Aretha.
- Baba Eric
- Apr 7, 2017
- 7 min read
I want to be what he wants, when he wants it, and whenever he needs it.” — Aretha Franklin (Daydreaming)
Anybody who knows me knows that I am a disciple of Aretha Franklin. I am more than a fan; I am a connoisseur of her body of work, collecting her recordings like fine wines and exotic cigars. Aretha’s music and life works have been a point of interest of mine most of my adult life. When you look into her accomplishments, its not difficult to see why she is widely considered one of the most influential artists of all-time. To sum up the last 50 years:
· 18 total Grammy wins including 8 wins in a row for “Best Female R&B Performance”
· First woman to be inducted into the Rock-n-Roll Hall of Fame
· UK Music Hall of Fame Inductee (She hasn’t been to the continent in nearly 40 years)
· The 2nd most charted female artist in history (Nicki Minaj surpassed her earlier this week)
· The highest selling Gospel Album of All-Time
· 3 albums named in Rolling Stone’s 500 Greatest Albums of All-Time list
· Ranked as the 9th Greatest Artist of All-Time by Rolling Stone
· Ranked as the Greatest Singer of All-time by Rolling Stone
I got bullets for days. Her musical accomplishments, her influence, and the things she has accomplished in the past 50 years, has solidified her as the Queen.
The Influence
In order to understand Aretha’s influence, one must first understand who influenced her. Aretha was born in Memphis, Tennessee — as close to the birthplace of “The Blues” as you could possibly get (The actual birthplace of the blues is my hometown of Clarksdale, Mississippi -70 miles south). Her mother Barbara was a noted gospel singer, and her father — The Reverend C.L. Franklin was arguably the 2nd most prominent preacher in the 1960’s only behind Reverend Martin Luther King, Jr. Reverend Franklin’s singing and preaching voice soon pushed him into the world of the civil rights activism, church politics, and celebrity status — and there was Aretha and her four siblings. It was at his church at age 14, Aretha recorded her first album. (Warning: There is absolutely nothing that can prepare you for a FOURTEEN year-old Aretha singing Precious Lord. You ain’t built for it.)
After the divorce and sudden death of her mother, Black Hollywood’s elite stepped into to raise the future Queen in waiting. Mahalia Jackson, Clara Ward, Sam Cooke, Albertina Walker, and the Reverend James Cleveland — the man who taught Aretha how to play the piano by ear at 8 years old — all had in some form of fashion instilled a semblance of themselves into her and she, like a true artist, took pieces from each of these great performers and molded her own undeniable style. In other words, when it came to being great, Aretha had no choice in the matter:
Aretha Franklin, 1986
Her style is gut-wrenching, soul-stirring, hand-clapping, spirit-catching, tear-weeping, hand-waving, toe-tapping Black music. Every possible African tradition in popular music is embedded in Aretha’s records; nobody — and I mean nobody does music — soul, R&B, pop, gospel, jazz, the Blues — quite like Aretha.
No, Aretha didn’t not invent soul music, or even popularize it (Ray Charles, anyone?) What she did do was however was, 1) cover material by some of the most popular male artists — Black and White — and made their songs her songs, and 2) bring America’s “Blackest music tradition” to the international spotlight. Aretha almost single-handedly transformed the way soul music was heard, performed, and consumed. At any given moment between 1967–1972, you could very well hear 3 Aretha songs within an hour on the same radio station. The Grammy’s didn’t know what to do with her — so they made an award “Best R&B vocal performance — and she won it 8 years in a row. She is the Queen of Soul with an influence that stretches across rock, R&B, jazz, bluegrass, gospel, pop, country, and the blues, even classical.
Aretha’s Influence on Hip-Hop
But what about Hip-Hop? It was a question that I got to thinking about after a convo with my homie Troy (Grits & Gospel). He’d just released a piece about the [Extra]ordinary Mos Def. In it, he referenced the song, “Ms. Fat Booty.” I knew it because I knew “One Step Ahead,” the Aretha track Def sampled for the chorus ( “I know I can’t afford to stop…”). Mind you, Troy is one of the most knowledgeable people I know on music -period. Yet, he had no idea Mos sampled Aretha. It was from that conversation that Troy challenged me to write about Aretha’s influence on hip-hop. How many people were walking around this here green earth and had no idea Aretha was out here sprinkling her Black Girl Soul Magic all over today’s artist in the field of hip hop?
Troy challenged me to make the case for Aretha’s influence over the genre. I started putting together a short list of songs that I knew had samples of her music off the top of my head: There was Slum Village “Selfish,” (Call Me) and Kanye’s “School Sprit,” (Spirit in The Dark) 2 songs that received considerable airplay at the time they dropped. (Kayne grew up in Chicago right down the street from the theater where Aretha had literally been crowned “The Queen of Soul). Then there was my JAM in high school: T.I. and Jazzy Pha’s “Lets Get Away-” (Daydreaming).
For The Culture
In order to really make sense of Aretha’s influence on the genre of Hip-Hop, you have to first make sense of her influence on Black culture: Aretha Franklin is more than the Queen of Soul. At her peak, Aretha Franklin was the most visible Black artist from the late 1960’s to mid 1970’s and was as unapologetically Black, and unashamedly Black as a Black artist could possibly be. Aretha, adorning Nefertiti-style head wraps, African jewelry, and her own natural hair, was Our soul sister. At one point, Aretha refused to entertain any media outlet outside of Ebony Magazine and Jet because she simply was not here for Time Magazine and their “alternative facts” about her personal life. When she and her sisters sang “Sock it to me,” “Ain’t No Way,” or “What It is?!” it was more than just catchy Detroit catchphrases, street slang or mere lyrics to a song — they were a celebration of Black vernacular and thus our culture. When Aretha sang to raise money for the Southern Leadership Christian Conference and Operation Breadbasket, it was more than a “fundraiser,’ for her — it was her contribution to the cause.
Aretha Franklin and Martin Luther King, Jr
When she sang at the funerals of Martin Luther King, Jr., Mahalia Jackson, Dinah Washington, Rosa Parks, Albertina Walker, and Luther Vandross, she was more than a performer; she had been entrusted by Black America to pay respects to Our fallen soldiers the proper way because we knew that if Aretha sang it, it would be sang right. Aretha toured the world with Muhammad Ali, while refusing to play for a white-only crowd. She would sing for an All-Black crowd, or an integrated crowd, or nobody at all.
She used her money, power and influence for Black causes and did so publicly, out front and open for the world to see. She sang about the largest meeting place for the Klan in American history. She sang about God. She sang about good sex. She sang about the conditions of the ghetto. She sang about good sex AND the conditions of the ghetto. She made Black music for Black people.
At the height of her career, Aretha offered and attempted to pay the bail of Angela Davis. Davis at the time was a UCLA professor who had been fired by Governor Ronald Reagan from the university after declaring herself a member of the communist party. When Davis was arrested for murders she did not commit, Aretha stepped up to pay her bail because, well:
“I have the money — I got it from Black people — they’ve made me financially able to have it and I want to use it in ways to help our people.” — Aretha Franklin
Rock Steady
What I want you to know is that “Rock Steady” is a dope ass song. What you probably don’t know is not only was this song penned by Aretha, but you probably don’t know the song has been sampled nearly 100 times by various hip-hop artist spanning nearly 40 years. From Dr. Dre to Outkast, to Master P, Rock Steady has had more than its share of samples from various hip-hop styles. As many times as I have heard P’s “How You Do Dat?” who knew he snuck a “Rock Steady” sample in there? A Tribe Called Quest got a piece of Rock Steady on “Show Business.” Whodini sampled the song for their single “Rock You Again (Again + Again).” Public Enemy sampled several of Aretha’s records throughout their career: “Miuzi Weighs a Ton,” “Shut Em Down,” and “Night of the Living Baseheads.” all sampled Rock Steady (I’m assuming Chuck D was a fan of the song)
The Golden Age
Big Daddy Kane sampled The House That Jack Built, and Jump To It for “The House That Cee Built.” (Assuming you can find the samples seeing as how Big Daddy Kane has the tendency to mashup about 5 songs into one). Whoodini and Afrika Bambaataa have sampled Aretha’s music. KRS-One, widely considered one of hip-hop’s more conscious artist convinced me he was a real fan when he sampled Aretha’s “One Way Ticket” for “I Remember” — one of her lesser known songs. It is alleged that Kool Moe Dee sampled Aretha’s Respect. I don’t hear it, tho. The “Real Roxanne” of “The Roxanne Wars” however, did sample Aretha’s most famous tune for a song by the same title.
Aretha & Hip Hop Today
Aretha’s influence in music goes beyond the “golden era” and resonates with today’s artist. Lupe Fiasco probably has two of the best Aretha samples I have heard: Me Love You (Until You Come To Me) and (Cold World) (Young, Gifted, & Black). Twalib Kweli (one half of the super group Black Star with fellow Aretha fan Mos Def) sampled “I Get High” for “Joy” and “Border Song” for “Holy Moly.” (Big Sean sampled my favorite Aretha song for a song by the same title. Nas, Snoop (Rock Steady), Mobb Deep and Jay-Z have all used The Queen’s music as their personal muse to create new hits and new memories for a new generation.
So is Aretha Franklin hip-hop?
Aretha Franklin is hip-hop because Aretha Franklin is Black Culture.
Happy {Belated}Birthday, Queen.
___________________________________________________________________
The Only Aretha Playlist You’ll Ever Need: