Aretha Franklin’s “Rock Steady” is one of the most recognizable and retroactively DOPE tracks of the Soul era, from the Soul legend that taught everyone to demand their R.E.S.P.E.C.T.
Besides supplying the name to one of the top Bboy Crews in history, Rock Steady Crew (@crazylegsrsc), this Aretha Franklin jam contributes to the Bboy World one of the DOPEst breaks in history, which will be highlighted in the loop video below.
Also recognized for its innovative approach to elements like the bass, check this out from bassplayer.com:
The track begins with Purdie’s pickup into four bars of hi-hat and organ. Underneath, Rainey does percussive slides up the G string, often mistaken for organ or percussion. Chuck explains, “It’s something I did on a lot of records. They put some echo on it.” The groove enters in bar 5, where Rainey reveals his sub-hook. He recalls, “It’s something that just came to me from what Bernard was playing, and Cornell knew us so well, he jumped right in with a complementary part. I probably wasn’t completely conscious of this in the moment, but my concept seemed to be that the back half of the one-bar phrase—beats three and four—would be the repeated-motif part of the line, and the first two beats would be more loosely improvised.”
Not to sleep on the excellent lyricism of Aretha Franklin at large and on “Rock Steady” in particular, dig the proto-rap lyrics from MetroLyrics:
Rock steady
Rock steady baby
Let’s call this song exactly what it is
(What it is -what it is – what it is)
It’s a funky and low down feelin’
(What it is)
In my hips from left to right
(What it is)
What it is
Is I might be doin’
(What it is)
This funky dance all night
And for the sake of the cipher, peep the Bboy Loop remix courtesy of Bboy Found on youtube:
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