventually hip hop remix and I think this song made that happen. In addition, shortly after this song hit, Mariah broke up with Tommy Mattola, started wearing significantly less clothing, moved her music in a hip hop direction, and at times acted mildly crazy until most recently settling down with Nick Cannon of all people to have kids. Furthermore, this song was the first exposure to many people, of Puffy’s adlibs of “yeah”, “come on”, and such in the background of songs he worked on which helped create the ground work for Bad Boy’s historical run of hits soon thereafter. The remix is not just historic, it also sounds great with the loops of Mariah’s vocals all coming at the right times. Finally, I love the whole refrain of “what you gonna do when you get of jail? I am gonna do a remix” towards the end. Ironically, Puffy had not arrest history before this recorded so the line is random, but damn it if for whatever reason I ever end up in jail, the first thing I do when I get it is a remix.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PkFUP3tL9o8
9. Diamonds (From Sierra Leone) Remix Kanye West and Jay Z
Kanye come out swinging with an amazing extended metaphor connecting actual diamonds to his label Rocafella Records whose symbol is the diamond. He even gets all self reflecting discussing the conflict of wanting to get diamonds even though he knows where they come from and the hard they might cause, but the remix explodes into classic mode when Kanye hands off the baton by when he says the line “whats up with you and Jay are ya’ll ok? And then Jay Z comes out with on of the best boastful verses of his career. It is hard to even list all the unforgettable lines in Jay’s verse but here are 4 of my favorites:
1. “I am not a “business man”- I am a “business”, man-let me handle by business, damn”
2. “ How could you falter- when you the rock of Gibraltar- I had to get off the boat so I could walk on water”
3. “Difficult takes a day, impossible takes a week”
4. “Bleek could be one hit away his whole career, but as long I am alive he’s a millionaire-and even if I die he’s in my will somewhere-so he can just kick back and chill somewhere-he don’t even have to write rhymes the dynasty is like my money last 3 life times”
5. “Shirley Bassey was in the rear swaying practically what I been saying my whole career”
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Do3iJ6DWvpQ
8. Ignition Remix by R. Kelly
This song is fucking meta. It is a remix with the general theme of celebrating the fact that the remix of said song has arrived. It is impossible to have a bad time when this song comes on and it all has to do with the sheer joy that comes across in the way R. Kelly phrases his mildly ridiculous lyrics like “so baby give me that toot toot, lemme give you that beep beep- Running her hands through my fro-bouncing on 24s.” There are so many other lines that seem cookie cutter party jam lines but are just sung perfectly so they constantly sound fresh like “cause after the show is the after party, and after the party is the hotel lobby-around about 4 you got to clear the lobby- and then take em to the room and fuck somebody.” Even the way swooping way he sings the final lines makes it feel like the great party is ending.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y6y_4_b6RS8
7. Flava In Ya Ear Remix by Craig Mack, Biggie, Busta, Puffy, L.L. Cool J, and Rampage
West Coast dominated hip hop in the early 90s, this song ushered in New York back. Craig Mack may not be a great rapper, but he came out with a hit single with Flava In Ya Ear that all of New York rallied around. In the remix, an all star NY cast all come in and bring their A game.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V8pG1mG7BeI
6. Get Your’ Freak On Remix Missy Elliot and Nelly Furtado
“Whose that bitch?” Missy Elliot asks that about 1:10 into the song. And the at the time suprising answer was Nelly Furtardo. At the time Furtado was in a rut in her career after the lukewarm reception of her second album. However, this remix reinvented who she was and set up the Loose album. Get Your Freak On already was going down in history as an Hall of Fame club anthem thanks to Timberlands crazy beat; however, even the best songs can feel a little played out after being heard a couple million times. That is when it is time for the remix to ignite new life into the track and that is exactly what Nelly Furtado does here with her playful tour de force skat rap performance.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NYlUvkosuCo
5. Only You Remix by 112, Biggie, and Mase
“I thought I told you that we won’t stop, I thought I told you that we won’t stop” This track opens with the famous Puffy proclamation and segues into Biggie’s model of what and opening line of a verse should be “Jesus-The Notorious-just please us- with your lyrical thesis.” This song is made by all the classic segues and transitions in it. The way Raphael Howard’s opening smoothly segues into Slim’s “where do we go? What do I do? I can’t live without your love”, which again segues smoothly back into the chorus is the template for how one should transition between different parts of the songs. The song also uses the back ground ad lib of “I thought I told you that we won’t stop” at perfect times that fit the main line of the song like right after the line “ never want it to come to an end. Throughout the entire song we get the iconic beat which meats up with 112 vocals in a flourish right when a young Mason Betha is about to start his verse.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7w8Vu9SENok
4. You’re All I Need To Get By (a Remix of All I Need) by Method Man and Mary J
The original version of this songs beat is grimy. The remix uses a Marven Gaye sample to bring Mary J’s haunting vocals to the forefront of the song. The use of a quick Biggie vocal sample of the lines “lay together, cry together, I swear to god I hope we fucking die together” on the chorus is genius. Method Man’s verses make this one of the great love songs off all time and the way Mary J sings the bridge of “like sweet morning due, I took one look at you- and it was plan to see you were my destiny” gives off the emotions of the type of love that everyone should aspire too.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xEfkdnx1zUs&feature=related
3. Quiet Storm Remix by Mobb Deep and Lil Kim
Mobb Deep’s original “Quiet Storm” is a classic in itself; but in this remix Lil Kim comes in, completely murders Prodidgy and Havoc, owns this track, and spits the best verse of her career. After the initial beat with the sword slashing sounds come in, when Lil Kim murmurs “Queen Bee baby” in the background it still sends chills up my spine even though this song is over 10 years old and I have heard it 1000s of times.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3d3TfbjJUEU
2. Paid In Full (Cold Cut Remix) by Eric B and Rakim
The original Paid in Full features the a top 5 verse in hip hop history by Rakim, but musically it is kind of sparse. The Remix, chops of Rakim’s vocals, adds James Brown and other vocal ad libs, samples both the base line from Dennis Edwards song “Don’t Look any Further “and the music from the Chuck Brown and The Soul Seracher’s “Ashley’s Roachclip”, has some virtuoso scratching in the middle, and throws in some Humphrey Bogart for good measure to create a song that embodies various aspects of what makes hip hop great.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ck5X3iABm-4
1. One More Chance Remix The Notorious BIG
It is almost unfair putting this on here. More people know this version than the raunchy as fuck original off of the album. The music to this song is the embodiment as to why finding the perfect sample is a difficult art. The exact sample for this song comes at the 2:42 minute mark of the Debarge song “Stay With Me” http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CinavBPMy-I Pretty much every single biggie line in this song is a classic so I am not going to even bother listed the lines. and the use of Faith Evans, Mary J, and Total all on the chorus is an extraordinary effect.
Some Honorable Mentioned Remixes
Paper Planes by MIA, Bun B, and Rich Boy
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=USgFcIVzjCc
Throw Some D’s Remix by Rich Boy, Andre 3000, Game, Nelly, Lil J, Jim Jones, and Game
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2r30cJTUMew
We Fly High Remix by Jim Jones, T.I, Birdman, Lil Wayne,
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eViujsD4Yk8
Made You Look Remix by Nas, Jada, and Luda
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LKbaORyjg_s
All I Do Is Win Remix by DJ Khaled, Lil Wayne, T Pain, Nicki Minaj, Diddy, Busta, Fat Joe, Fab, and Jadakiss
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eh8mRjO1nhg
Shut Em Down Remix by Public Enemy and Pete Rock
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