Throughlines, no. 1: De La Soul, Blackstreet, and Michael Jackson

Jan 22, 2025

Welcome to the first edition of Throughlines, a series where I share with you some of my favorite samples and covers in the Soul music genres: including Jazz, R&B, Funk, and Hip-Hop, as well as their parent tracks.

I’d always joked about starting a Sample Detective™ series online where I do exactly this kind of thing. My deep love for music and music lineage deserves a space to be embraced here in my newsletter, and I’m excited to start incorporating it into the fold. (It’s very much so giving Sasha from Bratz being the ~~editor~~ “music editor” of the Bratz Magazine, except this newsletter is my magazine and I am both the editor and music editor.)

In a world where I feel that Soul music (i.e. Black music, and music genres popularized by Black people) is seriously under-appreciated by the masses, my hope is that through this series, you’ll take a listen and learn more about these genres alongside me.

I also want to use this series to highlight the different styles present within these genres of Soul music—not all Hip-Hop is “the same,” and neither is all R&B or Jazz. What I love about music lineage and through-lines is the ways in which music can touch multiple generations and bridge to different audiences—something that the Soul music genres has always found a way of doing.

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De La Soul, Blackstreet, and Michael Jackson

Today I’ll be diving into the lineage of my favorite Michael Jackson song of all time. “I Can’t Help It,” composed by Stevie Wonder and Susaye Greene and produced by Quincy Jones, from Michael’s 1978 Off the Wall album was the first song I heard on the radio after the personalities at either WBLS or the now defunct Kiss FM from New York confirmed the news of his death back on the evening of June 25th, 2009. I was 10 years old and was already a burgeoning Michael Jackson superfan at the time.

The news broke me in a way that didn’t make much sense. Even right now, I’m feeling a bit embarrassed writing to you all about my grief over his death. Many of us know that Michael Jackson was not a man without flaws or complexity, and my love for him certainly made me an easy target for bullying at that young age. But still, I grieved his death. I mean, I didn’t know this man for nothing. He wasn’t family. And yet the loss was palpable to me in a way that I had never experienced in my young life. (That also makes me sound a bit privileged, I know. But it’s the truth.)

Anyway, “I Can’t Help It” started playing on the radio on my way home that evening from the Garden State Plaza with my mom, my older sister, and my granny—perfectly and tenderly selected by the DJ. It was my first time ever hearing the song, and I remember sitting in silence in the backseat of my mom’s old minivan as I digested the news.

The song is beautiful (I only just recently realized that it was written by Stevie Wonder and it makes so much sense), and I let it console me as I sat with the realization that this person who I had only just recently come to learn about and appreciate was no longer alive. I strongly recall the sense of urgency with which I logged onto iTunes in the coming weeks to use iTunes gift card credits to purchase the track and sync it to my iPod. Talk about a sign of the times.

Music is a gift that keeps on giving.

It’s pretty cool that Michael Jackson’s legacy lives on not only through the music he left us, but in the music that took inspiration from what he popularized. Of the many artists and groups who he’s inspired with his music are De La Soul and Blackstreet.

De La Soul is a rap group consisting of members Kelvin “Posdnous”/“Plug 1” Mercer, Vincent “Maseo” Mason, and the late Dave “Trugoy the Dove”/“Plug 2” Jolicoeur. The group formed in Amityville, Long Island, New York, in 1988 when the members were still in high school. De La Soul and their Native Tongues contemporaries—A Tribe Called Quest, Jungle Brothers, Queen Latifah, and Monie Love—were key players in what’s known as the Golden Age of Hip-Hop. Their style was alternative to what was more mainstream at the time, described as jazzy and often associated with that which is called “Conscious” rap, as their lyrics often explored social issues and challenged the status quo in witty and intellectual ways. Unlike other rappers at the time who stunted brand-name tracksuits, the flyest sneakers, and huge gold chains, De La Soul donned a modest style, opting for Afro-centric leather medallions and understated streetwear.

Their third studio album Buhloone Mind State released in 1993 features the track “Breakadawn” which takes multiple elements from “I Can’t Help It” and blends in other soundbites from “Sang and Dance” by The Bar-Kays, “Quiet Storm” by Smokey Robinson, “Daydream” by Blue Mitchell, “Yes We Can Can” by the Pointer Sisters, “Rapper’s Delight” by The Sugarhill Gang, and “Make the Music With Your Mouth Biz” by Biz Markie.

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Blackstreet was an R&B quartet formed by musician and renowned New Jack Swing producer Teddy Riley, additionally featuring original members Dave Hollister, Chauncey Hannibal, and Levi Little. Riley had also been a founding member of the R&B group Guy, which pioneered the New Jack Swing sound in the late ‘80s and early ‘90s—a sound that Michael Jackson himself sought to embrace for his 1990 Dangerous album.

After parting ways creatively with his previous long-time collaborator Quincy Jones at the end of the Bad era, Jackson reached out to Teddy to work on music with a fresh and current sound for his newest project. Teddy Riley is credited for producing over half of the album's tracks, including the album’s title track “Dangerous,” “Remember the Time,” and “In the Closet.” His legendary sound became part of Michael Jackson’s legacy.

“Joy,” one of the singles from Blackstreet’s debut album, was originally written by Michael Jackson and Tammy Lucas for Dangerous. Blackstreet member and guitarist Levi Little took the track and slowed it down to match Blackstreet’s smooth R&B sound.1

It’s full-circle to have had Michael’s “I Can’t Help It” from 1978 be sampled in the “Uptown Joy” remix of Blackstreet’s “Joy,” which released in 1994. I’d frequently heard this remix of the song played on the R&B radio stations growing up in the NY tristate area, and it’s a version that has stuck with me and remained in my music library alongside the original for years.

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Almost by default, many (not all) songs that have sampled my favorite songs often become some of my favorites themselves. De La Soul and Blackstreet‘s nods to Michael are no exception to this. Their interpretations are unique, representing different styles, and yet still elicit a somewhat similar vibe and feeling with those iconic chords.