Are you new school or old school? That is the question. Partial to classic rap or more aligned with modern electronica? Unsure? Don’t worry, Jive Electro Records has just the thing for those of you straddling the fence. It’s quite simple, really. Jive Electro has taken songs from the early days of rap and allowed a contemporary crew of remix henchmen to do their thing on the classic tracks. Now you can hear raps by Whodini, Kool Moe Dee, A Tribe Called Quest and Boogie Down Productions totally recontextualized by today’s DJ-producers.
Yep, Whodini’s “(It’s All in Mr.) Magic’s Wand” is revamped by the Freestylers. Chicago house music overlord Bad Boy Bill takes Kool Moe Dee’s “I Go to Work” and reshuffles the rap into a new dance floor experience. Norman Cook (aka Fatboy Slim) re-examines A Tribe Called Quest’s “I Left My Wallet in El Segundo” with amusing results. To top off the entire project, there are two different remixes of that magnificent British-whiteboy-shoegazer-guitar-funk-opus “Fools Gold” by the Stone Roses.
What are the Stone Roses doing on this compilation? It has something to do with a convenient licensing arrangement between Jive Electro and their parent company Silvertone Records.
There are plenty more surprises on this disc, including cuts by R. Kelly and even the Fresh Prince and Jazzy Jeff. So, if you still have your Sugarhill 12” vinyl in the generic blue cardboard sleeves and the latest electronic dance compilation on enhanced CD, Old School vs. New School is for you.
