I said a hip, hop...

September 10, 2009 2:17 PM

Which songs use the lyric "Hotel, motel, Holiday Inn?"

I'm pretty sure it originates in "Rapper's Delight" but I've heard it elsewhere. It seems to be a fairly classic lyric; where else is it used?

Related.

posted by LSK to media & arts (22 answers total)

Do you mean this song?
posted by roomthreeseventeen at 2:18 PM on September 10, 2009

Rapper's Delight, and it's been sampled by everyone.
posted by iknowizbirfmark at 2:20 PM on September 10, 2009

As old as I am, even this Deadhead knows it IS originally from Rapper's Delight.
posted by JohnnyGunn at 2:21 PM on September 10, 2009 [1 favorite]

FYI, if you google "I said a hip, hop", Rapper's Delight is the first hit... I've filled out a lot of unknowns on my iTunes list that way...
posted by Pantengliopoli at 2:24 PM on September 10, 2009 [1 favorite]

This search at OHHLA.com returns nine more songs, including De La Soul's 'Breakadawn.'
posted by box at 2:27 PM on September 10, 2009

Oops, link didn't work: here.
posted by box at 2:29 PM on September 10, 2009

I don't know why I know this, but Robbie Williams, "Keep On".
posted by EvaDestruction at 2:29 PM on September 10, 2009

Pitbull, "Meet me at the Hotel"
posted by desjardins at 2:44 PM on September 10, 2009

Sorry, I got the song title incorrect. It's Hotel Room Service by Pitbull. It's all over the radio right now.
posted by desjardins at 2:46 PM on September 10, 2009 [1 favorite]

Redman Eric Sermon and Keith Murray did a remix of Rapper's Delight under their short-lived Def Squad moniker in 1998. youtube video
posted by bravowhiskey at 2:49 PM on September 10, 2009

I know it's referenced in a Wyclef Jean song from his Carnival album, and I believe late-period NWA, the song "Automobile" also references the line.
posted by kensington314 at 2:55 PM on September 10, 2009

Most of the lyrics from Rapper's Delight were allegedly not written by the Sugarhill Gang, who were barely even rappers when they recorded the song. Mostly they were popular party rhymes around town. Busy Bee has made some credible claims that they stole most of the lyrics from him, iirc.
posted by YoungAmerican at 2:57 PM on September 10, 2009 [1 favorite]

Slightly different-

I'm staying in the hotel, not the motel or the holi-day inn.

Cassidy - Hotel
posted by wongcorgi at 3:03 PM on September 10, 2009

Cassidy has a song called Hotel with the line "I'm staying at the hotel, not the motel or the Holiday Inn"
posted by 23skidoo at 3:14 PM on September 10, 2009

damn
posted by 23skidoo at 3:14 PM on September 10, 2009

Robbie Williams - Keep On
Tech Nine - Bianca's & Beatrice's
TLC - Switch
Method Man - Who Ya Rollin' With
posted by burnmp3s at 3:17 PM on September 10, 2009

“Hotel/Motel, Holiday Inn, if you don’t tell, then I won’t tell, but I know where you been!”

That’s official son, that’s the original version of the chant that Big Bank Hank used in Rapper’s Delight. It started at a spot called Club 371, way back in 1976. It’s the spot where Harlem’s smooth style came to the Boogie Down Bronx. It’s also the spot where four Manhattan deejays pioneered the disco side of hip hop.

“See, after the club, if you met a young lady and you wanted to take her to a motel or whatever, the place to go was the Courtesy in Jersey”, said pioneer deejay Reggie Wells.

“We called it the “Big C”, so if you were at the “Big C” after the club and somebody saw your car there; you’d find a note on your windshield that said “Hotel/Motel, Holiday Inn, if you don’t tell then I won’t tell, but I know where you been!”

Reggie Wells Talks About the Disco Side of Hip Hop
posted by nicwolff at 3:23 PM on September 10, 2009 [3 favorites]

I saw Pitbull say the line on Conan last week.
posted by rhizome at 3:28 PM on September 10, 2009

I think NWA used a variation of this lyric in 'Findum Fuckum and Flee' on their Efil4zaggin album.
posted by reenum at 3:30 PM on September 10, 2009

I think NWA used a variation of this lyric in 'Findum Fuckum and Flee' on their Efil4zaggin album.

To the Hotel / To the Motel / To the Holiday Inn /
If that bitch starts fuckin' up / then I'll fuck her friend
posted by porn in the woods at 3:44 PM on September 10, 2009

Also Neal McCoy has Hillbilly Rap that has that line in it.
posted by Climber at 8:15 PM on September 10, 2009

The Wyclef Jean song Kensigton314 mentioned is "To All the Girls". That song itself was sampled I believe From Either Julio Iglesias or another group/Artist.
posted by Student of Man at 9:33 PM on September 10, 2009