Jimmy James Thread [Archive] - Beastie Boys Message Board

BeastieAlbum07

03-28-2007, 08:54 PM

Does anyone else love this song?

I think it is very unique on how it blends so many styles into one, and is a very good old school rap song.

I love it.

Does anyone have the instrumental version?

Justin

03-28-2007, 09:55 PM

yea i have all 3 versions...and all 3 are on my mp3 player to listen to while working out(y)

laurie_hammy

03-28-2007, 10:55 PM

Love the song, perfect way to start that album. Clip's cool too.

M.C. Guevera

03-28-2007, 11:20 PM

One of my top 5 favorite Beastie Boys songs. The beat is killer. I think it helps that I didn't listen to the song, and all of Check Your Head until after I listened to Paul's Boutique and To The 5 Boroughs first, because when I heard "Jimmy James" for the first time, it was like I got hit with a sonic BOOM! I was amazed from the moment the song started because it was unlike any Beastie Boys song I ever heard before.

Love the video too. Adrock looks stoned out of his gourd.

Justin

03-28-2007, 11:49 PM

jimmy james
sounds of science
alright hear this
flute loop
Live at Pj's

now those are jams!

ggirlballa

03-28-2007, 11:52 PM

i was addicticted to this song at one point, played it over & over again.

its like a get high song that and award tour by tribe called quest

Pootytang

03-28-2007, 11:54 PM

The video for this song is one of my all time favorites.

Justin

03-29-2007, 12:00 AM

The video for this song is one of my all time favorites.

I agree!!! I wore my sabotage dvd out watching this so much!

It's like the cheapest video ever!

Justin

03-29-2007, 12:01 AM

It's also a song that never gets old listening to it!

M.C. Guevera

03-29-2007, 12:10 AM

Ricky Powell was there the day they shot the video. He took photos of them recording it. I think they're in one of his books he put out.

Hey Justin, weren't you the one who uploaded the video to YouTube? Thanks for that, man! (y)

M.C. Guevera

03-29-2007, 12:11 AM

And what's with all the green in the video? I never got that.

Nygel

03-29-2007, 12:24 AM

yea i have all 3 versions...and all 3 are on my mp3 player to listen to while working out(y)
real version
album version

....instrumental?

Sir SkratchaLot

03-29-2007, 06:49 AM

real version
album version

....instrumental?

The "Original Original Version" is the instrumental. That was how MCA originally envisioned the song. Check Your Head was originally going to be a no rap album. Jimmy James was supposed to be a tribute to Hendrix and the original versions have Yauch scratching Hendrix samples over a Henrix loop from the song "Got to Have It."

When they did the "LP Version" they added rapping and redid the music. Same loop, but instead of the real Hendrix samples scratched on top they used sounds that sounded like Hendrix sounds because of sample clearence issues and because they thought it sounded cleaner.

The "Original Version aka Single Version" has all of the Original Hendrix samples in there plus the rapping. They got the samples cleared and thought it was better with real Hendrix samples even though it wasn't as clean.

M.C. Guevera

03-29-2007, 09:23 AM

The "Original Original Version" is the instrumental. That was how MCA originally envisioned the song. Check Your Head was originally going to be a no rap album. Jimmy James was supposed to be a tribute to Hendrix and the original versions have Yauch scratching Hendrix samples over a Henrix loop from the song "Got to Have It."

Actually, the Hendrix loop comes from his song "Happy Birthday".

Sir SkratchaLot

03-29-2007, 03:13 PM

Actually, the Hendrix loop comes from his song "Happy Birthday".

"Got to Have It" is the instrumental version of "Happy Birthday". The first four bars are the same.

pm0ney

03-29-2007, 04:35 PM

Probably my all time favorite Beasties song. It's either Jimmy James or Pass The Mic.

The beat is unreal. Just grooves so well.

One question, the "yelp!" sound in the background that plays every 4 measures or so, is that Adrock? It sounds like Adrock but it could just be some weird scratch noise or somethin like that.

But yeah, fuckin awesome song and a killer way to start Check Your Head.

JobDDT

03-29-2007, 07:51 PM

Quickly growing on me in terms of appreciation.

It might become one of my all time favorites when all is said and done.

M.C. Guevera

03-30-2007, 12:50 AM

One question, the "yelp!" sound in the background that plays every 4 measures or so, is that Adrock? It sounds like Adrock but it could just be some weird scratch noise or somethin like that.

