90s-ish rap or hip-hop song with horn honk in the middle?

April 9, 2013 7:37 PM

This is driving me nuts. Trying to remember a rap or hip-hop song from the mid 90s/early 00s, with a horn honk just in the middle of the song (I think only then).

Was about 85bpm, and it had a fixed, repetitive rhythm through the entire song with only a break in the middle when the horn honked, twice, in a short-loooong sort of honk. The rhythm went something like this:

1234123412341234123412341234123412341234123412341234123412341234
xx xxx xxx x    xx xxx xxx x    xx xxx xxx x **-xx xxx xxx x      
                                              ^
                                horn goes "short-long!"

It was pretty minimalist, mainly just a beat on 1 & 3, and this repetitive, somewhat high-pitched rhythm above, and the lyrics. Not a lot of instruments.

It is not:
N2Deep "Back to the Hotel"
M.C. Cool Rock "Boot the Booty"

I know this is a long shot, but... Help? (I may be getting two completely separate songs mashed together in my head)

posted by xedrik to Society & Culture (11 answers total)

East Coast, West Coast, Dirty South, Top 40, any idea?
posted by Brocktoon at 8:57 PM on April 9, 2013

Response by poster: No idea. Got radio play, if that helps.
posted by xedrik at 9:15 PM on April 9, 2013

Ignition (Remix)
posted by ladybird at 11:13 PM on April 9, 2013

Missy Elliot - Supa Dupa Fly
posted by Autumn at 2:02 AM on April 10, 2013

You really can't remember anything about the lyrics? Even general themes? Guns? "I'm a great rapper?" Politics? Anything? No offense but your musical description of the beat is gibberish.
posted by Potomac Avenue at 6:19 AM on April 10, 2013

It wasn't Eminem by chance?
posted by barnone at 6:58 AM on April 10, 2013

I'm going to throw this out there: Grandmaster Flash - The Message. (Cued up to car honking.)
posted by Room 641-A at 7:44 AM on April 10, 2013

Response by poster: You really can't remember anything about the lyrics? Even general themes? Guns? "I'm a great rapper?" Politics? Anything? No offense but your musical description of the beat is gibberish.

Sorry, but no. Haven't heard this song for 15, maybe 20 years. I did have a musician friend look at this post, and he counted out and tapped out the rhythm perfectly on the first go, so I'm confident that it makes sense at least to musicians. bum-bum, ba-bum-bum, ba-bum-bum, bum.

Thanks for the ideas, but it is neither Ignition, nor The Message. It's not the Missy Elliot track, but I do remember that video! All hail the garbage bag! I'm thinking it wasn't Eminem (I can't stand his voice; I would have pretty much instantly dismissed the song if it was him.)
posted by xedrik at 8:27 AM on April 10, 2013

You didn't say anything about the artist's gender, so what about Adina Howard's "Freak Like Me"? I seem to recall that the edited radio version had two honks in place of where she said We can [boom boom] all through the night...". A total long-shot but I think this kind of question permits 'wild guesses'...

This is the version without the horn (that I am possibly imagining).
posted by lovableiago at 8:30 AM on April 10, 2013

What Goes Around by Beastie Boys has a honk like that. But that isn't the only break in the song. So it's probably not that, but I figured I'd try.
posted by I_Zimbra at 9:17 AM on April 10, 2013

Didn't ring a bell, but when I did the beat in my head, it was Paul Revere. Since that's probably not it (kind of hard to forget Paul Revere), if you aren't shy, put a clip of you on soundcloud or something, doing the beat with your mouth, and I can probably id the song.
posted by cashman at 7:17 PM on June 21, 2013