I wanna rock right now

June 24, 2015 11:17 AM

What is this sweet drum sample that takes over at 2:30 in DJ Jazzy Jeff and The Fresh Prince's "I Wanna Rock"?

So, of course I'm listening to old DJ Jazzy Jeff and The Fresh Prince. I've always loved "I Wanna Rock," which for the first 2:30 is a straight sample of Rob Base & DJ E-Z Rock's "It Takes Two," but DJ Jazzy Jeff gets crazy and this hot Go-go-style drum sample takes over.

For the life of me, I can't figure out what song it's from (despite spending a little too much time at WhoSampled.com). Anybody recognize it?

posted by General Malaise to Media & Arts (10 answers total)

Sounds a bit like the opening drum riff from Superstition by Stevie Wonder to me.
posted by jquinby at 11:24 AM on June 24, 2015

Best answer: I'm going with live drummer, not a sample. Discogs says...

I Wanna Rock contains a sample of "It Takes Two" as recorded by Rob Base & DJ EZ Rock, "I Can't Live Without My Radio" as recorded by LL Cool J and "Think (About It)" as recorded by Lyn Collins.

...and none of those are it. There's plenty of unique fills, plays on the hats, different snare techniques. At ~4:30 he bounces with the lyrics. From ~5:00 the drummer and DJ start playing off each other. Definitely live drummer. As for who the drummer is... no idea.
posted by quinndexter at 12:28 PM on June 24, 2015 [1 favorite]

That drum style is very popular for the time and maybe why it sounds familiar?
See the beginnings of Boyz II Men "Mowtown Philly" and Another Bad Creation's "Iesha", or parts of Bobby Brown's "My Prerogative"
posted by NoraCharles at 12:42 PM on June 24, 2015

Response by poster: I also thought it sounded a lot more like live drumming than a sample, but found it hard to believe that a song that was meant to highlight Jazz's DJing skills would have a drummer. But you're right. Because Will Smith says it at the beginning "We got little John on the d r u m s, get busy."

Something interesting. The listed writers are:

Writer(s): Willard C. Smith, James A. Johnson, Jeffrey Townes, Robert Ginyard Jr, James Brown

The only James A. Johnson I can find is Rick James. Is it possible/likely that Rick James played the drums on this track?
posted by General Malaise at 12:48 PM on June 24, 2015

Response by poster: (Probably not. Not only can I not find a single reference to James being called Little John ever, but he produced a song that's sampled, so that's probably why he's credited. Oh well, the drummer's identity will forever remain a mystery)
posted by General Malaise at 12:59 PM on June 24, 2015

Best answer: Little John Roberts is the drummer, according to Discogs.
posted by mykescipark at 1:04 PM on June 24, 2015 [1 favorite]

Response by poster: Well, consider that mystery solved. Thanks mykescipark!
posted by General Malaise at 1:14 PM on June 24, 2015

It may be live, but isn't that more or less the funky drummer breakbeat?
posted by slkinsey at 4:08 PM on June 24, 2015

Will Smith says it at the beginning "We got little John on the d r u m s, get busy."

Ha! I tried to listen to that, but all I could hear was "We got mumble mumble..."

isn't that more or less the funky drummer breakbeat?

'Funky Drummer' keeps busy with 16ths on the hats, while this guy plays 8s with more grace notes on the snare, but they've both got that high & dry snare sound.

Glad we got another problem solved, General Malaise!
posted by quinndexter at 8:59 PM on June 24, 2015

Whosampled.com is the standard place I go to answer questions like these. Of course they have no sample listed for those drums (because it is live, as has been figured out).

But the page for this song does note that it samples "All Night Long" by the Mary Jane Girls, a song produced by Rick James. For most of the samples listed (including this one) the site embeds YouTube videos and has timing references.
posted by mountmccabe at 8:26 AM on June 25, 2015 [1 favorite]