Sports

Whether you're being taken out to the ball game or pumping up the jam... or maybe even being wowed by the Skate Circle DJs in Central Park... you can't deny that sports and music go hand in hand. And this week, we're revisiting the World Cup music of today and yesteryear and doing a deep dive into the sweet sounds of roller rink tunes to get our blood pumping and give our ears a workout! 

SONGS:

Shakira: Waka Waka (This Time for Africa - Official FIFA World Cup Song) (2010)

De La Soul: A Roller Skating Jam Named “Saturdays” (1991) 

RESOURCES AND REFERENCES:

The unifying power of music in sports (DLMDD)

NBA Space Jam Get ready for this (YouTube)

Wait, Why Was Bad Bunny’s Super Bowl Halftime Show Controversial? (Rolling Stone)

New Order - World In Motion (Official Music Video)

Kraftwerk - Tour De France (2009 Remaster) (YouTube)

Special Report Kraftwerk At The Tour De France (Electronic Sound)

List of FIFA World Cup songs and anthems (Wikipedia)

Golden Sounds - Zangalewa (YouTube)

Gloryland 1994 World Cup Song (YouTube)

Anastacia - Boom, FIFA World Cup 2002 (YouTube)

World Cup Song by Shakira Stirs Controversy (PBS)

K'NAAN - Wavin’ Flag (YouTube)

Herbert Grönemeyer feat. Amadou & Mariam: Celebrate the Day (2006 FIFA Official World Cup Song)  

Saturdays’ Samples! 

Who Sampled for “A Roller Skating Jam Named 'Saturdays”

DJ Sam Redmore’s Instagram Every Sample from “A Roller Skating Jam Named ‘Saturdays’”

Instant Funk: I Got My Mind Made Up (1978)

Mighty Ryeders: Evil Vibrations (1978)

De La Soul Sampling Stereothematica Favorite “Ma Quale Idea” in their Promo

Roller Skating!

Horrible Histories John Joseph Merlin’s Roller Skates

Father of Modern Roller Skates

United Skates Trailer (HBO, 2018)

Central Park Dance Skaters Association

PBS Short Documentary on Central Park Dance Skaters

How Black Culture Made Roller Skating Popular (LA Times Video, 2020)

An Oral History of LA’s Black Indoor Roller Skating Scene (LA Times, 2025)

The History Behind the Roller Skating Trend (JSTOR Daily, 2023)

Skate Culture and Black Women Rollin’

Rapper Nipsey Hussle Helps Beloved Mid City Roller Rink World on Wheels Get Rolling Again (LA Times)

Gene Kelly performs “I Like Myself” in It’s Always Fair Weather” (1955)

More Del La Soul

De La Soul - Live Performing Me, Myself & I at Tramps NYC 1996 (We Hate This Song)

De La Soul on Arsenio (1989)

De La Soul is Streaming (NPR, 2023)

De La Soul: Transmitting Live From Mars (1989)

The Turtles: You Showed Me (1968)

Trugoy Obituary and Tribute (NPR, 2023)

De La Soul: Tiny Desk (NPR, 2026)

De La Soul’s Maseo and Posdnuos Pen Tributes to Trugoy the Dove (Pitchfork, 2023)

Required Listening

Questlove’s Interview with Posdnuos (2026)

One Song: De La Soul’s “Buddy” (2024) 

Connect with us on Instagram (to share your song picks or troll us), Spotify (for our ever-growing playlist), and Stereothematica.com (for extra fun)!

If you like what you’re hearing, please subscribe, and if you love it, a five-star rating and review would send us into the exosphere of excitement.

And email us at stereothematica@gmail.com! We will write back! 

Transcript

SPEAKER_07 0:04

I'm Christine. And I'm Christina. In 2024, I moved to Texas from LA. And to keep in touch, Christine and I started a weekly game where we each pick a song that fits a chosen theme.

SPEAKER_06 0:14

This game deepened our understanding of each other and the songs that shape us, inspiring the podcast you're listening to now. Each week we share our pics, swap stories, and dig into tracks you might love. And a lot of the time have never heard of.

SPEAKER_07 0:27

Welcome to Stereothematica, your favorite atypical music podcast. Hola Christine. Hola, ¿qué tal? It's the World Cup.

SPEAKER_06 0:46

Thoughts? Um, I mean, it's weird. I have mixed emotions. Because you're Spanish? Because I'm Spanish. But like so far, I've been watching. I'm I've been happy, of course, that Spain's been doing so well. But at the same time, I just kind of enjoy like whenever someone scores, it makes me happy. We went to um Europe back in 2018. The World Cup was playing then. And where? Um actually, I think that was in Russia at the time.

SPEAKER_07 1:14

Oh wow.

SPEAKER_06 1:15

But because we were in Europe, we were going to the different places and they were having the matches on TV. And it was the first time like I really got a sense of like that spirit. Yeah. But it was like my my dad was watching soccer football my entire life on TV, but like he was even a referee. Dang. But just never like, you know, not a not a sports person.

SPEAKER_07 1:41

This feels like a crazy question, but you never played soccer, did you? I did. For how long?

SPEAKER_06 1:46

AYSO for maybe half a season because I I just couldn't do it. I like kissed the goalie. I was bored. Um, I yeah.

