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The Casio employee behind the “Sleng Teng” riddim that revolutionized reggae

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Re: The Casio employee behind the “Sleng Teng” riddim that revolutionized reggae

#191

Post by bambax »

From TFA:

> Among music fans, there is a widespread belief that the Sleng Teng bassline was derived from Eddie Cochran’s “Something Else” or a song by the Sex Pistols, but Okuda denies having had any particular recording in mind. “I did use to listen to a lot of British rock, so I’m sure there must have been songs that influenced me. But really, the bassline was something I came up with myself. It wasn’t based on any other tune.”

But this video about Sleng Teng Riddim says otherwise

> She did give another clue. 'It was a 70s British rockstar, and if you heard the song it would be instantly recognizable, she said.'

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R_Hko8LRdyo&t=400s

The song is "Hang on to yourself" by David Bowie, released in 1972. When it came out many commentators said it was heavily reminiscent of Eddie Cochran.

So there's a clear line from Cochran to Bowie to Reggae. Stories about cultural references and echoes, etc. are really fascinating.

(Also, completely OT, but the voice on the Traxploitation video really sounds like the guy doing FabFilter's demos & tutorials. Does anyone know if it's the same guy??)

Re: The Casio employee behind the “Sleng Teng” riddim that revolutionized reggae

#192

Post by cc81 »

JohnBooty wrote: post #164
asdff wrote: post #118

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's gotten to the point where people are even criticized for tanning too much beyond what is supposedly acceptable for their identity.

That's a pretty fringe outlook. A good piece of advice would be: Every belief, good or bad, has a lunatic fringe that takes that belief to some stupid extreme. If we judge every belief by its most deluded lunatic fringe, then we would be forced to conclude that there are literally zero beliefs or ideas worth subscribing to. The lunatic fringe is always there, and it is always scary and/or really, really dumb. Learn t…

I agree but it is also worth how/if the majority reacts to those kind of fringe ideas.

Re: The Casio employee behind the “Sleng Teng” riddim that revolutionized reggae

#193

Post by lt »

sequoia wrote: post #44

For people wondering "what's the sleng teng riddim?" here's some examples: Original "under mi sleng teng" https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wjw7m-BKmQ8 One of my favorites, "The Don" by peter metro: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mnZuTOH2zoc 90 minute sleng teng mix (here's a bunch): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EwLKc61dVWQ related: Under mi sensi (doesn't actually use sleng teng riddim but it's a riff on the sleng…

Myself, I got down this rabbit hole when reading about Sublime history. "Caress Me Down" features the sleng teng riddim.

Re: The Casio employee behind the “Sleng Teng” riddim that revolutionized reggae

#195

Post by npteljes »

skydhash wrote: post #169
npteljes wrote: post #87

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The entirety of the remix culture is just something else. People turning something existing into something else, sometimes completely changing it up. For one I loved Burial's Archangel, for its haunting vocals, only to learn later that it's sampled from a (to me) unremarkable r&b song.

A great example is : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I_NVUZNsh2E The remix is: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jGflUbPQfW8 The original is good, but the remix is something else.

I agree, the update is very well done.

Re: The Casio employee behind the “Sleng Teng” riddim that revolutionized reggae

#196

Post by pmarreck »

aasasd wrote: post #140
sequoia wrote: post #44

For people wondering "what's the sleng teng riddim?" here's some examples: Original "under mi sleng teng" https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wjw7m-BKmQ8 One of my favorites, "The Don" by peter metro: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mnZuTOH2zoc 90 minute sleng teng mix (here's a bunch): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EwLKc61dVWQ related: Under mi sensi (doesn't actually use sleng teng riddim but it's a riff on the sleng…

Don't forget Moby's ‘dancehall’ remix of Prodigy's ‘Everybody In The Place’: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KWHc7rSv03Q I bet that this is where many thirty-something people heard it for the first time.

