DELISA: The psychedelic sounds of the band
MGMT have long been a sampling favorite in rap.
And their vocal contributions to Kid Cudi’s
“Pursuit of Happiness” remains one of
music’s most memorable cross-genre collaborations.
So Genius decided to take a look at MGMT’s
biggest hip-hop moments.
DELISA: MGMT was formed by Andrew VanWyngarden
and Ben Goldwasser, during their freshman
year at Wesleyan University.
DELISA: They toured after graduation and eventually
signed with Columbia Records, who saw huge
single potential in songs like “Time To
Pretend” and “Kids.”
DELISA: In October 2007, MGMT dropped their
critically acclaimed debut album ‘Oracular
Spectacular’ - a trippy synth pop album
that eventually went Gold.
We wanted it to mean mystic bullshit in a
way.
That’s kind of what we thought we were making,
this music that was kind of ambiguous
DELISA: Philly duo Chiddy Bang was one of
the first rap groups to sample MGMT.
They sampled MGMT’s “Kids” on their
breakout track “Opposite Of Adults.”
It landed on their 2009 mixtape ‘The Swelly
Express’ which fused hip-hop with indie
rock like Sufjan Stevens, Passion Pit, Ratatat,
and more.
When I played him ‘Opposite of Adults’
that beat.
He’s just like, ‘Ah, I gotta rap on that.’
I didn’t even know what MGMT was.
He didn’t even know what MGMT was.
DELISA: A young Mac Miller would also rap
on Chiddy Bang’s version of the “Kids”
beat, while interpolating MGMT’s original
chorus.
DELISA: But MGMT’s most famous hip-hop contribution
would come in 2010 when the band sang the chorus
of Kid Cudi’s anthem “Pursuit Of Happiness.”
A record like "Pursuit of Happiness" was strange and it was sonically compared to all the other music out.
DELISA: The electronic rock band Ratatat produced
the record, and member E*vax spoke to Genius
about the song’s legacy.
Cudi’s become this real mythical character
for people of a certain age because he was
speaking frankly on his tracks in a way that
nobody was used to hearing rappers speak.
DELISA: Jay-Z even tried to recruit MGMT to
appear on his 2009 album, ‘The Blueprint 3.'
But they rejected the offer.
DELISA: In 2011, Frank Ocean sampled MGMT
several times on his debut mixtape ‘nostalgia,
ULTRA.’
DELISA: “Soul Calibur,” titled after the
video game series of the same name, is a short
interlude track with sounds of changing cassette
tapes.
The first song Frank plays is MGMT’s “4th
Dimensional Transition,"
DELISA: Afterward, Frank rewinds the tape
to play “Kids,"
DELISA: Frank rewinds the tape again to “Electric
Feel” which is used as the instrumental
for nostalgia ULTRA’s final track, “Nature
Feels” – a song about making love outdoors.
MGMT, I don’t know, those guys seem chill.
I heard they heard the record, and they liked
it a lot.
DELISA: “Electric Feel” in particular
has been sampled by everyone from Jim Jones
to Lloyd Banks and even the late Nipsey Hussle.
DELISA: MGMT followed up their widely-popular
debut album with ‘Congratulations’ in 2010.
We wanted to be an album where every time
you listen to it, you hear something new in it.
And it’s not just all right there the first
time around.
DELISA: It was a departure from the synth
pop sound they were famous for and had less
radio-friendly singles, but that didn’t
stop Kid Cudi from borrowing once again.
DELISA: Also on his 2013 ‘Indicud’ album,
Cudder shouts out the band on the Kendrick
Lamar-assisted track “Solo Dolo Part II.”
DELISA: MGMT has since continued their unique
brand of ambitious psychedelic pop on 2013’s
self-titled album and 2018’s ‘Little Dark
Age.’
And while their more experimental sound hasn't
yielded any recent samples, rappers are still
tripping over their music.
DELISA: I’m Delisa with Genius News bringing
you the meaning and the knowledge behind the
music.