That's from the drumbeat sample. It's from "I'm Chief Kamaiwannaleah (We're The Royal Macademenia Nuts)" by The Turtles.

paulb

03-30-2007, 01:20 AM

Jimmy James is my #1 fav bboy song aswell....fuckin sooooo killer with the Hendrix, and the rhymes are dope.

BangkokB

03-30-2007, 12:34 PM

Whaa! Whaa! Whaa!

Sending out love to all corners of the Land

Beautiful Song. From Start to Finish

All the Blacks, Peuto Ricans and the White People Too

BeastieAlbum07

03-30-2007, 06:50 PM

Whaa! Whaa! Whaa!

Sending out love to all corners of the Land

Beautiful Song. From Start to Finish

All the Blacks, Peuto Ricans and the White People Too

Thank Mantronix for that line.

SpacemanSpliff

07-17-2007, 06:18 AM

Pootytang

07-17-2007, 06:22 AM

I know he uses the hell out of a Cry Baby peddle on stage. I don't know if this helps you.

TAFKASB

07-17-2007, 06:56 AM

I think this song is the one that really got me hooked on BB. I had been following them since LTI, bought PB as well..but when I slammed on CYH and this hits ya....well, what more can I say? (y)

Kid Presentable

07-17-2007, 07:27 AM

Truthfully I like the album version better, but only just. Great track.

gorilla

07-17-2007, 08:20 AM

Love the cuts in this song. Always wondered who was working the platter on this one. Check out how the cuts compliment the song.

Kid Presentable

07-17-2007, 08:31 AM

i always wondered about the cuts on that album. i have a suspicion adrock did the majority of them, dunno why. all signs would point to that. mca did the original cuts on the track in question, i wonder who did the over-dub ones?

i listened to the maestro again, that would be a good song to introduce someone to the band. to think it's just like some rusty drums and bass jam, and the other shit dropped all over it makes me think adrock flaired that one up. i guess it'll never be made clear.

I've never really heard them nail jimmy james except for these instruments versions. normally they just rap over the record like it's a throwaway. when they play it they sorta mean it a bit more.

alikat

07-17-2007, 10:54 AM

I can't imagine life without Jimmy James. Check Your Head is my medicine for anything. For 15 years it has never failed to put me in a good mood. And yeah, Jimmy James has so many ingredients and blends perfectly either with hip hop or the music on the new album.

A true classic.

gorilla

07-17-2007, 07:07 PM

I was always hoping it was Hurricane to tell ya' the truth.

kll

07-17-2007, 08:22 PM

kleptomaniac

07-17-2007, 08:31 PM

I thought he was wearing sunglasses the entire video. hmmm...

yauch is ze one wearing shades.

Kid Presentable

07-17-2007, 09:41 PM

I was always hoping it was Hurricane to tell ya' the truth.
Hurricane couldn't manage an album's worth of cuts. Cuts-wise Adrock>Hurricane. And MCA>HUrricane based on the original Jimmy James. But seriously, he just did the touring thing for them.

Sir SkratchaLot

07-18-2007, 07:21 AM

technical question .... what device does adrock use to generate that "wah-wah-scratching" sound in the beginning of the song ... i saw this video "jimmy james" video from sasquatch-festival where i saw adrock using a device with his hand, see photo: http://www.flickr.com/photos/beastie_boys/523931520/in/set-72157600295724955/

did he do it with that VESTAX mixer-device? anyone knows what gear he used for that?

Its MCA doing the scratching on the album version of Jimmy James. What you're hearing is a transformer scratch (which is basically just turning the sound on and off in rhythm). The reason it sounds "wah-wah" to you is because of the sample he's transforming. You can hook a wah wah pedal up to your turntable to get some effects but that's not what MCA is doing in Jimmy James.

In that picture it looks like Adrock has his guitar hooked up to Vestax 06 Pro
http://djservice.com/data/grafix/Produkte/vestax/06/06pro_frontside_4.jpg

Sir SkratchaLot

07-18-2007, 07:24 AM

Hurricane couldn't manage an album's worth of cuts. Cuts-wise Adrock>Hurricane. And MCA>HUrricane based on the original Jimmy James. But seriously, he just did the touring thing for them.

Hurricane is pretty smooth on the cut. Check out the live shadrach video. I don't think Adrock or MCA can hold it down like that live. There's a big difference between having 16,000 takes in a studio and taking the best one and being able to do the shit on point every time. Hurricane has his shit on lock.

