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@r4nd4zzo

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Bassline of the week. Up next is Rick James’ smash hit from 1981, “Super Freak”. This cut is from Rick’s fifth album, “Street Songs”. At the time of release in August of 81, Lionel Richie’s “Endless Love” was dominating the airwaves, the world was introduced to the IBM personal computer, and a new music-focused television network called MTV had just started. Where were you? Gotta be honest here, I always thought it was Rick on bass on this and all of his songs, but a quick dig revealed that the bass player is actually Oscar Alston on this one. Easy mistake, I mean Rick is holding a Rickenbacker 4001 on the cover. Be real, did you think it was Rick playing bass on this one? Oscar played on a lot of Rick James’ catalog as well as with Teena Marie, Smokey Robinson, and the Temptations. Speaking of the Temptations, I was also surprised to learn that they sang backgrounds on this cut. It all makes sense when you consider that “Street Songs” was released on Gordy Records, making the Temptations label mates of James. There’s a great YouTube video with Oscar’s isolated bass track from this song. I love coming across gems like this, it’s amazing for getting really deep into what types of bass tones sit well in a mix. Im going to surmise from the sound that this was played on a Fender Precision bass with a little bit of overdrive. Can’t beat that classic sound 😎 “Super Freak” was sampled in 1990 by MC Hammer for his biggest hit, “Can’t Touch This”. I admit, as a 90s kid, I heard the Hammer before the James. Another RJ sample/interpolation I remember hearing as a kid was J. Lo’s “I’m Real” (2002) with Ja Rule. Y’all remember that one?? What an amazing mark Rick left on pop culture. Rick’s albums are full of incredible basslines. What’s your favorite? What’s would you like to hear next in this series? Cheers, Randazzo #bass #basslines #rickjames #superfreak #kinky #oscaralston #fenderprecisionbass #gordy #temptations #mchammer