Daily Jam - Gimme Some More

Combining a breathless and seemingly endless flowing stream of words, a jerky, bassy beat, a gorgeous looped sample of violins lifted from Bernard Herrmann’s score to Psycho, and a music video that’s equal parts absurd and terrifying, Busta Rhymes’ late-90’s hip-hop opus “Gimme Some More” pretty much encapsulates everything that a popular rap song could be at that particular moment in time. It was innovative. It was aggressive. It was weird. It made me want to be a rapper.

Not really.

I have no delusions of grandeur when it comes to my wordsmith ability on the mic. That is to say, I have none. And Busta Rhymes was somewhat of a standard barer in 1998 when “Gimme Some More” was released, in part because he was so damn fast. Pull up the lyrics and try to spit them out as quickly as he does. It’s a fool’s errand.

Appearing on E.L.E. (Extinction Level Event): The Final World Front, and featuring production from DJ Scratch (of EPMD fame), “Gimme Some More” serves as the center point of a kind of apocalyptic party record. Lyrically, it’s a pretty standard hype jam, full of bravado and the kind of hoarding consumerism fairly typical of mainstream hip-hop at the time. But there’s also an underlying menace throughout, barely veiled threats of violent repercussion should you disrespect Busta or his “family” (Flip Mode!), and that creeping Psycho sample that makes it all too real. And again, there’s just the speed of the whole thing.

Like so many other songs, this one has embedded itself into my subconscious, another note in a memory minefield just waiting to be triggered and set off a chain reaction of recollection and nostalgia for days gone by. It’s better than looking at old pictures, and it resonates much more significantly within me.

Now, on to that blossoming rap career.

Check it out below, our Daily Jam.