Graham Reid | | <1 min read
The merging of hip-hop and rock (via Run DMC with Aerosmith, Anthrax with Public Enemy, and others) lead to nu-metal and its many unfortunate bands such as Limp Bizkit.
But, as with the early days of hip-hop when there was an innocent and enjoyable experimentation, some of nu-metal's predecessors were more interesting than their offspring.
This single out of Germany by the litle known King Kurlee from Philadelphia and featuring Jurgen Blackmore, son of Deep Purple's Ritchie, pulled together some enjoyable rap with that distinctive Smoke on the Water riff.
If you check the My Space page for Blackmore's current band Over the Rainbow (he didn't fall far from the tree, right?) it says this song went top 10 in Australia and New Zealand.
Maybe, I don't recall it charting or getting much radio play. And the EP of three versions was a German import so the likelihood of it being a hit seems remote. (In fact the official NZ charts say it peaked at #38, which proves again how unreliable My Space/ the internet/musicians' memories can be.)
But no matter because, like Caveman's sampling of Hendrix's Crosstown Traffic for I'm Ready of the same year (clip below), this uses riffery to its own advantage.
And it's just kinda fun.
For more oddities, one-offs or songs with a backstory see From the Vaults.
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