So… today, Mariah Carey hits the big 4-0. Even though she tends to come off like the old broad who thinks she’s still cool, and I’ve always been “blah” about most of her music, MC is aiiight with me. Matter fact, I’d wife her up if I was sure she didn’t have a drinking problem and she wasn’t wild’n out with Nick Cannon. She’s also a big ’80s R&B fan, as can be gathered by how many classic joints she’s revisited over the course of her career. There’s also that awful Glitter movie she made, but that’s neither here nor there. Here’s a few of her remixes from the late-’90s and the tracks they borrowed from.
(Oh, and don’t y’all go judgin’ me about seein’ Glitter- my niece used to fukk with that movie hard.)
“Fantasy” (Remix feat. Ol’ Dirty Bastard) (1995) X Tom Tom Club “Genius of Love” (1981): Suga Piiiiie! “Genius of Love” has been sampled a gang of times, but its most popular usage will prob’ly always be “Fantasy”. The Tom Tom Club was a Talking Heads side project, which just so happened to hit on the R&B charts in ’81 with “Genius…”. 14 years later, Mariah and ODB (who, unbeknownst to us, went back like babies and pacifiers) got it poppin’ again.
“Always Be My Baby” (Remix feat. Da Brat & XScape) (1996) X The S.O.S. Band “Tell Me If You Still Care” (1983): One of the songs that kicked off Jimmy Jam & Terry Lewis‘ run as dominant producers in the ’80s, “Tell Me…” is another track that’s been sampled a few times. In ’96, Mariah linked up with Jermaine Dupri for a So So Def remix. For her trouble, JD even threw in his artists Da Brat and XScape as a bonus. This was the beginning of the Carey/Dupri combo, which has since worked most of the time.
“My All/Stay A While” (feat. Lord Tariq & Peter Gunz) (1998) X Loose Ends “Stay A Little While, Child” (1986): One of my favorite R&B albums of the ’80s happens to be Zagora by the UK‘s own Loose Ends. I guess Mariah liked it too, because she remixed her hit “My All” by practically singin’ their hit “Stay A Little While, Child” in its entirety. JD is behind this remix as well, with Tariq & Gunz managing to parlay that “Uptown Baby” shit into a guest spot. Also notable for its cameo-heavy video, in which current hardcore-rappin’ mixtape favorite Cory Gunz (Peter’s son) dances with a stuffed animal on his head.
“Thank God I Found You” (Remix feat. Nas & Joe) (1999) X Keith Sweat “Make It Last Forever” (1988): I’m tryin’ to picture Mariah Carey ridin’ around bumpin’ a DJ Clue tape… can’t do it. Whichever way it happened, she got real cool with the Question Mark Man in the late-’90s- so much that he remixed a few joints for her. With the help of Clue, Joe, Nas, a cowboy hat, a bandana, and braids, MC covered the classic Keith Sweat/Jacci McGhee duet “Make It Last Forever”. This shit falls waaaay short of the original, but it was a valiant effort.
So as Mariah kicks 40′s door down, we at DanjLovesThe90s (“we” = “I”) salute her love of the ’80s, which finally caused me to dig some of her music during the late-’90s. Happy B-Day, MC.
-D!
remember what you said about swizz bein a wild card? thats how i feel about mariah and jd workin together. Sometimes it just WORKS(like with the emancipation) and other times im like please sit your old ass down…
1. PERFECT *cue asian girl from rush hour singin*
2. pointless *cue the original*
3. pointless,tho i enjoyed the throwback vid back when cameos were still enjoyable *cue the original*
4. i actually enjoy both of these versions, i like when mariah hits that “make me, make me” part
so thats 2/4 for mimi+jd
*whispers* i fukks wit glitter