It’s funny, I was totally gonna’ mention your point about the video ho getting absurdly better looking each year through the 90s. I actually had taken notes on the video and written that same thought down. What the hell happened. Was the influx of money just able to make them attract a hotter caliber of video ho? I really don’t understand how it happened.

As for karoake, I feel Rumpshaker is the ultimate “good call”. There is no one who doesn’t like that song. It’s definitely the thinking man’s early 90s rap karaoke choice. I’m guessing the the non-thinking man goes with the more ironic choices of “Baby Got Back,” or Tag Team’s “Whoomp There it Is.”

Hip Hop Karaoke choices are tough to get right. The truth is I’m still waiting for the moment when I can bust out a karaoke duet “I got a man,” with a hot girl. That will make my life complete.

I’m gonna’ say it takes the second best prize for the Blind Alley sample, though Pink Cookies was definitely my favorite song off of 14 Shots to the Dome, an album that I definitely did not like much back in the day, at least compared to Wreck-N-Effects whole album which I actually really loved.

I recently did a karaoke rendition of “Rumpshaker” and the shit was blazing. It’s always difficult to pick hip-hop songs for karaoke: with a general audience, you can’t be too esoteric; with a hip-hop audience (a rarity), you can’t be too obvious. And on top of that, you don’t want to feel like some jerkoff hipster picking out some seductive “other” for the sheer irony of it. “Rumpshaker” could be seen as an unfortunate choice, but its enduring popularity seems to trump all other considerations. I can’t think of any person who doesn’t at least smile then this track comes on.

And while talking about samples and repetition, it would be sacrilegious to compare this to “Ain’t No Half Steppin’,” but can we at least agree that this is perhaps the second-best use of the “Blind Alley” sample? Maybe third? I do like “Pink Cookies in a Plastic Bag.”

As for “Rump Shaker,” there’s just too many awesome lines to quote. I’m thinking “since you’ve got the body of the year…” and “ticklin’ you around Delaware before I enter.” Good point about the fashions; I’m pretty sure nobody looked good in the early ’90s, but this was something else. Someone needs to do a study about the exponential growth in hotness of video ho’s. Just look at a video from 1995 and compare it to “Big Pimpin’” or something. It’s astonishing.

But perhaps my favorite part of this song is how that same sax sample shows up somewhere on “It Takes A Nation Of Millions…” Not only that, but the drum sample from “Tennessee” is on there too.

But how amazing is Teddy Riley…He made the careers of Bobby Brown, Guy, Wrex ‘N Effect, and Blackstreet. Definitely the king of New Jack Swing. Damn Gina!