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This record-making-as-factory model predates disco, of course. Motown’s record-making process was frequently described as “factory-like,” with one house band tracking songs steadily that were then brought to different singers. It’s not an accident that one of Motown’s production teams was even called The Corporation

“The Corporation” with the Jackson Five

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It is notable (and surely not accidental) that Quest mentions Ultramagnetic immediately after talking about Run-DMC. The former famously dissed the latter for their “childish rhymes” and “simple back and forth” on “Ego Trippin'”

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Quest is describing what is commonly referred to as “Philly Soul,” the hub of which was Philadelphia International Records. The songs, as he mentions, frequently featured elaborate arrangements

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Immediately after his talk about soul and funk, Quest makes a knowing allusion to a funk classic, “Pass the Peas” by the JBs – while also, of course, nodding to the fairy tale “The Princess and the Pea”

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O1x9j8kecMs&feature=kp
The tune has been sampled in such iconic rap songs as Eric B. and Rakim’s “I Ain’t No Joke”

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Originally published in Salon in February, 2014

It was published as the title essay of a limited-edition chapbook by Red Emma’s Bookstore Coffeehouse in Baltimore in June 2014.

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D. Watkins is a writer whose work has been published in Huffington Post, StopBeingFamous, 1729mag, and Salon. Watkins has been featured on NPR’s Monday Morning, The Marc Steiner Show, and Huff Post Live. Watkins holds a Masters in Education from Johns Hopkins University and an MFA in Creative Writing from the University of Baltimore. He is an adjunct professor at Coppin State University and runs a creative writing workshop at the Baltimore Free School.

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The father of turntablism, GrandMixer DXT, on his relationship with Afrika Bambaataa

Hear our whole interview with DXT here

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Read about it here

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