Hey, hey Music Enthusiasts! Today, we’re talking Marvin Gaye’s Trouble Man and the alleged copy that is Robin Thicke’s Million Dolla Baby. Check this episode out if you’re interested in hearing some brief history about the Trouble Man album and single, why it’s still lauded as an astounding album, and why I think Million Dolla Baby is so similar.
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Hey, hey Music Enthusiasts! Today, we’re talking Marvin Gaye’s Trouble Man and the alleged copy that is Robin Thicke’s Million Dolla Baby. Check this episode out if you’re interested in hearing some brief history about the Trouble Man album and single, why it’s still lauded as an astounding album, and why I think Million Dolla Baby is so similar.
You can DM me here: Instagram ...or email me here: olivia@theyoungblackprofessional.com
If you're interested in supporting me in other ways, check out my blog, Instagram, or Youtube channel:
Hey hey music enthusiasts! Welcome to Dj Music, where we talk about what inspired some of the songs we love. And more importantly, the songs previously created that inspired them occasionally will sprinkle in the song story of those one hit wonders we love to hear on the radio. I'm your host, Liv, and we're kicking off this show with a blast from the past. Heading back to the 70s. Each of the original songs featured this month, January, were released in the early to mid 70s, with sampled and covered releases, ranging from the 70s to 2000s. Enough small talk, let's get into some Trouble Man is the soundtrack to the eponymous blaxploitation film and 12th studio album from Marvin Gaye. Gaye wrote, composed and produced the project with full creative control from label Tamla records, a subsidiary of Motown coming off of the heels of the masterpiece What's Going On, Gaye was able to have a bit more fun and showcase his creative and musical skills. The title track Trouble Man has the most lyrics and features Gaye on the keyboard, drums and vocals. Alright, I'm going to try and paint a picture for you with this record. You ready? Downtown LA, circa 1970, think 70s style men in suits. If you're really real, you got a pinky ring too. Afros as a universal unisex hairstyle. Beautiful black women in various careers, various types of attire. Suave black men owning their own legal and illegal businesses. Now, you hear some faint r&b, funk-fusion music playing in the background. It's noon, and you're waiting in the lobby of an apartment complex for your friend. Let's call him "T". No cell phones. Remember, we're back in time so you have nothing to do. And you lean against the banister of the main stairs taken in the hustle trouble. and the bustle. The music builds up and suddenly, T appears at the top of the stairs. He has a low cut fro, wears a powder blue suit, sharp black shoes and shuffles down the steps smooth as butter. You know he's had a rough life, but in spite of the circumstances, he's got a bustling Private Eye business and endless amounts of charm. He's cool, but nonchalant. Tons of men want to be him. A plethora of women want to be with him, simply because he's that refined. Trouble often finds him but he never breaks a sweat, and handles the situations that arise with class. No, it's not shaft, it's Mr. T from the film trouble man, and more importantly, the kind of brother that Marvin Gaye sings about in the song. For this record, he drew on his own life and experiences for the lyrics and feel of the track, riding the wave of iconic title tracks such as Theme from Shaft by Isaac Ks, and Curtis Mayfield's Superfly. Both accompanied by Blaxploitation films. While the lyrics to trouble man are simple, in comparison to the former tracks, it develops much more musically complex track, where the vocals complement the instrumentals and has less of a party like feel. Although Theme from Shaft does have a smoothness to it, Trouble Man has a charm to it, and it comes through a little more aloof, possibly because they're less overtly sexual in nature. Here is my poor attempt at singing some of the lyrics so that we don't infringe on the copyright. And, I can encourage you to actually listen to the song in all of its glory and not my half attempt at telling you some of the lyrics in sing songy fashion I come up hard baby, but now I'm cool. I didn't make it, sugar, playin by the rules. I come up hard, baby, but now I'm fine. I'm checkin trouble, sugar. Moving down the line. I come up hard, baby. But that's okay, cause Trouble Man don't get in my way... Okay, that's the opening to the song but we also find out in the song there are three things in life we can be assured taxes, death, and trouble. Then of course there's the part that goes, got me singing? Yeah, yeah. All right anyway, the track is just smooth. The opening is so unique once you've heard the song, you can recognize it within the first few seconds of hearing it. It topped at number seven on the Billboard Hot 100 on February 3, 1973 and number four in the r&b charts. The song and albums impact has by far outlived and outshine the film itself. If you're a fan of Marvel, you may have noticed a lot of love for Marvin Gaye in the Captain America/Falcon/Winter Soldier corner of the franchise, particularly for this Trouble Man album. In Marvel's 2014 Captain America The Winter Soldier, Falcon, or Sam, if y'all are on a first name basis, recommends that Captain America listen to Trouble Man, the album, in order to catch up on what he's missed being frozen in time because it encapsulates everything perfectly. More recently, there was even a brief back and forth about it on the Disney Plus series, Falcon and Winter Soldier, coincidentally on what would be Marvin Gaye's 82nd birthday. So we've got a feel for Trouble Man let's discuss the sample. I like to call it the copy, but it's Million Dolla Baby. Million Dolla Baby is a track released on Robin Thicke's fourth studio album, Sex Therapy, released on December 15, 2009. As soon as it starts, the first thing I hear is Trouble Man. I have to be honest, it's inarguably the same song with different lyrics. And a backup vocalist in the powerhouse that is Jazmine Sullivan. If you cannot tell I'm slightly biased because I love her. It's the same beat melody, harmony, lyrical cadence and softness to the sound of the vocals. Here are some of the lyrics which I am again, half heartedly singing and probably terribly singing. And this is exactly as they sound in the song if you don't believe me, listen to the song after this episode. And then be the judge, okay I lost my way, I did so much wrong. God, I need a friend to help me get along. I need my baby. Gotta get her back. I need Lady Luck to get from where I'm at. Gotta make a way. Ohh. Million Dolla Baby. Because the song wasn't a featured single from the album, there is no information available on how he came up with the song. Although I think we have an idea. You can't see me, wink, or his inspiration. Thicke has admitted to being an admirer of Gaye's music and to have had him in mind while writing some of his songs. However, without any further information, it's just speculation that this song is a complete ripoff of Trouble Man. I will note that in my research I found that when the song was originally released the writing credits solely when went to Thicke and Andr Harrell. Now to this as Bailey Sarian, would say, nay nay. If you go and listen to these two songs, you will completely understand why I would have been fed up and why I believe the Gaye family was fed up with Robin Thicke's antics in the alleged ripping off of songs because this song, again, I cannot say this enough times, sounds exactly like Trouble Man. You can hear it in the first few seconds of the opening of the song. As of January 1, 2022, though, Marvin Gaye is listed as the composer, the sole composer, per the American Society of Composers, Authors and producers, the ASCAP. And in my research, I found out this organization is committed to the protection of composers, authors and producers at that original composers, authors and producers. So not the ones who are sampling without prior registration or prior permission to use the work of these original authors, composers, producers. Now could this change in the listed composer be the result of a settlement? You know, that settlement of that lawsuit involving Thicke's Blurred Lines and gays gotta give it up? There's no way to know for sure. But I can say that I'm overjoyed that the proper credit goes to the creative genius. I'd love to dig into the more notorious Blurred Lines, but we'll save that for a future episode. If you have anything you'd like to add, enjoy the episode or just want to say hey, DM me on Instagram or shoot me an email. I'll leave both of those links in the show notes along with the resources that I use to create this episode. If you enjoyed this episode, it would mean the world to me if you could share it with friends, family, enemies, frenemies, or anyone you may know. Leave me a review on your podcast platform of choice. Now, do you hear similarities and other songs that you'd like to hear featured here? Let me know. Until next week, I'll check ya later, baby. That 70 slang for bye.