Kid Presentable

07-18-2007, 08:43 AM

Hurricane is pretty smooth on the cut. Check out the live shadrach video. I don't think Adrock or MCA can hold it down like that live. There's a big difference between having 16,000 takes in a studio and taking the best one and being able to do the shit on point every time. Hurricane has his shit on lock.

For what he did, he's good. That's where the "but seriously" part of my post came in.

the other dude was just talking about Sasquatch. I think we figured MCA did the original scratches.

I wouldn't be surprised to find out even Mike D did some cuts on Check Your Head. Although I recall a documentary-type thing where Mike put on the James Newton flute part on his turntable; I always get the feeling Mike is accomplished digger who is responsible for a great deal of the non-scratched sounds on that album.

SpacemanSpliff

07-18-2007, 09:14 AM

Its MCA doing the scratching on the album version of Jimmy James. What you're hearing is a transformer scratch (which is basically just turning the sound on and off in rhythm). The reason it sounds "wah-wah" to you is because of the sample he's transforming. You can hook a wah wah pedal up to your turntable to get some effects but that's not what MCA is doing in Jimmy James.

In that picture it looks like Adrock has his guitar hooked up to Vestax 06 Pro
http://djservice.com/data/grafix/Produkte/vestax/06/06pro_frontside_4.jpg

Sir SkratchaLot, thanks for the info

I think MCA does a similar effect while playing the long intro of "gratitude", except he uses his volume-knob on his bass guitar to turn on/off the sound, right?

Kid Presentable

07-18-2007, 09:49 AM

Sir SkratchaLot, thanks for the info

I think MCA does a similar effect while playing the long intro of "gratitude", except he uses his volume-knob on his bass guitar to turn on/off the sound, right?

terminator

fonky pizza

07-18-2007, 01:47 PM

Yeah, I always liked Jimmy James but after hearing it live with instruments at the gala event in Paris, I LOVE IT!!!

check it out here http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cbXXPB9zAlE

and it's my favourite part, at the show at this moment I was like WOW(y):D

and if you try to diss me
I couldn't give a damm
cause I rock it!

rock rock rock on!!!

(y)(y)(y)

cypressphil

07-19-2007, 05:32 AM

I think MCA does a similar effect while playing the long intro of "gratitude", except he uses his volume-knob on his bass guitar to turn on/off the sound, right?

Tom Morello (RATM/Audioslave) does that also.

Jimmy James is an awesome track, the groove is phenominal. Blew me away when I first put CYH on the record deck back in '92. It was responsible, as part of CYH, for me re-discovering the BBoys after somehow bypassing Paul's Boutique at the time.

SpacemanSpliff

07-19-2007, 06:07 AM

Jimmy James is an awesome track, the groove is phenominal. Blew me away when I first put CYH on the record deck back in '92. It was responsible, as part of CYH, for me re-discovering the BBoys after somehow bypassing Paul's Boutique at the time.

same here, i did not pay much attention to paul´s boutique when the album was released in first place, now i consider PB as one of their best albums (next to CYH and IC). i got hooked to the beastie boys really heavy after beavis & butthead talked about the beasties while playing the "gratitude" video 1992 .... i don´t remember exactly what they said, but it was like "hehehehe, look, they are playing their instruments .... who is that extra beastie boy?" this was my "key"-moment and now i´m really into their music and style ...

M.C. Guevera

07-22-2007, 09:07 AM

The video for this song is one of my all time favorites.

Here's the one thing that's always bug me about that video: What's with all the train footage? I mean, I can understand the reasoning behind the dancing girls, and in fact enjoy it, but I have never gotten the meaning behind all the subway footage.

Oh, and did anybody ever notice that at the beginning of the video before the girl starts dancing, there's some sort of painting that appears?

And I'd always thought there should have been more footage of Jimi Hendrix in the video, seeing as how the song's a tribute to him and all. If I had done the video, I'd just edit it so that it'd just be footage of Hendrix intercut with the Beasties rapping so it'd look like Hendrix was playing guitar for the Beastie Boys.

BangkokB

07-22-2007, 10:45 AM

Maybe someone like Minton can clear this up but my understanding is that
the epileptics fucked that video up saying it caused seizures: Which is a Conundrum bc Adrock is an epileptic himself

But they can't do the Milano Mosh

M.C. Guevera

07-22-2007, 12:59 PM

the epileptics fucked that video up saying it caused seizures: Which is a Conundrum bc Adrock is an epileptic himself

What happened? Was the video pulled off of MTV then?

