Left: Pitbull, Right: There are a lot of great random photos of Steven Tyler (Aerosmith). This is one of them.
I don’t have a lot of info on this new Pitbull track but the vocal is very similar to Aerosmith‘s 1975 hit “Walk This Way” (later covered by/with Run D.M.C.). I’m sure it’s some sort of homage, but to Aerosmith or Run D.M.C.?
After hearing the Pitbull track I couldn’t help hearing a bit of Michael Jackson‘s “Wanna Be Startin’ Somethin” Mama-say mama-sah ma-ma-coo-sah chant in the guitar riff. I also just found out this tidbit from Wikipedia:
“The coda is “Mama-say mama-sah ma-ma-coo-sah”. Makossa is a Cameroonian music genre and dance. Dibango sued Jackson and settled out of court for one million French francs, agreeing thereby to waive future rights to this recording but not future use of the material.” from wikipedia
You may or may not know that there was also a lawsuit concerning Rihanna’s sample of Wanna Be Startin’ Somethin’, but the judge dismissed it because she gained Michael Jackson’s permission and Manu Dibango had been fairly compensated before. I don’t know how he’s going with the cases against the other people who sampled his song, only that he’s been busy, but it seems he won’t win the cases about the various people who sampled, covered or remixed Wanna Be Startin’ Somethin’. Here’s the article. It also says about a lyrical reference in Wanna Be Startin’ Somethin’ to One Nation Under a Groove by Funkadelic, part of the melody of which seems to relate to Madonna vs Victoria Beckham.
http://www.ckua.org/04/25/13/Manu-Dibango-vs-Michael-Jackson/landing.html?blockID=682427&feedID=12101
Oh cool, thanks. I’ll definitely do a post about this.
Can’t Stop Lovin’ You by Aerosmith (2012) has a passage that goes:
Hey I can’t stop lovin’ you
‘Cause it’s all I wanna do
Compare the lyrics with Keep on Loving You by REO Speedwagon (1980).
They also have Something (2012), which opens with:
You’re making me wait like there’s no tomorrow
You’re taking from me what I can’t beg or borrow
Compare with Runnin’ with the Devil by Van Halen (1978).