Tom’s Diner: Hip-Hop’s Favorite Eatery
September 5, 2011 2 comments
One of the things I’ve always appreciated about Hip-Hop is that it has indirectly introduced me to dope artists and music of different genres. This is largely due to rap’s love of sampling.
Hip-Hop and sampling have always gone well together, kind of like Kim Kardashian and athletes. If it wasn’t for Twista’s “Well it’s Time,” I would have never heard Feist’s “Gatekeeper.” I wouldn’t have known about The Isley Brothers’ “Footsteps in the Dark” if my mom hadn’t informed me that Ice Cube used it for “Today was a Good Day” and I definitely wouldn’t have heard Celeste Legasapi’s “Bolero Medley” if it weren’t for Lupe’s “Kick Push.”
One record that is continuously used in some of my favorite songs is “Tom’s Diner” by Suzanne Vega. Everyone from Danger Mouse, to Pink to the late Tupac Shakur has sampled Vega’s smash hit. Ever heard of it? Sure you have, you just don’t know it.
The original version of “Tom’s Diner” was written in 1982 as an acapella track, but was later remixed by a group called DNA in 1990. Although the remix is the version that most people are familiar with, it’s not the DNA-added beat that is constantly sampled—but rather the melody from the acapella.
It’s funny to me that a folk song, inspired by the same diner used in Seinfeld, would be used over and over again in dance songs and trap anthems. But that’s the beauty of Hip-Hop. Artists will take a piece of music and transform it into something completely different—giving it new life. What’s even cooler, however, is when the artist whose song is being sampled embraces the reworked music. Vega, who’s also the Mother of the MP3, is that type of artist. According to a blog she wrote for the New York Times, she’s only refused one request to sample the song and it was because they wanted to use it for a porno. I’m not going to lie, that might have been kind of hot.
Anyway, I’ve compiled a list of the ten best songs that have sampled Suzanne Vega’s “Tom’s Diner.” Check it out below.
10) Gorilla Zoe ft. Sean Kingston – On the Corner
9) B-Real – Don’t You Dare Laugh
8. MJG – Whatever I Wanna Do
7) 702 – Get Down Like Dat
6) Drake – Juice
5) Nikki D. – Daddy’s Little Girl
4) Ray Cash – It’s Ray
3) Git Fresh – She Be Like
2) Yo Gotti – Standing in the Kitchen
1) DNA ft. Suzanne Vega – Tom’s Diner
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