And I believe Adrock takes medication to combat the seizures.

Justin

07-22-2007, 07:31 PM

I'd say that MTV thought that the video was WAY to cool to be seen on their network.

paul jones

07-22-2007, 07:37 PM

I put on Jimmy James on the pub internet jukebox on Friday

I usually stick on that or Root Down

JohnnyChavello

07-22-2007, 08:22 PM

That's from the drumbeat sample. It's from "I'm Chief Kamaiwannaleah (We're The Royal Macademenia Nuts)" by The Turtles.

If the sample really is The Turtles, that is hilarious. The Turtles sued the balls off of De La Soul pre-Biz Markie for their use of "You Showed Me" on "Transmitting Live from MARS." The lawsuit was settled out of court so it doesn't get as much recognition in the press for breaking the damn on sampling laws, but it really served as a wake up call to record companies. The settlement was reportedly for $1.7 million; during the negotiations, The Turtles, obscure and washed up group that they were and are, tried to get De La Soul to do an Aerosmith/Run DMC thing with them, but De La's too hip for that shit. Anyway, good for the Beastie Boys for jocking some assholes who earned way too much money on a record they could never touch on their own.

Kid Presentable

07-22-2007, 08:57 PM

If the sample really is The Turtles, that is hilarious. The Turtles sued the balls off of De La Soul pre-Biz Markie for their use of "You Showed Me" on "Transmitting Live from MARS." The lawsuit was settled out of court so it doesn't get as much recognition in the press for breaking the damn on sampling laws, but it really served as a wake up call to record companies. The settlement was reportedly for $1.7 million; during the negotiations, The Turtles, obscure and washed up group that they were and are, tried to get De La Soul to do an Aerosmith/Run DMC thing with them, but De La's too hip for that shit. Anyway, good for the Beastie Boys for jocking some assholes who earned way too much money on a record they could never touch on their own.

Speaking of how hip De La were/are, Prince Paul considered sampling the opening bassline from 'Under Pressure' back in '88, but decided against it as it sounded corny.

M.C. Guevera

07-22-2007, 11:32 PM

Speaking of that particular Turtles sample, I also heard it in the KRS-One song, "MCs Act Like They Don't Know". It's very much slowed down, but it's the same sample. The only thing I remember from the music video is that Bud Bundy, David Faustatino, was in it.

M.C. Guevera

07-22-2007, 11:40 PM

Going back to the video for a sec, I watched MTV footage from the day the video premiered, and man, they hyped the HELL out of it! It was like every 5 minutes they would say, "NEW BEASTIE BOYS VIDEO COMING UP TODAY!!!" They premiered it after spending time before hand interviewing the Beasties in a really great interview. Shit, after watching all the footage, I was excited to see it premiered...and I'd already seen the video! I don't remember MTV ever treating music videos like such a big deal, certainly not these days. Maybe it's because I'm so young.

BBboy20

07-27-2007, 05:27 AM

A song that manages to throw in so many elements in a short amount of time but still ends up succeeding in kicking your ear drums to the curve.

I thought it was the dopest thing ever when I first listened to it; of course BBoys know how to make intros anyways.

I bet majority here prefer the original version.

For some reason, when they say "can you drift" or whatever, I keep reminded of a quick shot of a anime zoom in fuzzy flashback of a bishojo slumbering in watery tranquility...

Funkyfreshgrape

07-27-2007, 07:20 AM

i love the video :D

funkdoc2005

07-31-2007, 09:07 AM

Actually, the Hendrix loop comes from his song "Happy Birthday".

Wait a minute. I thought the Hendrix loop at the beginning was from "Foxy Lady", and I thought the loop that starts at 0:47 was from "Still Raining, Still Dreaming". But then again I'm just going by ear.

SpacemanSpliff

07-31-2007, 09:31 AM

Wait a minute. I thought the Hendrix loop at the beginning was from "Foxy Lady", and I thought the loop that starts at 0:47 was from "Still Raining, Still Dreaming". But then again I'm just going by ear.

jimi hendrix samples used from the following songs:

"3rd Stone From The Sun"
"Foxy Lady"
"Happy Birthday"
"Still Raining, Still Dreaming"

and i found a another song "Gotta Have It" by hendrix

jimi james just became one of my top-favorite songs, i think the live performances made this song even greater. i think jimi is still alive (like elvis, you know) and he will show up at hammerstein for sure ... taking over adrocks guitar ....