Buffalo Gals (Malcolm McLaren song)
Encyclopedia
Buffalo Gals is a hip-hop single released by Malcolm McLaren
& the World's Famous Supreme Team
as a single in 1982 and on their 1983 album Duck Rock
. The song is composed of extensive scratching
with calls from square dancing. The music video prominently features the Rock Steady Crew
.
looking for a support act for Bow Wow Wow
when he went to an outdoor concert (known as a "Block Party") by Afrika Bambaataa
and Universal Zulu Nation
. This is where he was exposed to Hip-Hop for the first time and discovered the scratching technique he would use on this song. Most of the scratching and the beat of the song was composed by Trevor Horn
.
In the liner notes for Duck Rock, McLaren wrote that this track was "recorded with the World's Famous Supreme Team and Zulu singers backing them up with the words "she's looking like a hobo." The performance by the Supreme Team may require some explaining but suffice to say they are DJs from New York City who have developed a technique using record players like instruments, replacing the power chord of the guitar by the needle of a gramophone, moving it manually backwards and forwards across the surface of a record. We call it scratching."
Charisma Records were not initially keen on releasing the song, but relented after a strongly positive response to the first broadcast of the track by Capital Radio DJ Kid Jensen
.
, entitled "Buffalo Gals Back to Skool
". The CD features artists such as KRS One, Rakim
and Stephen Hague
, among others.
", Malcolm Mclaren was not involved in, he just became credits on the A-side. The line is also referenced by Eminem
at the beginning of his 2002 single "Without Me
", with the lyric being changed to "Two trailer park girls go 'round the outside".
Neneh Cherry's
1989 hit "Buffalo Stance
" is loosely based on "Buffalo Gals", and samples the song. The song's signature scratching was also featured in the "Weird Al" Yankovic
song "This Is the Life". The song is also sampled in the Sublime
single "Doin' Time
and also in "I Wish
" by Skee-Lo
.
Hip hip trio The Beatnuts
sampled the song in their debut album "Intoxicated Demons: The EP
". The sample is used in the opening song, "World's Famous Intro", which is a nod to The World's Famous Supreme Team. The song was again featured on their 2005 Greatest Hits album, "Classic Nuts, Vol. 1
".
Buffalo Gals was also sampled on the Public Enemy studio album "Fear of a Black Planet
", in a track called "Brothers Gonna Work It Out".
Elements from Malcolm McLaren
's recording is sampled in the song "Powerless (Say What You Want)
" by Nelly Furtado
. It was also sampled in Kylie Minogue
's KylieFever2002 world tour performance of Cowboy Style
. Double Dutch
was also sampled in this performance.
Malcolm McLaren
Malcolm Robert Andrew McLaren was an English performer, impresario, self-publicist and manager of the Sex Pistols and the New York Dolls...
& the World's Famous Supreme Team
World's Famous Supreme Team
The World's Famous Supreme Team was an American hip hop group founded in the 1980s. Members included Larry Price and Ronald Larkins Jr., among others. The group joined forces with Malcolm McLaren on a number of early hit hip hop records. Among the group's most well-known works were the singles...
as a single in 1982 and on their 1983 album Duck Rock
Duck Rock
Duck Rock is an album released by British impresario Malcolm McLaren In 1983. The album mixes up styles from South Africa, Central, and South America, the Caribbean, and the US, including hip hop. The album proved to be highly influential in bringing hip hop to a wider audience in the UK...
. The song is composed of extensive scratching
Scratching
Scratching is a DJ or turntablist technique used to produce distinctive sounds by moving a vinyl record back and forth on a turntable while optionally manipulating the crossfader on a DJ mixer. While scratching is most commonly associated with hip hop music, since the late 1980s, it has been used...
with calls from square dancing. The music video prominently features the Rock Steady Crew
Rock Steady Crew
Rock Steady Crew is a b-boying crew and hip hop group that was established in the Bronx, New York City in 1977. The group was initially formed by b-boys named Jimmy D and Jojo. In subsequent years, Rock Steady Crew became a franchise name for groups in other locations. The Manhattan branch was...
.
History
McLaren got the idea for the song while in New York CityNew York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
looking for a support act for Bow Wow Wow
Bow Wow Wow
Bow Wow Wow were an English 1980s New Wave band created by Malcolm McLaren to promote his and business partner Vivienne Westwood's New Romantic fashion lines.The group's music is described as having an "African-derived drum sound".-History:...
when he went to an outdoor concert (known as a "Block Party") by Afrika Bambaataa
Afrika Bambaataa
Afrika Bambaataa is an American DJ from the South Bronx, New York who was instrumental in the early development of hip hop throughout the 1980s. Afrika Bambaataa is one of the three originators of break-beat deejaying, and is respectfully known as the "Grandfather" and the Amen Ra of Universal...
and Universal Zulu Nation
Universal Zulu Nation
|rightThe Universal Zulu Nation is an international hip hop awareness group formed and headed by hip hop pioneer Afrika Bambaataa. Originally known simply as the Organization, it arose in the 1970s as reformed New York City gang members began to organize cultural events for youths, combining local...
. This is where he was exposed to Hip-Hop for the first time and discovered the scratching technique he would use on this song. Most of the scratching and the beat of the song was composed by Trevor Horn
Trevor Horn
Trevor Charles Horn CBE is an English pop music record producer, songwriter, musician and singer. He was born in Houghton-le-Spring in north-east England....
.
In the liner notes for Duck Rock, McLaren wrote that this track was "recorded with the World's Famous Supreme Team and Zulu singers backing them up with the words "she's looking like a hobo." The performance by the Supreme Team may require some explaining but suffice to say they are DJs from New York City who have developed a technique using record players like instruments, replacing the power chord of the guitar by the needle of a gramophone, moving it manually backwards and forwards across the surface of a record. We call it scratching."
Charisma Records were not initially keen on releasing the song, but relented after a strongly positive response to the first broadcast of the track by Capital Radio DJ Kid Jensen
David Jensen
David "Kid" Jensen , is a Danish Canadian-born, British radio DJ.-Early career:Born in a Danish family residing Victoria, British Columbia, Jensen began his career in his home country at the age of sixteen playing jazz and classical music. He then joined Radio Luxembourg at the age of eighteen in...
.
Re-Release
McLaren and the World's Famous Supreme Team released a CD based on the song that includes several remixes, released on September 25, 1998 by Virgin RecordsVirgin Records
Virgin Records is a British record label founded by English entrepreneur Richard Branson, Simon Draper, and Nik Powell in 1972. The company grew to be a worldwide music phenomenon, with platinum performers such as Roy Orbison, Devo, Genesis, Keith Richards, Janet Jackson, Culture Club, Lenny...
, entitled "Buffalo Gals Back to Skool
Buffalo Gals Back to Skool
Buffalo Gals Back To Skool is a CD by Malcolm McLaren that was released on September 25, 1998. It is based on McLaren's 1982 single "Buffalo Gals".- Track listing :# "It Was A New York Phenomenon" - 1:57...
". The CD features artists such as KRS One, Rakim
Eric B. & Rakim
Eric B. & Rakim were a hip-hop duo composed of DJ Eric Barrier and MC Rakim .Hailing from Long Island, New York, the pair are generally considered by hip hop enthusiasts to be one of the most influential and innovative groups in the genre...
and Stephen Hague
Stephen Hague
Stephen Hague is an American music producer most active with various British acts in the 1980s. He was an influential figure in the synthpop movement.-Early career:...
, among others.
Samples and Covers
The World's Famous Supreme Team sampled the line "First Buffalo Gal go 'round the outside" in their 1984 song, "Hey DJHey DJ
"Hey! DJ" is a song by the World's Famous Supreme Team. Writing is credited to Larry Price, Malcolm McLaren, Ronald Larkins Jr. and Stephen Hague. Released on 12" in 1984 on Island Records, there were three mixes included...
", Malcolm Mclaren was not involved in, he just became credits on the A-side. The line is also referenced by Eminem
Eminem
Marshall Bruce Mathers III , better known by his stage name Eminem or his alter ego Slim Shady, is an American rapper, record producer, songwriter and actor. Eminem's popularity brought his group project, D12, to mainstream recognition...
at the beginning of his 2002 single "Without Me
Without Me
"Without Me" is a rap song by American rapper Eminem. It was released as the lead single from his fourth studio album titled The Eminem Show in 2002, and re-released on his greatest-hits compilation album Curtain Call: The Hits in 2005....
", with the lyric being changed to "Two trailer park girls go 'round the outside".
Neneh Cherry's
Neneh Cherry
Neneh Mariann Cherry is a Swedish singer-songwriter, rapper, and occasional DJ and broadcaster...
1989 hit "Buffalo Stance
Buffalo Stance
"Buffalo Stance" is a 1988 song that peaked at #3 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart recorded by Neneh Cherry from her album Raw Like Sushi, produced by Tim Simenon and Mark Saunders.-History:...
" is loosely based on "Buffalo Gals", and samples the song. The song's signature scratching was also featured in the "Weird Al" Yankovic
"Weird Al" Yankovic
Alfred Matthew "Weird Al" Yankovic is an American singer-songwriter, music producer, accordionist, actor, comedian, writer, satirist, and parodist. Yankovic is known for his humorous songs that make light of popular culture and that often parody specific songs by contemporary musical acts...
song "This Is the Life". The song is also sampled in the Sublime
Sublime (band)
Sublime was an American ska punk band from Long Beach, California, formed in 1988. The band's line-up, unchanged until their breakup, consisted of Bradley Nowell , Eric Wilson and Bud Gaugh . Michael "Miguel" Happoldt also contributed on a few Sublime songs, such as "New Thrash." Lou Dog, Nowell's...
single "Doin' Time
Doin' Time
"Doin' Time" is a single by the American band Sublime. It is featured on their self-titled third album. The lyrics tell of a cheating girlfriend, whose infidelities and poor treatment of her lover makes him feel like he is in prison. "Doin' Time" features heavy usage of lounge music...
and also in "I Wish
I Wish (Skee-Lo song)
"I Wish" is a hip-hop song by rapper Skee-Lo released in 1995 as the first single from his debut album of the same name. The track peaked at #13 on the U.S. Billboard Hot 100 chart and at #15 in the United Kingdom...
" by Skee-Lo
Skee-Lo
Antoine Roundtree , better known as Skee-Lo, is an American rapper. He is best known for his 1995 song, "I Wish", which became a top-40 hit in several countries....
.
Hip hip trio The Beatnuts
The Beatnuts
The Beatnuts are a New York-based hip hop group and production duo from Queens, New York City. Its current members are JuJu and Psycho Les. JuJu is Dominican American from Corona and Psycho Les is a Colombian American from Jackson Heights...
sampled the song in their debut album "Intoxicated Demons: The EP
Intoxicated Demons: The EP
Intoxicated Demons: The EP is the debut album by the hip hop trio The Beatnuts. It was released on April 6, 1993 by Relativity Records. It is the first of two EP's released by the group. All of its songs are produced by The Beatnuts...
". The sample is used in the opening song, "World's Famous Intro", which is a nod to The World's Famous Supreme Team. The song was again featured on their 2005 Greatest Hits album, "Classic Nuts, Vol. 1
Classic Nuts, Vol. 1
Classic Nuts, Vol. 1 is the last of three greatest hits albums by hip hop group The Beatnuts. It was released by Loud Records during its merger with Relativity on February 19, 2002. Released prior to The Originators, another 2002 Beatnuts album, it only contains songs from The Beatnuts' first four...
".
Buffalo Gals was also sampled on the Public Enemy studio album "Fear of a Black Planet
Fear of a Black Planet
Fear of a Black Planet is the third studio album by American hip hop group Public Enemy, released April 10, 1990, on Def Jam Recordings and Columbia Records. Production for the album was handled by the group's production team The Bomb Squad, who expanded on the dense, sample-layered sound of the...
", in a track called "Brothers Gonna Work It Out".
Elements from Malcolm McLaren
Malcolm McLaren
Malcolm Robert Andrew McLaren was an English performer, impresario, self-publicist and manager of the Sex Pistols and the New York Dolls...
's recording is sampled in the song "Powerless (Say What You Want)
Powerless (Say What You Want)
"Powerless " is a pop song written by Nelly Furtado, Gerald Eaton and Brian West for Furtado's second studio album Folklore . It contains a sample of Malcolm McLaren's "Buffalo Gals" which was written by Anne Dudley, Trevor Horn and Malcolm McLaren...
" by Nelly Furtado
Nelly Furtado
Nelly Kim Furtado is a Canadian singer-songwriter, record producer and actress. Furtado grew up in Victoria, British Columbia, Canada.Furtado first gained fame with her debut album, Whoa, Nelly!, and its single "I'm Like a Bird", which won a 2001 Juno Award for Single of the Year and a 2002 Grammy...
. It was also sampled in Kylie Minogue
Kylie Minogue
Kylie Ann Minogue, OBE - often known simply as Kylie - is an Australian singer, recording artist, songwriter, and actress. After beginning her career as a child actress on Australian television, she achieved recognition through her role in the television soap opera Neighbours, before commencing...
's KylieFever2002 world tour performance of Cowboy Style
Cowboy Style
"Cowboy Style" is a song by Kylie Minogue, from her 1997 album Impossible Princess, released as a single in August 1998. The song was released by Mushroom only in Australia because the record deal with Deconstruction for the UK and Europe ended after her previous single "Breathe".The song was...
. Double Dutch
Double Dutch
Double Dutch may refer to:* Double Dutch , a children's game* Double Dutch, a language game primarily used in English:**Tutnese**Ubbi dubbi**Izzle* Double Dutch , a writing style used by John O'Mill...
was also sampled in this performance.