R.I.P. Rob Base

With his partner DJ E-Z Rock, one of the first hip hop artists to have mainstream success with the inescapable "It Takes Two." Perennial also-ran for RRHOF induction.

“I wanna rock right now! I’m Rob Base and I came to get down..” Still got most of that song memorized.
And the James Brown sample, probably no more than 3 seconds long, was well-spotted, presumably by DJ E-Z Rock.

Bought the single…and the album, tho honestly don’t remember much of it. File under: One Hit, But Oh What A Hit, along with “Pop Muzik” and “When A Man Loves A Woman.”

(Er, unless they had other hits. “Joy and Pain” might have charted too, I dunno..)

I think joy and pain is fairly well known. ‘Get on the dance floor’ was the 2nd single I think, snd had the very fresh Todd Terry sample (black riot’s a day in the life).

I actually heard Roxanne Shante’s “go on girl” before “it takes two”…. Both use that same sample.

God I really loved that era of hip hop. Everything was happening at once, and it saved me from late 80s alternative rock drek.

Didn't Spin once name It Takes Two as the greatest single of all time?

Yeah, Spin did do that. And the single hadn’t been out that long (less than a year?) which made it seem so ‘incendiary’. How dare they?!?

But personally, I’d rather read (and argue with) that list instead of the obvious, traditional options.

Unless I'm mistaken, the attention-getting sample came from the Lyn Collins single "Think About It."