Lupe, We Need You For This Monster Mashup Mix

For a second, I was all set to compile a follow-up to yesterday’s post, since the number of sample-able film scores is never-ending. But that started to feel a bit like a lazy double-dip as I started writing. The vibe that buzzed through the comments section was so damn cool, though; it’d be a shame to not keep the good vibes flowing.

So I sat back, swigged a bit of Blue Moon beer (hold the orange) and racked the brain, joggled the memory, hoping to recall a few rock songs worthy of potential chopping and looping. This all started with Earl Klugh’s “A Time for Love,” and how The Rza exhibited his A-game while flipping Klugh’s airy guitars into the ubiquitous Raekwon classic “Ice Cream.”

“It couldn’t be all that hard,” I figured; as a wee lad, my parents used to bump vintage rock on the regular, everything from The Doors to Journey to The Guess Who, with healthy portions of ZZ Top and Credence Clearwater Revival on the side. I’ll never forget how Jim Morrison’s warped poetry on The Doors’ “Celebration of the Lizard” sent chills down my spine—that was the first record I went back to on this quest to call out hip-hop-ready rock songs.

On my way to trusty YouTube, however, I recalled another trippy soundbed that once gave me a similar sense of unease: English rock gods Pink Floyd’s Dark Side of the Moon (1973), one of the medium’s most initially inaccessible and rewarding-of-patience LPs. The pinnacle of “requires multiple listening” music. The first time I heard the album in its entirety was also an instance when I succumbed to pop culture tomfoolery.

Without any Mary Jane or intoxicating beverages in hand, regrettably, a few friends and I synched Dark Side of the Moon up with a Wizard of Oz DVD and tested the age-old legend of how Pink Floyd’s work can be used as a bizarre soundtrack to the Yellow Brick Road-set film. I was skeptic, naturally, but, I’ll be damned, it actually worked. We started both at the exact same time, and, to my bewilderment, there was talk of cash the second that “Money” began, just to name one example of the experiment’s fluidity.

The main characteristic that makes Dark Side of the Moon so incredible, to me at least, is its otherworldly mood, a no-drugs-are-even-needed-to-feel-spacey tone from start to finish. It’s the non-rap album that I revisit the most often, whenever I’m in the mood to board an invisible spaceship. And, taking in account my appreciation of it, this enduring Pink Floyd masterwork is also the rock album I’d most love to hear rapped over, top to bottom.

The only MC who has attempted to attack a Dark Side of the Moon cut— that I can think of—is Lupe Fiasco, on “Tilted in Any Colour You Like,” the closing track on his pre-Food & Liquor mixtape Fahrenheit 1/15 Part II: Revenge of the Nerds. The Pink Floyd record sampled by Carrera Lu was “Any Colour You Like.” Listen for yourselves, and hear how well-suited the album’s tempo is for a free LP such as the Danger Mouse-assembled Jay-Z/The Beatles mashup The Grey Album. This Lupe ish is just a damn tease.

If any other Dark Side of the Moon tracks have already been lifted by a rapper or two, please let me know. I couldn’t uncover any myself, now was I able to think of others. If my memory serves me correct and Pink Floyd’s notorious album remains untouched by hip-hop, the rest of this post may spark an online petition to change that, with the quickness. Allow me to post a few of my favorite Dark Side selections, ones I know could be the backdrops to some next-level spitting.

“Money” (If this proposed mashup had a single of some kind, this instrumental would be the ideal choice)

“Speak to Me/Breathe”

“The Great Gig in the Sky”

“On the Run” (This would be the toughest for an MC to catch, beat wise, but I’d love to hear some heads try; maybe you could slow the record down and then rap)

Think about it. Whomever gave the idea a shot could be call the thing Dark Side of Hip-Hop, or something more creative. Couldn’t it be sick? Lupe Fiasco is the obvious choice to record such a project, but let’s think outside the box. I can hear Ghostface over these records, no question. Take the wheel, though, commenters. What other MCs could body a Dark Side mashup? —Matt Barone