Pitchfork

Nowadays it'd be called a mashup or sound collage or "culture jamming," but when the first 12" from Double Dee and Steinski dropped in 1985, it was hip-hop. Illegal Art's forthcoming compilation of Steinski's work, What Does It All Mean? 1983-2006 Retrospective, collects a significant body of the cut-and-paste wizard's work, including an entire second CD devoted to 2002's essential illegality Nothing to Fear: A Rough Mix, but older heads will geek over the stuff on disc one, from the Kennedy-assassination deconstruction "The Motorcade Sped On" to the Television Mix of Steinski & Mass Media's Jackson 5/Bush I-warping "It's Up to You"-- and, of course, the frequently-bootlegged "Lesson" series.

Double Dee and Steinski's classic "The Payoff Mix," aka "Lesson 1"-- denoted on the original Tommy Boy 12" as a "Mastermix of G.L.O.B.E. and Whiz Kid's 'Play That Beat Mr. D.J.'"-- is a bit overlooked by many hip hop heads in light of the other song on that single's A-side, the legendary and groundbreaking "Lesson Two (James Brown Mix)". (One notable exception: rock critic Dave Marsh put "The Payoff Mix" at #213 in his 1989 list of the 1001 Greatest Singles, oddly sandwiched between the Diamonds' "Little Darlin'" and Gene Chandler's "Duke of Earl".) But there are still moments of inspired juxtaposition and b-boy comedy: along with the requisite snatches of break standards like the Incredible Bongo Band's "Apache" and Herbie Hancock's "Rock It", Double Dee and Steinski throw in loops of Culture Club's "I'll Tumble for Ya", Little Richard's "Tutti Frutti", cheesy dance instruction records ("heel, toe, heel, toe"), and Humphrey Bogart's "play it, Sam" dialogue from Casablanca. It's one of the earliest bridges between old-school and sample-era hip hop, and once Steinski transitioned from spliced-together analog tape into actual digital sampling, his club-friendly subversion would get even wilder.

MP3:> Double Dee and Steinski: "The Payoff Mix"
[from What Does It All Mean? 1983-2006 Retrospective; due 05/27/08 on Illegal Art]