SPEAKER_07 1:58

You kissed the goalie?

SPEAKER_06 1:59

I kissed the goalie.

SPEAKER_07 2:00

You're just trying to brush that one under the rug. Cute little guy named Brett.

SPEAKER_06 2:05

That's funny. There might be a picture of a I really love that. But yeah, not sport. I never that was the last time I ever played a sport.

SPEAKER_07 2:13

What about you? I played soccer as a child. I was like, I was doing a lot of sports as a child, like swim team and softball. Wow. I never played volleyball, even though you might have thought because I'm tall, but no, basketball or basketball. No, no. Soccer was the one thing that I really liked. And then I never made the soccer team in high school, and that really broke my heart. But I was like, F this, huh?

SPEAKER_06 2:37

And and so does it pain you to watch the World Cup or Absolutely not.

SPEAKER_07 2:43

Do you have you been and watching anything? No, I really haven't been. I was, I think I watched like, oh well, you know, I went on my big road trip, and then the crazy thing is obviously, okay, the World Cup is happening in your town slash city, yeah, LA. It's happening in Houston.

SPEAKER_05 2:59

Yeah.

SPEAKER_07 3:00

I went to Kansas City just on our road trip. It was happening there. Went to Philadelphia, also happening there. I actually did get to go to the fan zone in Philly, and it was really fun. I will admit. I have been a little bit of a like sour sport this year because I haven't been feeling patriotic or good about the World Cup being in the US. But going to the fan zone thing was fun. I was like, my people, yeah, the world. Yeah.

SPEAKER_06 3:29

So who was playing?

SPEAKER_07 3:30

I think Norway was playing. You know, I love that big Norwegian guy.

SPEAKER_06 3:35

Everyone loves that guy. He's a big old freak, and I like that. I was just talking about that last night with a friend.

SPEAKER_07 3:42

Really?

SPEAKER_06 3:43

At dinner, yes.

SPEAKER_07 3:44

His face is not what I would say is like what I would be going for, but I love his spirit. I love his personality.

SPEAKER_05 3:53

Okay.

SPEAKER_07 3:53

He brought home a taxidermy raccoon from the US as a souvenir. Oh, that's Christine. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Okay. But yeah, I don't know.

SPEAKER_06 4:02

What about you? You've been watching? Um, so no, just like I'll catch the tail end of these things. And again, like maybe when it comes to the end, I'm like sort of paying attention. And again, happy whoever scores. I'm just like, yay. I I do get riled up. Yeah. Like when when especially when they kick somebody or they fall down and then they like play it up, lots of melodrama up there. Yeah.

SPEAKER_07 4:29

It's it's ridiculous. And I do want to say, even though I'm unpatriotic, when they're like the men's, the US men's team, blah, blah, blah, blah. I'm like, don't forget about the US women's team who has been winning like crazy for a long time. Yeah. Anyway. I think this might be a good time to segue into our theme. Oh, yeah. Go ahead. Sports. Go figure. Yeah, right. Well, obviously, I wanted to talk about sports themed music because of the World Cup. It only happens every four years. It feels momentous. This is a good opportunity for us to see where the crossover is between sports and music, but they go hand in hand, don't they? I guess. The answer is yes. And I know that you're not one for sporting events, Christine. No. But there are a few things that I think of when I'm thinking of sports and music as a, you know, a little duo. Tell me. Baseball walk-up songs. Do you know what I'm talking about?

SPEAKER_06 5:29

I'm trying to think. I I haven't been to a baseball game since like I was a kid in at Angels Stadium. I I don't I don't remember if they had it there.

SPEAKER_07 5:39

Well, I went to a baseball game recently and I got wildly drunk, uh, which was fun. Oh, yeah.

SPEAKER_05 5:46

No more about that.

SPEAKER_07 5:47

But like when a player the players get to choose what song that they're walking up to the bat for. That's so fun because I mean, at least where I live and probably where you live too, the baseball teams are very diverse. So well, they pick a lot of reggaeton, which you know I like.

SPEAKER_05 6:03

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_07 6:04

But it's a fun one. I feel like that could be its own episode, but maybe not with you. I think you're not going to be able to do that.

SPEAKER_06 6:09

I mean, I would enjoy going down the rabbit hole, like learning about it. But yeah, I had no idea this was a thing.

SPEAKER_07 6:17

You would just immediately go to Fogerty. I just know it.

SPEAKER_06 6:19

Yep.

SPEAKER_07 6:23

Okay, how about those like horrible NBA hype songs that they play during the game? Like the ones, the same ones they've been playing since like what like what? I don't know. You know this one. Y'all ready for this? You know what I'm talking about? I don't even know what you're talking about. Wow. We live in such crazy different worlds. I know. I'm in a bubble. How about like, okay, maybe not at the NBA, but you know, back to baseball when they play the organ.

SPEAKER_06 6:51

Yes.

SPEAKER_05 6:53

Charge. Yeah.

SPEAKER_07 6:54

And then in Texas, we play the stars at night. And everybody sings, and it's pretty fun. How about the Super Bowl halftime show? That's a pretty big music sports crossover.

SPEAKER_06 7:06

Yeah, and that's another one where I'm like, I'm gonna sound like an ass. I just, it's generally not the type of music I like.

