Super-producer Teddy Riley
Since debuting in the mid-'80s as a producer for Heavy D & The Boyz, Al B. Sure, and Kool Moe Dee, super-producer Teddy Riley has pioneered a new wave of hip-hop-meets-R&B. Riley is no stranger to sampling other people's music. Now his music is being sampled. Pop diva Mariah Carey uses the Riley-produced Guy classic "Piece Of My Love" as a sample on the track "Cry Baby" (featuring Snoop Dogg) from her latest chart-topper, Rainbow. During a recent interview with Riley, he expressed his feelings about being sampled by Carey. "It feels good, because she called me straight," he told Launch. "She didn't go through the publishing companies, and we tried to make it possible for her to get it. And now it's done, and it's an honor. I mean, so many people want to sample my records, but I'm not really ready to do that right now." Meanwhile, Riley's long-awaited reunion album with Guy, Guy III, is due out on Jan. 25. The set has yielded the first single, "Dancing," which arrives in stores today (Nov. 30).
Riley isn't the only '80s R&B man that Carey is sampling. On the urban remix to her new single, "Thank God I Found You," Carey duets with R&B crooner Joe, while Nas raps in the background. The track and its video are enjoying airplay at urban radio and on BET, and the song samples Keith Sweat's 1988 classic, "Make It Last Forever," from his breakthrough debut album, which Riley also worked on. Since breaking out with his own trio, Guy, in 1988, Riley has been influential in the production field, working with such artists as Michael Jackson, Patti LaBelle, Janet Jackson, Bobby Brown, Stephanie Mills, SWV, and Mary J. Blige, among many others. (Launch)
|
