When Dead Prez's former record label wanted a hit single, the rap duo decided to imitate mainstream acts on their biggest song, "Hip Hop."
The New York group, composed of M-1 and stic.man, spoke about the song's origins in a new interview with Okayplayer, dedicated to the 25th anniversary of their 2000 album, Let's Get Free.
Around the 31-minute mark of the video below, stic.man explained that he was "offended" with being asked for a commercial single, as the bulk of Let's Get Free was completed.
"In my mind, at the time, that meant sell out, be pop," he said. "I was like, 'How could I throw that insult back sat the system for asking us that?'"
He continued to explain that the "most obnoxious shit" that he witnessed while growing up in Florida was "drug dealing dope boys" that were flashy with their gold teeth and Buicks.
As for the sound booming from their bass, stic.man added that while it was "obnoxious," the "streets love this shit."
"New York don't know about this," he continued. "I'm thinking like this right here is gonna be a hilarious almost [a] mockery or parody or satire."
Although he couldn't recall whether he had the hook, it was upon stic recording the song that M-1 and their entourage came into the session, but upon their response, the rapper knew they had a hit.
"I'm sitting there thinking, 'No way, this that this song is getting that much.' It's literally a baseline and drums–there nothing else in the whole song."
M-1 jumped in to say that the song's demo was "bare bones," but stic thought of it as a "joke" or "a sketch."
"But the way they responded, long story short, saved me from probably putting it in the trash," stic concluded.
The lyrics of "Hip Hop" reflect the duo's thoughts about the music industry at the time and the commodification of rappers.
