Super Freak
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| "Super Freak" | ||||
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| Single by Rick James | ||||
| from the album Street Songs | ||||
| Released | November 5, 1981 | |||
| Recorded | 1980–1981 | |||
| Genre | R&B, Funk | |||
| Length | 3:24 | |||
| Label | Gordy | |||
| Writer(s) | Rick James, Alonzo Miller | |||
| Producer | Rick James | |||
| Rick James singles chronology | ||||
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"Super Freak" is a 1981 hit single produced and performed by Rick James for the Motown label. The song, co-written by James and Alonzo Miller, was first released on James' album Street Songs and became one of James' signature songs. It features background vocals from Motown labelmates The Temptations, in which the bass singer is James' uncle Melvin Franklin, and Canadian singer Taborah Johnson. "Freak" is a slang term for, as described in the song's lyrics, "...a very kinky girl / The kind you don't take home to mother".
The song was a big hit for James in 1981, charting on the pop, R&B and dance charts in the U.S. On the Billboard Hot 100 chart, the song peaked at #16 in the fall of 1981 and spent 10 weeks in the top 40. Together with two other singles from Street Songs, "Give It to Me Baby" and "Ghetto Life", it spent three weeks at #1 on the American dance charts earlier that year.
Yeras later, the song was included in a 2000 compilation album called Funky Grooves which contains a number of different funk hits.
Rick James later performed the song on the The A-Team TV show. It is also well known from having been sampled by MC Hammer on his 1990 breakthrough hit "U Can't Touch This".
[edit] Cover versions
- In 1984, Los Angeles-based novelty band Big Daddy (whose comic conceit was to cover fast songs as ballads and slow songs up-tempo, and all contemporary songs done in 1950s style) recorded the song to a slower beat as if it had been done by the Everly Brothers.
- In 1989, the song was covered by heavy metal band Mordred on their album Fool's Game.
- In 2006, Chicago-based alternative rock band Straitjacket covered this song on their album Vices. An audio sample can be heard here:[1]
- In 2006, a cover by Filipino-American singer/actor Billy Crawford was included on the soundtrack to the 2006 French/Danish animated film Asterix and the Vikings.
- In 2007, the song was covered in bluegrass style by Ricky Skaggs and Bruce Hornsby on their eponymous collaborative album.
[edit] Live cover performances
- Australian Idol 4 finalist Bobby Flynn performed a version of the song in 2006.
- The Dave Matthews Band paid homage to the late Rick James in a 2004 concert released in 2007 as Live Trax Vol. 8, segueing into "Super Freak," thrilling fans, who sang along enthusiastically.
- The song was covered by Irish band Dirty Epics on The Podge and Rodge Show in February 2009.
[edit] Sampling
- The riff of the song was most popularly sampled in 1990 by MC Hammer in his best known single, "U Can't Touch This".
- Hip hop artist GZA/Genius sampled the song on his debut 1991 album Words from the Genius.
- In 1997, artist Jude's song entitled "Rick James" (#28 Billboard Modern Rock Chart) featured the words "Oh, Rick James was the original Super Freak" in its chorus line.
- Apollo Zero reconstructed a mashup featuring James' lead vocals to this song over the instrumentation and background vocals from the 2004 JC Chasez single "All Day Long I Dream About Sex", entitled "All Day I Dream About Sex...With a Superfreak".
- In 2006, the Beatfreakz covered the song, as "Superfreak", and gained a #7 UK hit with it.
- The title track of Jay-Z's 2006 comeback album Kingdom Come features a sample from "Super Freak."
- In the 2007 song "Freaky Gurl" by Gucci Mane, the lines in the chorus pay homage to the original Rick James song.
[edit] Appearances in video games
The song has appeared in the 2006 video game Scarface: The World is Yours, as well as being featured in the 2007 Dance Dance Revolution Universe setlist.
[edit] Appearances/References in other media
- An instrumental version of the song was heard in the 1983 comedy Doctor Detroit starring Dan Aykroyd.
- In the 1986 movie Heartbreak Ridge, Mario Van Peebles as Corporal 'Stitch' Jones, sings most of the song before he is thrown out of a bar.
- An instrumental version of the song was featured in the 1992 movie Batman Returns.
- The song appeared in the 1995 Cambodian short film An Ambition Reduced to Ashes.
- The song was used as background music for the famous Rick James sketch on Chappelle's Show in the 2000s.
- In 2002, the song appeared in the Australian movie Garage Days.
- In the 2006 comedy film Little Miss Sunshine, Olive Hoover, played by Abigail Breslin, performs a burlesque routine to the song at a children's beauty pageant.
- The song was featured in the 2006 film American Dreamz.
- In 2007, on the 6th season George Lopez episode "George has Two Empty Wombs", the title character sings the chorus.
- In the 2009 film Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen, Bumblebee, unable to talk, uses the song to tell Sam that Alice is promiscuous and that he should remain loyal to Mikaela.
- The song was featured in a commercial for Visa credit cards in which people in different places doing various things danced and sang along to the song.
- The 2006 Beatfreakz remix was featured in UK TV series Nathan Barley.
[edit] See also
[edit] References
[edit] External links
- The Billboard Book of Top 40 Hits, 6th Edition, 1996
- "List of The Podge and Rodge Show episodes" wikipedia page
- Super Freak Lyrics
| Preceded by "Try It Out" / "Hold Tight" by Gino Soccio |
Billboard Hot Dance Club Play number-one single (with "Give It to Me Baby" and "Ghetto Life") July 25, 1981 - August 8, 1981 |
Succeeded by "I'm in Love" by Evelyn King |
