DJ E-Z Rock of 'It Takes Two' Fame Dead at 46
Source: Rolling Stone
Rodney Bryce, who made his mark on hip-hop under the name DJ E-Z Rock, died Sunday, a spokesperson for Bryce's friend and collaborator Rob Base confirmed to Rolling Stone. The cause of death has yet to be revealed.
Rob Base and DJ E-Z Rock released their first single, "DJ Interview" in 1986, but the 46-year-old Bryce cemented himself into the hip-hop canon with 1988's iconic track "It Takes Two." Produced by Teddy Riley and built around a vocal sample from Lyn Collins' 1972 hit "Think (About It)," the song blended hip-hop with house music and became a nationwide hit, peaking at No. 3 on the Billboard Hot Dance/Club Songs chart and helping to lift rap into the pop consciousness. The track would later be sampled by Snoop Dogg, Gang Starr, Girl Talk and South Korean girl group 2NE1, among many others, and has long become a pop culture staple, appearing in everything from the soundtrack to the 2004 video game Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas to a scene in Sandra Bullock's 2009 romantic comedy The Proposal.
Questlove included the track on his Top 50 Hip Hop Songs of All Time for Rolling Stone, singling out James Brown drummer John "Jabo" Starks' work for the Brown-produced "Think." "Jabo's sparse, all-on-the-one funk was more at home with conservative soul lovers, which is why it makes total sense that... Jabo was the anchor of the New Jack Swing movement," wrote the Roots drummer. "Jabo's go-to magnum opus was on the five-break-filled JB-produced 'Think (About It)' by Lyn Collins. James' holy ghost yelp almost threatens to upstage Starks' show, but it's Starks' steady glide that gave R&B music its blueprint some 15 years after its release."
Read more: http://www.rollingstone.com/music/news/dj-e-z-rock-of-it-takes-two-fame-dead-at-46-20140427
= new reply since forum marked as read
WAY too young. "It Takes Two" became a classic (and still is in the dance/club circuit) in terms of a mix style that heavily used sampling of repetitive, single-word vocalizations as the major backing rhythm to the rap. It's ironic that just last month, I actually downloaded the mp3 of the source of "It Takes Two", which was Lyn Collins' "Think (About It)", a song that has been running in rotation on the local "Old School" station.
In both these cases, this was a style that James Brown initiated and perfected (and he brought us Lyn Collins). DJ E-Z Rock modernized the style for the '80s.
Damn. R.I.P.
Here's what DJ E-Z Rock was sampling -
As a sidenote, PE also sampled from Lyn Collins as well...
