Tracks of the Week: Latifah, Monie and Ultimatum’s Remix Magic
Queen Latifah’s release of All Hail the Queen in 1989 was catnip to critics and the beginning of a veeeery good run for Dana Elaine Owens that arced from albums to the screen.
The tracks I return to most are both remixes of tracks on that album — and are both touchpoints for how hip hop and electronic acts from the U.S. and UK breathed one another in.
The first is The Crazy Extended 45 King Remix of the album’s most well-known song, “Ladies First.” Obvious UK tie-in here. Guest rapper Monie Love showed up and blew the doors off:
DJ Mark the 45 King (RIP) is the production name I most associate with this album, but Prince Paul, Daddy-0, KRS-ONE and Louie Vega also contributed to this breakout.
My second never-skip off this album is the Ultimatum remix of “Dance for Me,” which also has UK DNA in it. It also had more juice, mood and adrenaline than the LP version.
Ultimatum was a specialist remix outfit composed of the Stereo MCs camp — yes, fellow Americans, the outfit that had a big hit over here with “Connected” in 1992 — and DJ Cesare, who is listed as the Ultimatum remix point man and sometimes as a member of Stereo MCs. He had his beats and scratches in all kinds of projects and groups, from the KLF to Psychic TV.
It’s only fitting that where the US touches the UK touches hip hop touches dance music, you get a rich font of sample sources. If WhoSampled is to be believed, you’re getting pieces of James Brown and a Sly and the Family Stone medley track smoothly Frankensteined to a 1986 track from The The and bits of drums from post-punk legends Magazine.
You can’t deny how they put it all together over Latifah’s bright exhortations to get on the dance floor:
Some of my favorite co-minglings of hip hop and electronic sensibility right there, especially the urgency of the drum break.
What fun. I’m just gonna play some more of it while you add this to your playlist. My work here is done for today.