Joey Beltram, ooooh the feels

Re: The Casio employee behind the “Sleng Teng” riddim that revolutionized reggae

#197

Post by [deleted] »

zepto wrote: post #175
JohnBooty wrote: post #153

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I mean, yes, they are different. One is usually explicitly meant to denigrate another group; another is usually not meant to denigrate another group. In that sense, very different. In another key way they’re absolutely similar: they are modes of expression that (in the eyes of some) harm other groups or (in the eyes of others) are not a big deal. And there are an awful lot of grey areas and nobody agrees on the defin…

You’ve simply repeated the contradiction. We know that slurs are meant to denigrate. We not only don’t know that appropriation is intended to do harm. For any given claim of appropriation, we don’t even know that it does harm , nor that members of the group perceive it that way in general. There really is no comparison at all, and it seems like your argument is that they are similar in that people disagree about them…

[deleted]

Re: The Casio employee behind the “Sleng Teng” riddim that revolutionized reggae

#198

Post by vemv »

dzhiurgis wrote: post #45
bravura wrote: post #7

The Sleng Teng riddim is one of my favorite reggae riddims. Americans might best know it as the bassline from Sublime's Caress Me Down ( https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k_LP4IU6XD4 ). But you might really love the lyrics of Tenor Saw's Pumpkin Belly, which a song of the "old time proverbs": "Whatsover you want / You have to work very hard to gain." https://genius.com/Tenor-saw-pumpkin-belly-lyrics

I used to keep a little list of riddims, here's more from sleng teng: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=61kVhWClUZo https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KOMZlVLh1Ts https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r9mrs1Ge8fo then there's stalag riddim: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C4fjGwVpbm0 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dbQX0QmngYg https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u3d4Efp5TMc and my favourite heavenless riddim: https://www.youtube.co…

I know this comes at odds with "no photos allowed" but is there some good footage on youtube?

Sounds like something I'd enjoy watching, just like 80s warehouse parties with early acid house.

Re: The Casio employee behind the “Sleng Teng” riddim that revolutionized reggae

#199

Post by JohnBooty »

cc81 wrote: post #192
JohnBooty wrote: post #164

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That's a pretty fringe outlook. A good piece of advice would be: Every belief, good or bad, has a lunatic fringe that takes that belief to some stupid extreme. If we judge every belief by its most deluded lunatic fringe, then we would be forced to conclude that there are literally zero beliefs or ideas worth subscribing to. The lunatic fringe is always there, and it is always scary and/or really, really dumb. Learn t…

I agree but it is also worth how/if the majority reacts to those kind of fringe ideas.

That's a good point.

I think perhaps the importance of that depends on how... unified the group is, you know?

If there are 3 people at a dinner table and one of them is acting badly, definitely hold the other 2 accountable.

If there are 1,000,000 people in a political party and 1% of them are acting badly, I think the 99% and the leaders are somewhat responsible.

If there's a vague concept like "cultural appropriation" or "cringeworthiness" that isn't owned by anybody, I don't know how practical it is for people using the term to really have responsibility for people that misuse it.

At some point there's just a practical limit I think.

Re: The Casio employee behind the “Sleng Teng” riddim that revolutionized reggae

#200

Post by JohnBooty »

kuhewa wrote: post #180
JohnBooty wrote: post #73

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Agree completely, though, I also don't feel like this sort of (awesome) thing is what anybody is talking about when they discuss cultural appropriation! Cross-pollination like this is, I dare say, universally loved and recognized as vital. Generally when people speak of "cultural appropriation" it's a situation where you have a majority and/or oppressing group capitalizing on the culture of a minority and/or oppresse…

> Generally when people speak of "cultural appropriation" it's a situation where you have a majority and/or oppressing group capitalizing on the culture of a minority and/or oppressed group. I think the issue, as illustrated in replies to you, is that many people's only exposure to conversations about cultural appropriation are extreme examples brought to their attention by someone seeking to highlight how absurd the…

Yeah. I feel like this is a very real phenomenon and is often done deliberately, and in bad faith.

Also various social media algorithms certainly contribute to it, as they favor engagement over all.

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