SPEAKER_07 7:14

Well, no, of course. They're not gonna pick like freaking some Korean band to play at the Super Bowl halftime show, Christine.

SPEAKER_06 7:21

Linalci, I finally got my record, by the way, from Luacabob. Wow.

SPEAKER_07 7:25

Luacabop, congratulations. Hire an intern. You can be one of us.

SPEAKER_06 7:31

Seriously.

SPEAKER_07 7:33

Um, well, I don't watch the Super Bowl out of protest, but the next day I do, depending on the artist, I like to watch the performer. Yep. And these past couple of years, we've had some pretty good and controversial ones. Controversial if you're like a white nationalist or something, but like, you know, bad bunny, Kendra Clemar.

SPEAKER_06 7:51

Yep. It's theater. No, it is. And I'll I'll check out clips, but I'm not sitting around waiting for halftime.

SPEAKER_07 7:58

Yeah, good. I know some people really are though. Yeah. No, I'm most people are. Yeah, I would say in the USA, it's the biggest sporting event of the year. So of course they're gonna get a big performer. Oh, yeah. But there's one other thing that's happening right now, sports-wise. Did you notice the Tour de France right now?

SPEAKER_06 8:16

Vaguely, yes. Someone mentioned it the other day.

SPEAKER_07 8:19

Was it me?

SPEAKER_06 8:20

No, well, you've mentioned it a few times. Aww. Wait, let me visual gag.

SPEAKER_07 8:29

As someone with a sound-only podcast, I love a visual gag.

SPEAKER_06 8:34

It's a very cute Tour de France, polka dotted, what would you call it? A bucket hat? It's a bucket hat. It's it's very cute, but you've kind of like flip it up. Oh, I love it.

SPEAKER_07 8:44

Thank you. Well, the do I understand the significance of the polka dots? No, tell me. Probably not. During the Tour de France, every day there are winners of certain categories. So the polka dots is for the King of the Mountains. And my sister was just in Barcelona during the start of the Tour de France. And I knew that she would, she was like, Oh, I'm near the merch booth. And I was like, Get me a polka dot hat. Yeah, oh, cool. Because of the King of the Mountains. So I was pretty amped. When they came in the mail yesterday, so I've been wearing it around crazy.

SPEAKER_06 9:13

Perfect timing.

SPEAKER_07 9:14

But I'm a big fan of the Tour Go Tade. That's my guy. But you must know Croftworks.

SPEAKER_06 9:22

I do know Craftworks. Epic, yes.

SPEAKER_07 9:25

It's so good. Yeah. That song came out in 1983. They re-released it in 2003 on their Tour de France soundtracks album, which was their first like album of new music in a really long time. I don't want to get too into detail, of course, but it was kind of an unofficial Tour de France anthem. And I found out that the Craft Work dudes are like super avid cyclists.

SPEAKER_06 9:50

Oh wow.

SPEAKER_07 9:50

Which is kind of cute.

SPEAKER_06 9:51

And like it makes sense.

SPEAKER_07 9:53

You think because they're German?

SPEAKER_06 9:54

Yeah. I think I guess that does make sense.

SPEAKER_07 9:56

Yeah. I have my US American brain. But they would cycle like 200 kilometers a day, which is a lot. And they would ride their bikes sometimes to the venues where they would perform. That's very cool. Which is very cool. What about the instrument? I guess they would be all set up. Someone else is gonna do that for come on, they got roadies. Yeah. But I am going to link to an article from Electronic Sound that talks about Croftwork performing the song Tour de France at the Tour de France for the first time in 2015 at the Grande Part, in case there's any other cycling and electronic music nerds out there.

SPEAKER_06 10:31

Very cool.

SPEAKER_07 10:32

Yeah, I thought so. But what I really want to talk about today, of course, is the music of the World Cup. Because it's quite a thing. Okay. Yeah. Specifically, I want to talk about one element of this. But have you, like in your in your time this year watching the World Cup, have you like caught any World Cup music?

SPEAKER_06 10:53

Oh God, I I'm afraid to talk about it. I don't want to talk about it. I don't want to give it any time. Oh no. But I've seen a couple of songs, AI creations, parodies. Thomas would call them sloppies. Yeah. It's horrible. It's without giving too much time to this. One of them is the Spanish, it's all about the Spanish player Cukuraya. And it's kind of like a Rosalia sound to it, singing voice, and they're rhyming his name with paya and teya. And it's just so bad. And you you know, you know it's like AI. And then they have another one for France, the Mbap Mbappe. Mbappe. Mbappe. There's yeah, there's a video where he's like this king-like figure, and it's it's all AI.

SPEAKER_05 11:44

Ugh.

SPEAKER_06 11:45

Sick. It's really bad. But no, I I mean, traditionally not listening to a lot of World Cup music.

SPEAKER_07 11:53

Are you in New Order a long time ago? I don't know what year it was, but they made a World Cup song specifically for England, and they had one of their English players, like freestyle rap on the track. I'll I'll find it and link to it, but it was a gem. We I actually sounds like it would be good, yeah. Yeah. I mean it's New Order, it's gotta be good. Yeah. I also will say, speaking of AI slop, I saw a funny meme that you know how sometimes I don't know if this happens to you, but unfortunately, I almost thought it was real. It was when England was playing, um, I think it was when England was playing Argentina, and it was like a sea of Argentine fans, and then two men dressed in black, like sitting in the front row, and it was supposed to be like depeche mode watching the Argentina England game, and they were like, oh, more like depressed mode. And I'm like, okay, that's funny. But it was AI.

