Did They Do the Sample Justice? Jay-Z feat Mr. Hudson - Young Forever
Jay-Z feat Mr. Hudson - Young Foreversampling
Alphaville - Forever Young
So I get to the end of the soon-to-be-released extremely impressive release by Young Hov and I find myself in awe of the last song. Ya know when you get that nostalgic feeling when you hear a track and it immediately takes you back to a great memory or a time when you were living in the moment?
Sort of like a mental bookmark that you associate with a song because it takes you back to that fond memory. That's exactly the feeling I got when hearing this track.
What moves me about the track is that the same reflective feeling I'm getting listening to the track, I feel like Jay way trying to convey through his verses. Like in the second verse:
"causes all we have to do is hit rewind
so lets just stay in the moment, smoke some weed,
drink some wine,
reminisce, talk some sh*t, forever young is in your mind
leave a mark that can never erase me, neither space, nor time
so when the director yells cut,
I’ll be fine,
I’m forever young…"
In general, the song is sort of a play on words since he has always referred to himself as "Young" throughout the years on tracks. He takes us from his bottle poppin' younger years to now where he can look back and revel in the fact that 11 albums later he's still the same Young, talented rapper. So in a way, he's saying he'll forever be himself when he says:
"and I ain’t waiting for closure, I will never forfeit,
less than four bars,
Guru bring the chorus in,
did you get the picture yet,
I’m painting you a portrait of...young
It's pretty cool the original group Alphaville, a German, 80s electro-pop group, released this song 25 years ago, just before I was born. Other than the verses and a little heavier beat, there isn't much difference at all from the original song. I'm very happy Kanye didn't change much on the beat, all he did was add a Hip Hop twist by augmenting the track with his familiar extremely subtle, raspy beat.
But...you have gotta give credit where credit is due and I will compliment Jay-Z for being resourceful in using Mr. Hudson on this track. Mr. Hudson, armed with his British accent sounds identical to Marian Gold (the lead singer of Alphaville). After hearing this I'm about to start a conspiracy theory that Jay had Kanye recruit someone who could do this sample to a T.
The Sample:
Alphaville - Forever Young Classic!
The Remake:
Jay-Z feat Mr. Hudson - Young Forever (prod by Kanye West) Top Song of August!
GWDJ Verdict: This is the type of timeless track that you have to do right if you're going to sample it. All things considered I don't think it could have been sampled any better and Jay-Z has definitely created an equally timeless version of an age old track. My hat is off to you Hov, take a bow, you made it your own by adding three lyrically introspective verses, while still maintaining the feel of the original song. In my mind Hov and Kanye, you absolutely did the song justice .
What do you think?
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