Black Patch
5th Dimension
Individually & Collectively, 1972
I’ve had my eye out for this song since reading the (incorrect) sample credits for “Trying People” on De La Soul’s AOI: Bionix album. They were only off by a letter (they listed it as “Black Path”) but apparently that was enough to thwart my lukewarm research efforts for um…6-7 years? (yeah, yeah, so I only checked once). Luckily, my girl Geraldine in the Bay put me up on it via her excellent radio show The Need To Calm (set your iCal/Outook to remind you to tune in Fridays at Noon EST/9:00am PST – this wasn’t the only song that made me beg for a tracklist).
I’ve historically been pretty dismissive of the 5th Dimension; it always seemed that their music was a little too light and potentially geared to a white audience. I still think that’s true but I’m coming around on them between this song and “Dimension 5ive”.
“Trying People” by De La Soul is pinnacle of you might call De La Soul’s “grown a$$ man” period (both Art Official Intelligence albums). This sample was perfect for themes rarely heard in hip hop such as:
Got fans around the world
But my girl’s not one one of ‘em
And my relationship’s a big question
Cause my career is a clear hindrance to her progression
Said she needs a man and our kids need a father
I’m not at all ready to hear her say don’t bother
And break and this i know i can’t take but uh
C. Smith said to hold on…my brother Luck (?) said to hold on…
If you know the De La song already, it will be a little surreal to hear the rest of “Black Patch.” The intro provides the expected ethereal-ness but then the song immediately launches into a much more traditional, almost big-band thing. The weirdest moment is when the “people are you ready?” part from the intro comes back in over the horns at 1:59.
Bonus Question: can anyone tell me – what is Black Patch? (“Woman child on the sad street – flashin’ in black patch”…??)
Recommendation: set the start time of “Trying People” to 0:28 and the end time to 4:25 (how to do that is here).
>> songs are available for two weeks (192 kbps) [6.4 MB]
>> songs are available for two weeks (320 kbps) [10.3 MB]
February 28th, 2008 at 3:03 am
interesting you picked out that part of the verse, that’s is my favorite lyric in the song
“Got fans around the world
But my girl’s not one one of ‘em
And my relationship’s a big question
Cause my career is a clear hindrance to her progression”
absolutely well said and clever. word.
thanks for the radio show plug, by the way.