Summer Madness

Like many, I spent much of this past Father’s Day weekend by a grill. For two days the soundtrack to our grilling was an 80s hits station. The usual music you’d expect was there like Prince, MJ, Madonna, Hall & Oates, etc. One band was consistently catching me by surprise more than the others. Multiple times I thought to myself, “Who was this again?” and Shazam would submit the same response: Kool & The Gang.

Just the mention of their name likely embedded an earworm that’s been a staple of every birthday, graduation, wedding, or championship party for four decades: “Celebration“. At least that’s where my brain goes. For many of us I assume that’s also where our knowledge of Kool & The Gang ends. I’ve been a fan of R&B, funk, jazz, soul, and hip hop for the better part of 40 years, but I have to admit that Kool & The Gang is a band that has largely slipped through the cracks. Yet every time I hear “Get Down on It“, “Jungle Boogie“, or “Hollywood Swingin’” my response is always the same: “Damn, who is that?” I apologize now to Kool and the entire Gang for the oversight.

I spent much of the past week at my desk listening to Kool & The Gang. After my weekend at the grill I figured I owed it to Kool, the gang, and myself to better familiarize myself with their catalog. Let’s start here: Kool is Robert “Kool” Bell and he’s a bassist. I can’t recall many “___ and the ___” bands that lead with the name of the bassist. That fact alone tells you this band is gonna be funky. Kool & The Gang’s early music is a lot more jazz-influenced than I anticipated. Likely because an extra 15 seconds of research revealed that Kool’s brother and band co-founder Ronald Bell plays tenor sax. Their music through the 1970s was mostly gritty funk. It wasn’t until the disco-era and early-80s that they added a lead vocalist and became the more polished, radio friendly sounding group that I’m guessing most pop radio listeners recognize. Their 1984 album Emergency went double-platinum. No band had more Hot 100 singles in the 1980s than Kool & The Gang. They were huge when I was a kid. So why do I mostly remember them for one obscure song?

It was during a listen to their 1974 album Light of Worlds that I came across the masterpiece. Taking in that entire album was like Hip Hop 101. One thing I’ve realized in this Kool & The Gang deep dive is that damn near everything they’ve ever made has been repurposed for a hip hop track. This one song in particular is responsible for more of the hip hop that I love than anything this side of James Brown’s “Funky Drummer” or Lyn Collins’s “Think (About It)“. I’m talking about “Summer Madness“.

Few songs, if any, create a cool vibe like “Summer Madness”. When that Fender Rhodes drops it immediately sets the mood no matter your surroundings. It should be prescribed by doctors to lower stress levels. You have anxiety? Take two minutes of “Summer Madness” and repeat as necessary. My introduction to “Summer Madness” was likely the same as many: Watching the 1977 Academy Award winner for Best Picture, Rocky. When Rocky enters his filthy apartment and confronts his truly depressing existence only eight minutes into the movie he drops the needle on “Summer Madness”. I recall hearing that synth as a kid, climbing octaves until it’s so high you almost can’t hear it. The song is chill and borderline-spooky and it’s definitely the perfect song choice to convey the feeling in that scene as Rocky ices his eye and contemplates everything in his life that led him to this lonely moment. Composer Bill Conti was so moved by “Summer Madness” that he incorporated it into other music for the Rocky Soundtrack. So how can such a melancholy song also be the soundtrack to so many happy moments in my life?

According to WhoSampled “Summer Madness” has been covered seven times (only seven?!?) and sampled a whopping 243 times. Some songs borrow that Rhodes melody. Many steal Kool’s bass line or the synth. Most just use it all. Here’s a small sampling of the music I grew up on that took from this one legendary track:

“The Summer Love Song” – Stro Elliot (2016): I was listening to this Stro Elliot record the other day and was like, “Damn, this ‘Summer Madness’ sample is strong. I wonder how many other songs have sampled it. That might be a blog post…” Weird coincidence that I was listening to Stro Elliot and Kool & The Gang in the same day, but that’s how it happened. Now here we are. This song is actually a sample of a sample because it also uses Mos Def’s hook from “The Love Song”. See below.

“You Know How We Do It” – Ice Cube (1993): When Cube needed to put the cherry on top of the laid back vibe for “You Know How We Do It” he borrowed the synth from “Summer Madness”

“Doggy Dogg World” – Snoop Doggy Dogg (1993): Ditto on this track. Is Kool & The Gang the reason I love 90s west coast hip hop so much?

“The Love Song” – Da Bush Babees feat. Mos Def (1996): A slept on classic by underground hip hop legends Da Bush Babees and Mos Def. One of my favorite tracks on this list. Fun fact: This paragraph gave my spell check a nightmare. My Mac is not a fan of the word “da” and was certain I meant to type the words “babies” and “most” and made sure I knew it. Good looking out, Apple.

