Yesterday I was listening to Talib Kweli’s new track “Papers Please” and was hit with an immediate sense of déjà vu.
After I gave it a few listens and digested the message (Thank God there are still rappers with a point) I got into that beat and knew I’d heard a version of it before.
After flipping though my mental Rolodex I remembered a cut from Brooklyn MC Torae’s mixtape Daily Conversation, “Callin Me.” The track stood out because I interviewed the track’s producer Eric G for my other site Nodfactor.com and it was one of the first beats he’d ever made.
So after a little bit of digital digging (ie Google) I found the name of the track, “Callin Out Your Name” by The Miracles.
The song appeared on their 1974 album Do It Baby and was one of their first projects without lead singer Smokey Robinson.”Calling Out Your Name” was written by the legendary Leon Ware, who has helped everyone from Marvin Gaye to Maxwell increase the population one song at at time.
Here is Talib’s cut again in case you missed Bill Johnson’s post:
