Another One! Mary J. Blige, DJ Khaled Sample Dawn Penn’s ‘You Don’t Love Me’

Another one!

Yet another Jamaican song/instrumental has been sampled by an American artist, this time, the legendary Queen of Hip Hop/Soul, and nine-time Grammy award winner Mary J. Blige.

Mary has sampled the intro to Dawn Penn’s version of You Don’t Love Me (No, No, No) using it in the intro for her own newly-recorded song, Amazing which features DJ Khaled.

The song, which was released on Friday, is from the 30-time Grammy nominee’s upcoming 15th studio album titled Good Morning Gorgeous which is set to be released on Friday, February 11 next year, under her Mary Jane Productions, in collaboration with 300 Entertainment.

Blige is no stranger to Reggae/Dancehall music.  In 2010 she teamed up with Jah Cure for the Reggae remix of Each Tear, a beautiful track that was released internationally as the lead single on her album Stronger with Each Tear.

Penn’s version of You Don’t Love Me (No No No) has been sampled in 23 songs and covered in eight, according to WhoSampled.com.  ⁠

In a Gleaner interview in 2017, Penn said she wrote the song when she was experiencing “the painful aftermath of love” and that “the lyrics came about because I was in love like everyone else and had a broken heart in the process”.

According to Penn, after the 1993 version of the song produced by Steelie and Clevie, became a hit, eight people came forward claiming that they were the authors.

While she did not elaborate on who the persons were in the interview, research shows that she had indeed sampled the hook and interpolated other lyrics written by American music legend Bo Diddley and used rhyme schemes from his 1955 Jazz/Blues song She’s Fine, She’s Mine.

According to the New York Times in a June 2008 article titled Bo Diddley, Who Gave Rock His Beat, Dies at 79, following his death, even with all his fame, Bo Diddley was frustrated by the fact that “he could never earn royalties from the songs of others who had borrowed his beat” and felt that  “felt that his standing as a father of rock ’n’ roll was never properly acknowledged”.

Bo Diddley, who was born Ellas Otha Bates is described as a guitarist, songwriter and music producer who played a key role in the transition from the blues to Rock and Roll, influencing numerous musicians such as Elvis Presley, Buddy Holly, The Beatles, Rolling Stones and The Clash.

His original style of rhythm and blues is said to be a cornerstone of Hip Hop, Rock and Pop music, and his technical innovations, including his use of tremolo and reverb effects to enhance the sound of his distinctive rectangular-shaped guitar are revered.

Penn’s version of You Don’t Love Me was first recorded for Studio One in 1967, but according to her, producer Clement ‘Sir Coxsone’ Dodd had her record the track again in 1968 as the first recording had an error.

She recorded the song again for King Jammys in 1990, then in 1992 for Trojan, and 1993 for Steelie and Clevie, when Dodd asked the production duo “to do an album project for Heartbeat, celebrating Studio One’s 35 years in the music industry”.

The song peaked on the Billboard Hot 100 Chart at No. 58 in April 1994, and had also entered the UK Charts at No. 9 before ascending to No. 3

Penn had also pointed out that there is a significant difference in the song’s structure between the Studio One original on which she sings every eight bars of the music, and the Steelie and Clevie version where her voice appears at every four bars, with the refrain of deejay U-Roy’s Wake The Town, included in the song.

You Don’t Love Me (No No No) also has a dubplate version, which Penn had said she created and which has been used by many sound systems to win clashes.