SOME STUFFS: Black Eyed Peas go back to “Yesterday” in more ways than one

This weekend, the release of a new Black Eyed Peas video has made a lot of people talk about what they saw and heard. The song and video is a throw back to the old school, with the group heading to a record store and throwing out records in the same way Ice Cube did in “Jacking For Beats”, done in a visual way Erykah Badu did in “Honey” with recreations of classic album covers. To be honest, I was going to stay away from the video because I have not liked what BEP have become in the last 14 years, since Fergie became part of the group. For the time being, Fergie is out of the song and video but she is still very much a part of the group. However, I decided to watch it and I noticed a few highlights.

For one, the video will focus on an album cover that is recreated by the group in a live manner and if you look really good, you will also see one of the sample sources for the song being heard, from the album being seen. They include:

McCoy Tyner’s “Impressions” from his Trident album, the source of the primary bass sample in Black Sheep’s “The Choice Is Yours (Revisited)”:

Art Blakey & The Jazz Messengers’ “Stretching” from his Reflections In Blue album, the source of the primary sample in Digable Planets’ “Rebirth Of Slick (Cool Like Dat)”:

Brother Jack McDuff’s “Oblighetto” from his Moon Rappin’ album, the source of the main sample in A Tribe Called Quest’s “Scenario”:

Tom Scott’s cover of Jefferson Airplane’s “Today” from his Honeysuckle Breeze album, the source of the saxophone sample in Pete Rock & CL Smooth’s “They Reminisce Over You (T.R.O.Y.):

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Seven other segments of the video omitted its sample sources, even though it showed the song they were trying to pay homage to:

The errors they showed were:

LL Cool’s Radio album, seen when they were recreating “Rock The Bells”. However, the album next to it is Loggins & Messina’s debut album, Sittin’ In, which is not the sample source in the song or any portion of LL’s album. The sampled album should’ve shown AC/DC’s Flick Of The Switch album, the source of the guitar stabs.

1) While the song they were trying to recreate during this part was indeed by KRS-One, the album in question was not from that release, but from Return Of The Boom Bap.
2) If they were to show the sampled album, they should’ve shown Grand Funk’s Live Album:

Nonetheless, despite how huge the group have become post-Fergie, this video shows that they still understand in the old school aesthetic, even though they no longer subscribe to it in full for their hits. This one was very much for the heads who fondly remember when the Black Eyed Peas were once known for getting down.