Gumsole Beatdowns x Snoop Dogg’s “I Wanna Rock” x “Space Dust”

Hov, Clue, Snoop

Like I said on Twitter, Snoop Dogg’s “I Wanna Rock” sounds better with every listen. Many quickly say, “That beat samples Rob Base’s ‘It Takes Two,'” but that’s technically wrong.

“I Wanna Rock” actually samples a song called “Space Dust” by the Galactic Force Band (GFB). The song originally appeared on GFB’s Spaced Out Disco (1978) album which featured disco covers of sci-fi movie theme songs including Star Wars and Close Encounters of the Third Kind. DJs worth their Technics will recognize that the song appeared on Ultimate Breaks & Beats Vol. 16. It was the third track on side B, immediately after Lynn Collin’s “Think (About It)”—which was produced by James Brown and is the prominent sample on Rob Base & DJ EZ-Rock’s “It Takes Two.”

Also worth noting, at least for Roots fans, is that Dice Raw sampled “Space Dust” for his “A Thin Line (Between Raw & Jiggy)”; the lead single, from his debut album, Reclaiming the Dead, that you probably never heard.

Back to the point of this post; “I Wanna Rock’s” producer, Scoop DeVille, did his thing—adding chunky drums—while Snoop sounds like he hasn’t lost a step on the mic. With all the remixes—most recently the the Kings G-Mix featuring Jay-Z—and despite initially being released in November 2009, the song isn’t losing steam anytime soon.