SPEAKER_06 12:44

So no, I know you you can't laugh. You can't laugh, you're not allowed.

SPEAKER_07 12:49

Okay, back to my my pick. So I'm setting the scene, World Cup 2010, which was held in South Africa. Do you remember back then? A little bit. It's a long time ago. Yeah, yeah. I do remember. That's the year I graduated from college. I was yeah, living foot loose and fancy-free, riding my bike around Austin or cruising in my Al Camino, going to the Crown and Anchor pub to watch the World Cup games, living in community with my fellow sports fans, and listening to the god-awful sounds of the Vubuzella, both on the TV and in the bars. Remember? Oh, yeah, horrible. That was a crazy phenomenon. The Vubuzella. Like, I'm sure it had been existing for a long time. That was like the year we all found out about it.

SPEAKER_05 13:34

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_07 13:35

But I was also blasting the official song of World Cup 2010. Waka Waka, this time for Africa, by Shakira, featuring Freshly Ground.

SPEAKER_04 14:00

It's time for Africa.

SPEAKER_07 14:01

Christine, I know you think I'm insane about 70% of the time. What did you think about my selection for this theme?

SPEAKER_06 14:08

It makes sense. I mean, it's not my favorite. But I think for you and considering the other songs, although Amadou and Miriam have done a song, they did a collab in 2006 for the Germany when it was when the World Cup was in Germany. Yeah, and that was kind of cool, at least when they're singing. Yeah. But yeah, I don't know. I mean, it's it makes sense. Like I wasn't surprised. Okay. Are you insane otherwise? Yes, but not with regard to this pick.

SPEAKER_07 14:41

Okay, good. Yeah. Yeah, I like to hear that. Yeah. And like, I know a lot of people have strong opinions about Shakira. I do think she's very talented. And I do think this song in particular slaps.

SPEAKER_05 14:53

Yeah.

SPEAKER_07 14:54

But while Shakira co-wrote the song with music producer John Hill, the reason why it's so good is because it samples and heavily uses the 1986 song Zamina Mina, Zangalewa, by Cameroonian Makosa group Golden Sounds. Have you heard that song?

SPEAKER_06 15:12

I have not heard the song, but I could imagine it based on the Shakira.

SPEAKER_07 15:17

Right. I, of course, I'm going to link to it and I will link to the video because it's worth a watch. It's very okay. It's interesting because the video is it's like a political commentary about war, and it's from people in Cameroon. So, you know, you have to anticipate that it's gonna be a little bit critical, but like it's it was so popular, this song, like it swept Africa so much so that the band ended up changing their name to Zongalewa because of this success and recognition of the hit. Wow. So, how then did Shakira end up essentially remaking the song for the World Cup? Tell me. Good. I will. I have no idea. So since 1990, from what I could find, every World Cup has had an official song that's usually sung in English and it's meant to appeal globally. So, for example, when the World Cup was held in the US in 1994, the official song was by Daryl Hall and Sounds of Blackness called Gloryland, which it was really slow and like kind of syrupy and like not a pump-up song. Okay, that's great. Highly recommend watching the music video though, because it is so perfectly 94. Not that I can remember like a ton from 94, but like all the flyover shots, really grainy b-roll, like okay, insane. So then in 2002, when the World Cup was hosted in South Korea, we got a song called Boom by Anastasia, who I guess was like probably top of the charts that year. I don't know.

SPEAKER_06 16:52

Yeah, what was going on? I think I she had that song.

SPEAKER_07 16:54

Oh, what was it? Oh let's look, let's look. Not that kind.

SPEAKER_06 16:59

Yes, not that kind. Okay, that was like a big song at around that time, I think, at first.

SPEAKER_07 17:05

Even though the song Boom, the World Cup song Boom is bad, I'm also surprised since it's 2002. This is on the heels of 9-11. Surprised they got away with calling it boom. I know. Just considering the song is so bad, but the video is hilarious because it's like a time capsule for life in 2002, complete with low-rise leather pants. Oh, wow. I'm gonna link to that one too, of course. And there's like so many other World Cup songs that we could talk about. I mean, you mentioned Amadou and Miriam. Who is their collaborator? Do you remember? Uh, some German dude. Oh, nice. I could look it up and I'll link to it. Okay, good. And and like Shakira's song, as you can imagine, probably just from hearing South Africa, and they pick somebody from Colombia and not a South African singer. Yep. There was a little bit of controversy, and I I want to get into that. So while freshly ground the backing vocals and some you know, interstitial in the song is a South African group. Shakira was slated to perform at the FIFA kickoff concert in Johannesburg's Soweto alongside the black-eyed peas, Alicia Keys, and John Legend. Not a very South African lineup, right?

SPEAKER_05 18:34

Yeah. Kind of cringe when you look back on it.

SPEAKER_07 18:37

And as such, a lot of South Africans wanted to boycott the concert, prompting FIFA to include the Soweto Gospel choir and trumpeter Hugh Masakella and Somali hip-hop star Kanan on the lineup to, I guess, make it a little bit more homegrown. But I know we've talked about Hugh Masakella in the past, but if Kanan sounds familiar to you, it's because he too had a viral World Cup song in 2010. And it was such a good song that when I was thinking about this theme, I had to go back and make sure that wasn't the official World Cup song. Yeah. Because in addition to Waka Waka by Shakira, my friends and I were blasting the hell out of his song Waven Flag, which I did find out was Coca-Cola's official sponsorship song for the World Cup in 2010. Who even knew there was a song?

SPEAKER_06 19:31

I know, I know. I mean, it makes sense, I guess.

SPEAKER_07 19:34

I went back and I watched a video, the original video for the Kanan Waven Flag song, and it actually made me cry. It was really beautiful. Yeah. Because he's a Somali refugee, and the song is from his perspective as a young boy in Somalia. And Coca-Cola actually made him change some of the lyrics because they were about war and not soccer. But I'm gonna link to the original in the show notes just so we can give him his props.

SPEAKER_05 20:02

Yeah.

SPEAKER_07 20:02

There is so much that I could say and talk about the World Cup and the music and the songs. It would probably take me over an hour, but I wanna, I wanna kind of wrap it up. Even though I do think it's it's a weird practice to pick artists who aren't from the country where the World Cup is being hosted. I think it's an interesting opportunity to see what kind of like creativity comes from these artists. And I do actually really like that Shakira leaned into the uh, you know, the style of African music, if not specifically South African music. They needed to, you know, they needed to get their mass appeal going in the star power. But get this Shakira's one half of the duo who recorded the official 2026 World Cup song. Okay, so what one's that? Okay, I don't know the name of the song. I didn't I haven't even listened to it and I'm so sorry.

SPEAKER_06 20:51

Are you sure it's not AI?

SPEAKER_07 20:52

I'm not sure it's not AI, but her her duo, her other half of the song is Nigerian singer-songwriter Burnoy. Do you know him? No, I don't, but I I'm curious. I feel like he's really popular in England and is like crossing over maybe a bit. But in addition to having FIFA having a official song, they also have an official anthem. And I don't know what the difference is. That's just so weird to me. But you're going to love the 2026 anthem singers, Andrea Bocelli. Okay, David Getta, okay, EJ, and Megan the Stallion. That's like a fucking Mad Lights lineup.

SPEAKER_06 21:32

Is this something I need to watch, listen to?

SPEAKER_07 21:34

I mean, we might play with we we literally just might as well because the world's probably ending. So, you know, might as well see Megan the Stallion and Andrea Bocelli.

SPEAKER_06 21:43

Sounds like that sounds like a party.

SPEAKER_07 21:46

I mean, it's not a joke.

unknown 21:48

I know, I know.

SPEAKER_07 21:50

I love it. Okay. So, Christine, let's hear about your sport.

SPEAKER_06 21:57

Okay, so we have established I am not a Into any sort of traditional sports. So I had to ask Google, is roller skating objectively a sport? And you know what? Yes, it is. And I think I even asked for your blessing. You seem to agree. Look at my background.

unknown 22:16

Yeah.

SPEAKER_06 22:17

Where am I? I'm at the roller rink. She's at the roller rink. And I know you have a relationship with skating. Would you like to share a little bit about that?

SPEAKER_07 22:25

Oh my God, yes. I think I've talked about it on the podcast before. But I started well, of course I've talked about roller plating, but like I would enter skating competitions at the roller rink when I was little. Just uh, you know, whenever you'd go and do the free skate, like, but I was really fast. I was like good, and I felt like, oh yes, it's fun. But also, it just felt like really fun and liberating to be at the roller rink. And like, of course, I like rollerblades better now because it feels safer to me. Really? But yeah, just for me personally. I know some people like the quads, but it's such a blast. And watching watching people roller skate is incredible.

SPEAKER_06 23:04

No, that I know, especially when they're good.

SPEAKER_07 23:07

Yes.

SPEAKER_06 23:07

But no, it was. I mean, I had birthday parties there all the time. Did you ever do the birthday party? Hell yeah. Skate heaven, Denham Springs. Yep. Skate for me, it was Skateway and several birthday parties. It was just so much fun. But one thing I didn't like is when they would play a slow song. Oh yeah. And I have this memory of crazy for you, Madonna's crazy for you being played and kind of being pushed into doing a hand-holding, like skate around with this guy that I wasn't even into, like a guy, a kid.

SPEAKER_07 23:41

Not the goalie.

SPEAKER_06 23:42

11-year-old or whatever.

unknown 23:45

No.

SPEAKER_06 23:46

And yeah, that was that was one of the less happy moments. But but truly what I loved about skating as a kid was you could be on your own, aside when you from when you get pushed into skating with somebody and and not have to talk. And it was acceptable not to talk. And and and then the music, it was just the music and the movement, it saved you from all the awkwardness. And so on, yeah. No, I know. And and this, of course, brings me to my pick for today's theme from De La Soul's second album, De La Soul is Dead. My sporty song is a roller skating jam named Saturdays.

SPEAKER_03 24:34

Connected like a bar in the world to the fuck. Come on, everybody, get the fucking out.

SPEAKER_01 24:42

Come on, everybody. Saturday, Saturday, Saturday.

SPEAKER_06 24:50

You know the song? Were you into De La Sol?

SPEAKER_07 24:53

Oh, yeah. Okay, good. I mean, I've known this song probably since I was a kid because I remember being a little kid and being like, Saturday, it's a Saturday. Me and my sister, I think, would like sing that one together. But also, it just slaps. It's in my favorite song like Spotify and everything.

SPEAKER_06 25:12

Yeah, nice. And I don't know if you noticed, but I did have it in our um get up and dance playlist. Oh no, I didn't notice. Yeah, I know it's a long list. Yeah, there's like 1,000 songs on there. But we know it. But so I I feel like I've always kind of known this song and of course other Delasol songs, but I didn't know much about them as a group. And so this episode gave me an opportunity to like totally deep dive. And there is so much I want to share. We have some time constraints. So um, first I want to share a couple of resources that everyone's just got to go to. This is what I used. This is everything you want to know and need to know is is within these two podcasts. First, it was Quest Love's interview with Kelvin Mercer, aka Postanus, one of the co-founders of De La Soul. And then there's a one-song episode where they deep dive Buddy, which was from their first album, Three Feet High and Rising. And yeah, just I mean, Quest Love show, the interviews is so so great. I did start listening to it, but it is two hours long. It's two hours. And the thing about this two hours is it's not just two hours because you're gonna want to pause and like go listen to the songs. I love that they're friends though. No, I know, it's great. I did have a hard time narrowing down what to talk about. So I'm just gonna tell you right now, I'm focusing on three things the native tongues collective, the samples they used in the song, and since this is our sports episode, a little bit about roller skating culture. But first, nice, yeah. First, for those unfamiliar with De La Soul, they were three friends: Kelvin Mercer, Postinous, David Jolly Kerr, True Goy the Dove, and Vincent Mason, Macio. And they all met as teenagers in Long Island, New York, and eventually formed the group De La Sole in 1988. When they were about 18, the debut album in 1989, Three Feet High and Rising, was a huge hit, and they quickly became famous for that flower power imagery with all the daisies on the cover, and then the song They Hate, Me, Myself, and I. Oh no. Did you know about their disdain for their first? No, I didn't. What's that about? So I think it was one of those things where they had this album already, and then the record label's like, we need something like for the radio. We need something like we need a hit. So they came up with this, Me, Myself, and I, which of course, like ended up being the thing that kind of made them famous. I mean, my brother like had the tape, and we would listen to the song quite often. Oh, that's funny. So there's actually this great clip. It's it's you can't, I don't know, maybe there's one where there's actually footage of them like on the stage, but it's audio of them saying, We hate this song, we hate this song, and doing this whole like shtick saying how much they hate it, but then playing the song. It's it's kind of cute. And and actually, like they were on NPR somewhat recently, and they do play the song, and they didn't do the hate shtick before it. So it was funny though, in in 1989, you know, this they were having to play the song a lot, and Arsenio Hall introduced them on his show as the hippies of hip-hop. And so, really, like this second album, De La Soul is Dead, is a reaction to those like flower power projections that everyone kind of just put on them because of that album cover. But also they thought they were like, you know, soft and cute and and not like rap enough, yeah or not hip-hop enough.

SPEAKER_07 28:51

That's cool. I mean, no, exactly different, and it they are kind of hippie.

SPEAKER_06 28:55

Yeah, I don't know.

SPEAKER_07 28:56

I mean, I like that.

SPEAKER_06 28:57

I do too. But on Past the Plugs, they they rap Arsenio Distus, but the crowd kept clapping. And then even on the intro track, the adult character says, Listen, you Arsenio Hall, gum having punk. And then the kids shout back, Ooh, you let him call you Arsenio.

SPEAKER_07 29:16

Oh, I was wondering what that was because I was listening to that track, the intro. They say some pretty messed up. No, I know. But then I like I heard I couldn't pick out that it was Arsenio, and I was like, I was driving, so I couldn't like stop and look. But I was like, What did they say?

SPEAKER_06 29:34

No, but I know, and that's why you gotta listen to the Quest Love interview because you get all these nuggets. So, like I listened to it and then listen to the album, and then you just keep going back and forth because like the more you listen, then you're like, Oh, that's what they were talking about. Let me go listen to it again.

SPEAKER_07 29:49

Yeah, so the album is crazy, it's crazy. There's so many interstitials, and like it's it's a lot of fun.

