Janelle Monaé Samples Barrington Levy, Sister Nancy, Derrick Harriott, And More

Janelle Monaé’s The Age Of Pleasure debuted last Friday, June 9, and the American singer’s fourth studio album hits the mark on all its Reggae and Dancehall aspirations, thanks to the Jamaican artists: Grace Jones, Sister Nancy, Derrick Harriott, Barrington Levy, Mad Cobra, and Patra.

Barrington Levy

The album, Monaé’s follow-up to her 2018 Grammy-nominated Dirty Computer, lists Barrington Levy among the songwriters for Champagne Sh-t and Black Sugar Beach – both of which sampled his scatting from 1984’s Murderer.

Murderer‘s riddim, known as the Hot Milk, has been in steady rotation since the 1960s, starting with Jackie Mittoo’s Hot Milk (1968), Tommy McCook and The Sound Dimension’s Tunnel One (1976), The Ethiopian’s Empty Belly (1980), Sister Nancy’s I Am A Giddion (1983), Shabba Ranks’ Respect (1993), among others.

Grace Jones

Monaé’s track 6 on the album, Oooh La La, features the iconic Grace Jones, who delivers an entire verse in French. Jones’ brief yet sultry and teasing performance played to the star’s Jamaican roots, as it unfolds over an unmistakable Reggae instrumental.

Sister Nancy

For Sister Nancy’s part, the Dancehall/Reggae veteran is featured in track 9, The French 75, and then sampled in track 10, Water Slide. 

In The French 75, the 61-year-old complements Monaé’s toast to Paris, freedom, and unadulterated fun with a vibrant outro, which celebrates her Jamaican heritage and accomplishments, while touting her position as the “only woman DJ with degree/Straight from the priesthood Jamaica.”

Track 10, Water Slide, takes the oft-beaten path of sampling Sister Nancy’s iconic song, the Silver-certified Bam Bam. The song is laid against a groovy Reggae beat infused with elements of R&B and Hip-Hop, allowing for an even-paced delivery in which Monaé exercises free reign to explore her sexual freedoms.

Patra

Water Slide also heavily samples Patra’s vocals from the 1993 song Whining Skill from her Queen Of The Pack album. Patra joins Monaé in calling on “all the girls dem,” just before the latter opens the first verse with some attention-grabbing lines: “If I could f@#k me right here right now I would do that…”

Derrick Harriott

The Age Of Pleasure also samples Derrick Harriot’s 1967 track, The Loser, which famously covered by Freddie McGregor in 1992’s Born A Winner. 

Only Have Eyes 42, the 13th track on the album, is sung on a slightly altered version of Harriot’s original instrumental. With only a few sound effects separating Monaé’s version of the instrumental from the original, the 37-year-old takes pleasure in singing about, at the very least, threesomes.

Mad Cobra

As we previously reported, Monaé’s second single from the 14-track project, Lipstick Lover, also featured strong hints of Reggae and Dancehall, having sampled Mad Cobra’s Flex. 

The album, which was conspicuously released on 6/9 – a sentiment Monae is beyond aware of – has been described as a “love letter to the diaspora”. In an interview last month with Apple Music’s Zane Lowe, she offered to shed some insight on her perspective regarding the project.

“All the songs were written from such an honest space,” she explained, “and what I’m super excited about with The Age of Pleasure is that … Listen, I’ve had my age of depression. I’ve had my age of anxiety. I’ve had my age of struggle. And again, it’s not like life is pleasurable every single day, but I think I have actively just sought out … How do I create a space for myself? How do I redirect my mind on how I’m thinking about things? How do I realize that right now, in this present moment, moments that we’ll never get back, that this is where you need to find your pleasure?”