Audio By Carbonatix
It looks like Jason Derulo is revving up for the release of a new album. Not only that, but, fun fact: He’s from Miami and looks like a skinny LeBron James.
Oh, joy.
The good news: Derulo strikes me as a Chris Brown without the anger issues. The bad news: He’s a lousy sampler.
Sampling’s been going on for such a long time that it shouldn’t be an issue anymore. Anyone that complains about it now sounds corny, like the folk musicians who bashed Dylan for “going electric.” When it’s done right, sampling gives a song some unique character. And these days, the world of sampling is like the infinite racks of guns from The Matrix, except the guns shoot samples.
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Some artists shoot well, others shoot like Chris Bosh.
Jason’s last sample-heavy track was “Whatcha Say” from a couple years ago. The chorus didn’t even have Jason singing at all. Instead, it used a clip from Imogen Heap’s “Hide and Seek.”
“Don’t Wanna Go Home,” meanwhile, samples ’90’s house track “Show Me Love” by Robin S. (not to be confused by the ’90s pop song of the same name by Robyn), which instantly brings back traumatic memories MTV’s The Grind.
Thank a lot, Jason.
But it’s not just the sound either; entire lines get swiped from somewhere else. The pre-chorus line “from the window / to the wall” cribs Lil Jon’s “Get Low” and the chorus takes from Harry Belafonte’s “Day-O.”
Uh, didn’t Weezy also sample “Day-O” this year for “6 Foot 7 Foot”? You bet he did. Looks like the banana boat left without you, Jason.
(Sidenote: Major congratulations to the 84-year-old Belafonte, who is clearly having the best year of his life since the original song’s 1956 release.)
But even Derulo’s exclamation of “Day-yo” sounds a bit too close to Taio Cruz’s exclamation from “Dynamite,” doesn’t it? Makes you want to throw your hands up in the air sometimes, saying “Hey, day-yo sounds like ay-yo!”
Meanwhile, all this song boasts is Derulo throwing airballs.
(Go Mavs!)