SPEAKER_06 29:56

Yeah, but most of the album, like it's yeah, it's funny, it's very wry, but it's pretty dark. I mean, there there's the song Millie pulled a pistol on Santa. Oh yeah, and that's about a girl being molested by her father, and then there's my brother's a bass head. But then you you got Biddies in the BK Lounge. Christina, I mean so mean is it's so funny, but like even hearing again Quest Love and Paws talking about it, like just go there for more on Biddies in the BK Lounge. Okay. And then, of course, there's my pick, Saturdays, which to me has always stood out as pure joy. And and part of that joy, I think, can be attributed to being a bunch of friends making a song together. And and that's kind of what the Native Tongues Collective was an unofficial like supergroup of like-minded East Coast hip-hop artists just coming together in the late 80s as they were coming up. And like it was in addition to De La Sole, it was a Tribe Called Quest, Jungle Brothers, Queen Latifah, Moni Love, Busta Rhymes, and Vinya Mohica. Wow. Yeah, and and and a few others, but like those are the ones that like I think of. But the clip we heard featured Vinnya singing the chorus after Postanusa's rapping. And I didn't play the beginning, but it starts with the unmistakable voice of Q-tip, and clearly he's showcasing his sense of humor, but but really like all these guys were just and and women were were very clever, smart asses, really, introspective, and like totally inspired by their parents' record collections. But the native tongues redefined what hip-hop could be and what they called the Daisy Age. Did you know what this stands for? No. Okay, so the Daisy Age stands for the inner sound y'all. Love it. And that was kind of what they were doing with this like native tongues concept that they had. And I'll admit that this song might be less about roller skating as a sport and more about celebrating the culture and the sound surrounding it, which brings me to the samples. Yes. So the so many samples. Just, I mean, every song, just everything they've ever done, so many samples. The original Saturdays had eight samples, which that's reasonable, but there are at least 14 official versions, cuts, and remixes of that song. So there's a lot more samples, actually.

SPEAKER_07 32:31

That's crazy.

SPEAKER_06 32:32

It's insane. And here's my favorite part of the record version with three of those samples.

SPEAKER_03 32:37

Hey, pretty damn idea. Like the way I'm dressed. Oh, big that new break is all we need is beat. But promote the hot book that keeps me thick. Don't need to talk, look at just walking.

SPEAKER_02 32:55

Oh now, sprinkler, Mr. Prinkler. With me for one, Mr. Sprinkler, I'm eating half five minutes, don't split.

SPEAKER_06 33:02

So we've got Sheik's Good Times, Frankie Valley's Grease, and under Trugoy's Mr. Sprinkler, the piano from Young Holt Unlimited's instrumental cover of The Doors' Light My Fire. And then, of course, you throughout you hear evil vibrations. We also know that the sampling got Dela into some trouble.

SPEAKER_07 33:23

Uh-oh.

SPEAKER_06 33:24

Your guys, Turtles members, Howard Kalen and Mark Bullman, aka Flo and Eddie, who you talked about in our caught off guard episode. Yeah. So they sued over a 12-second sample of the Turtles You Showed Me. Great song, by the way, which was on Three Feet High, their interlude transmitting Live from Mars. Used beautifully. And they sued for 2.5 million in 1991.

SPEAKER_07 33:53

God, those guys were litigious. No, I remember I talked about them suing on exactly. Yeah.

SPEAKER_06 33:59

No, come on.

SPEAKER_07 34:01

Like grow up.

SPEAKER_06 34:02

No, and and I mean the case settled for about 1.7 million. Yeah. And after that, it was kind of like precedent. Then every every sample had to be cleared, and it was it just became a headache for not just de la Soleil but like so many hip-hop bands, so many bands in general. It's also part of why De La Sole is dead and the rest of their early catalog weren't available on streaming until March 2023, just like figuring out all the sampling. Right. Yeah. But again, going back to the quest of interview, even the way Postanus talks about that whole time, it's just he's such a cool guy. Like to hear him talk about it. He's he's like, he never even dealt with the Turtles guys. He just was dealing with lawyers, and he said, even the lawyers weren't mean about it. Yeah, I'll let you let you like listen on your own. Yeah, I'll check it out for sure. Sadly, the streaming release came weeks after Trugoy passed away from congestive heart failure. And I don't know, at least the fans could like finally access the music more easily while mourning him. Yeah, it's you know, when someone dies, you want to access music. And I think when Day Lessel has performed since Trugoy's death, they set up a mic with a nameplate, and and they've been keeping his memory alive, giving him the honor he deserves. It's very sweet. They I mentioned the tiny dust concert, it was quite lovely. So um back to the skating. Oh yeah. Um, did you know there was a national museum of roller skating in Lincoln, Nebraska? No. Okay, yeah.

SPEAKER_07 35:47

I need to go back on my road trip.

SPEAKER_06 35:49

Seriously, I'm sorry I didn't tell you this sooner. It was established in 1980 to provide the public with an experience that reflects on and helps understand the sport of roller skating and its history.

SPEAKER_08 36:02

Oh.

SPEAKER_06 36:03

But, Christina, what I found odd while perusing the archives was that there wasn't much, at least on the website, about the influence of black culture and the civil rights movement on roller skating. And I think most people would agree that that's really when it transcended being a sport and became an art form.

SPEAKER_07 36:23

Yeah, like that's a huge miss on their part.

SPEAKER_06 36:26

And again, the website, but the website is how you represent yourself. So I don't know. But yeah, black roller skating culture didn't start or end with the 70s or 80s, like well into the 2000s, skating rinks were essential black community spaces where DJs broke music, regional dance styles developed. I mean, there's a video about like all the different types of styles there are from cities. I mean, funk, disco, RB, and eventually hip-hop were all like central to this skating experience. Did you see straight out of Compton? Uh, the movie? Yeah, the movie, sorry. Yeah, so there's they there's a scene in there.