“A Girl Like You” – Aaliyah feat. Treach (1996): You can hear “Summer Madness” the moment this track starts. No disrespect to Treach, but I always felt his flow went a little too hard for this track. Aaliyah is so smooth over “Summer Madness” and Treach wasn’t the right rapper to meet her at the same level. Still can’t go wrong with that sample.

“Certainly (Flipped It)” – Erykah Badu (1997): Erykah thought so highly of “Certainly” she included two versions on her debut album Baduizm. Guess which one is my favorite.

“Jimmi Diggin Cats” – Digable Planets (1993): My brother recently asked me what my favorite track is from Digable’s debut album Reachin’. Without hesitation I responded “Jimmi Diggin Cats”. I wonder why…

“Halfcrazy (Summer Madness Remix)” – Musiq Soulchild (2002): How do you take a smooth mid-tempo R&B jam and make it better?

“Summer Madness” – Khruangbin (2020): This isn’t a sample, it’s a straight up cover. Khruangbin took this song and…umm…Khruangbin-ized it? They replaced the Rhodes and synth with guitar, but they made it work. A fantastic cover worthy of mention alongside the original.

Hundreds of artists that have sampled “Summer Madness” and it’s too much to list them all here. I didn’t even include Jhené Aiko, Adina Howard, Gang Starr, Schoolboy Q, Wale, Big Pun, Pete Rock & C.L. Smooth, Donell Jones, Mary J. Blige, Montell Jordan, Above the Law, Pharcyde, Nas, Blackstreet, Slum Village, Erick Sermon, Too Short, Redman, DMX, Coolio, Scarface, Boyz II Men, Lost Boyz, and Terence Trent D’Arby, just to name a few.

Of course, if you know me and you know “Summer Madness” there’s one glaring omission from this list. I didn’t forget anything. I was just saving it for last:

“Summertime” – DJ Jazzy Jeff & The Fresh Prince (1991): “Summertime” is arguably my favorite song of all-time. DJ Jazzy Jeff took that Rhodes, that synth, and that bass line from “Summer Madness”, added a James Brown drum sample (mandatory in 80s and early-90s rap), mixed in some hip hop, and made magic. It’s perfect. Dismiss everything you know about Will Smith and recognize that The Fresh Prince was perfect rapper for this track. FP’s timbre, laid back delivery, and knack for storytelling blend flawlessly with Jeff’s groove. Everyone else was too loud, too hard, or too wack. No song can deliver me to a place or time quite like “Summertime”. As soon as I hear Alfonso Ribeiro shout “Drums please,” I’m transported to the last day of school. That feeling of summer vacation as a teenager and three months of freedom. Outdoor parties, riding with the windows down – or the top down if you were fortunate enough – days at the beach or pool, and yes, afternoons at the basketball court. If you didn’t know why The Fresh Prince ends the song with the line, “This is The Fresh Prince’s new definition of summer madness,” now you know. DJ Jazzy Jeff took a Kool & The Gang sample and made it legendary.

One final note on “Summertime” that has nothing to do with any of this, but I still feel the need to share it. If you break down the samples used in “Summertime” you can easily pick out the James Brown “Funky President” drums and the elements from “Summer Madness”. I never knew the origin of the keyboard line that’s prevalent on the track. I just assumed it was something DJ Jazzy Jeff composed and added himself, but I found this video while researching and it turns out to be one of the most unique samples I’ve ever come across. “Summertime” took that sample from the score to the movie Goonies. My mind was blown when I saw the video. A 30-year mystery was solved for me. Who watches Goonies and thinks, “Wait a minute, this would sound good on a hip hop track?” Dilla. Q-Tip. 9th Wonder. Prince Paul. DJ Jazzy Jeff. Not many others. Jeff Townes is a genius.

My knowledge of popular music before I was born is spotty at best, but I’m trying to imagine what was considered summer music before 1974. You had the Frankie Avalon/Annette Funicello beach party stuff. Of course there were the Beach Boys. Sly & The Family Stone had “Hot Fun in the Summertime”. There was “Under the Boardwalk” and “Summer in the City”. Every one of them is a fun, uptempo track seemingly made to enjoy on a sunny day by a pool or on the beach. Kool & The Gang flipped it and instead wrote a jam that conjures sultry summer nights. In doing so they laid the blueprint for a new kind of summertime music and inspired countless others to do the same. The next time I hear “Get Down On It” or one of their many other hits on the 80s station I won’t be saying, “Oh shit, this is funky. Who is this?” I’ll show them respect and say, “Oh shit! Turn it up, that’s Kool & The Gang!”