Sampling older records and putting your own twist on it is the classic foundation of all Hip Hop music. So what do Rittz, Tupac and Drake have in common? Well, they all re-used the melody from a 1981 rock song by Suzanne Vega called “Tom’s Diner”. Featuring a super catchy monotonous tune and lyrics about daily encounters at her favorite restaurant, the song was a big hit in 1981, before Drake was even born. Listen to the original….
Gwinnett County, Ga representative Rittz who is also a Strange Music artist, lifted the melody to Tom’s Diner on his song “In My Zone” from the Next To Nothing album. He replaces the core melody with some saucy lyrics, has Mike Posner sing it, and slows it down to a more laid back tempo. Check it out…….
A lesser known cover of Tom’s Diner is mixed in to Tupac’s enormous body of work where he basically uses the whole idea and changes the title to “Dopefiends Diner”. Listen below….
Most likely the best known version is Drake’s “I Get Paper” but his teenybopper audience probably has no idea where he got the song from. Producer boi-1da actually uses the main tune for part of the beat. Check it out….
Some see it as breathing new life into an old song, but some view it as nothing but stealing. It leaves the question relevant: Is anything original anymore? Hopefully the answer is yes, but one thing is for sure , Suzanne Vega has had a major influence on modern Hip Hop.
Here is a list of even more songs that have copied the melody from Suzanne Vega “Tom’s Diner
- Fall Out Boy – Centuries
- Aaliyah feat. Missy Elliott – Hot Like Fire (Timbaland ‘Groove’ Remix)
- Logic feat. Phil Ade – Are You Ready
- Yo Gotti – Standing in the Kitchen
- Gorilla Zoe feat. Sean Kingston – On the Corner
- More……
Sound off in the comments which version you like the best!