SPEAKER_07 37:01

Well, you know, I used to live not in Compton, but I lived in Venice near the Venice City Park. And I used to love watching people skate there.

SPEAKER_06 37:09

Yeah, exactly.

SPEAKER_07 37:10

And even just on the boardwalk, there was a lot of great skating down in Venice Beach.

SPEAKER_06 37:15

Yeah, and I think after the pandemic, especially a lot of people like really gravitated to that the need of being outside and community, also because roller winks across the nation have been closing. It's just like they're so expensive to operate, and insurance costs are ridiculous in LA. The legendary world on wheels closed in 2013 because of bankruptcy. But the rapper and activist Nipsey Hustle's investment helped reopen it in 2017. But then it was shut down again in 2020. And that rank and a few others are featured in the 2018 HBO documentary United Skates. Have you seen it?

SPEAKER_07 37:58

Oh shit, no, I gotta watch it.

SPEAKER_06 37:59

Oh, you gotta watch it. It's so good. Yeah, yes, that will have a link to the website. But yeah, as I was saying, during the pandemic, a lot of people like kind of gravitated to skating again. People that hadn't, or people that maybe hadn't done it in a while. And I think the the Venice scene, pretty vibrant since the 70s. It grew because the people need to be outside and be a part of something. And then I think you're going to New York soon, am I right? Oh, yeah. Okay, good. So you have to go to see the Central Park dance skaters.

SPEAKER_07 38:34

Sweet.

unknown 38:35

Yeah.

SPEAKER_06 38:35

Do they do it every day? It's sad I believe it's Saturdays, like late afternoon, 2 45-ish, like into the early evening. But they've been doing this since the 80s and amazing to watch, possibly participate in. And they've even got nonprofit status. Nice. Yeah.

SPEAKER_07 38:54

That's so cool.

SPEAKER_06 38:55

Um, but yeah, please go. Please take video. Okay. Please share.

SPEAKER_07 39:00

I'm not gonna be there on a Saturday, but I'm just gonna go to where they go and see if anybody's there. Yeah. You know, why not skate every day?

SPEAKER_06 39:06

Exactly. But okay, so there's just so much to share about roller skating, de la Sol, the samples, native tongues. But that's why I have a ton of resources in our show notes. Like more than ever. And I hope everyone at least checks out the Quest Love interview because that is a sport in itself. You will be sweating because you will just like, what's this mean? What does this mean? Oh, I gotta listen to this song. I gotta like, I I'm seriously like even talking about it, breaking a sweat.

SPEAKER_07 39:38

I already have so many questions. Like, what are those names? Oh, what are wait, what are the true boy? Is that the older backwards?

SPEAKER_06 39:46

Yes, right, Christina. Um, yes, and the dove was because he was like, yeah, like kind of pee all peace and love. Cute, cute. Pastanus is that's a really cool one, but they talk about it in the Quest Love interview. But it's basically he at one point wanted to call De la Sole sop sound because his mom used to say, like, you sop up all the juices with the bread. And so they were he was thinking that like that's what we are doing with music. And so sop sound backwards is pasta noose.

SPEAKER_07 40:20

Oh, okay. I was wondering because I caught sound, but I was like, what the hell is sop?

SPEAKER_06 40:25

Yeah, so um, and then macio, that's easy, mason. Yeah, but yeah, little tidbits like that, you'll get more details from past noose himself. Really good.

SPEAKER_07 40:36

Christian over-engaged in a theme I didn't think you'd like. So thank you.

SPEAKER_06 40:42

Thank you for allowing me to go here.

SPEAKER_07 40:46

Um, now that we've kind of talked about our sports songs, I was wondering if I could share a little bit of unsolicited advice. I would love it. Good. Foster a pet. Not to get on my soapbox, but fostering pets saves animals' lives and make human lives better. Don't believe me? Check out one of the hundreds of videos by the Dodo or the countless other dog and cat rescues out there. I'll be happy to share a link.

SPEAKER_06 41:13

I love that you do this, Christina, but I'm always like concerned. Do you get attached? It's so sad to imagine, like you build up this rapport with an animal and then you have to say goodbye.

SPEAKER_07 41:24

Faltering might seem sad, and you know me. I'm a weepy person. Yeah, I get attached to things. But the thing is, you're saving a pup or a cat's life and giving them another shot at happiness. And it's also fun to play with a new little critter all the time and then send them off to their perfect new home.

SPEAKER_06 41:44

I think critter might be an unsettling word for some people. But if the whole concept is difficult for you as it is for me to foster an animal, there's there's always donations.

SPEAKER_07 41:56

Amen to that. Rescues need a lot of money to make their work possible. But if you want to play with puppies, kitties, elderly dogs and cats, or even some animal that's more exotic, perhaps a rabbit, foster. You'll save a life and make yours more fun. Or at the very least, more interesting. Advice over.

SPEAKER_06 42:22

I'm already hot. Thanks for listening to Stereothematica.

SPEAKER_07 42:26

If you like what you're hearing, please consider a review, a rating, or sharing with a friend. And follow us on Instagram at Stereothematica, where you can share your favorite sports songs. And go to our Infinite Spotify playlist, which is linked in our show notes.

SPEAKER_06 42:42

And visit stereothematica.com for more fun.