I really love this guy, the raw sound of someone who has lived his life, done everything god has forbidden. That’s what can be heard back in his voice, whether that is true or not, is irrelevant to me. Definitely the acapella for the month October.

You can endlessly sample away with it and people recognize the voice and groove right away. Yo I’m on fire! Well I am once I get to play this acapella as well as a lot of her other work. All lights on Melissa Arnette Elliott and her 4 My people acapella.

The original track comes from Wildchild alias Roger McKenzie. Unfortunately he died at the age of 24 and while I’m turning 25 this month, it makes me realize how short life might be. I think Roger could have done much more great work if he would have had the time. It is with great respect that I would like to dedicate the monthly acapella space to Roger McKenzie’s Renegade Master for the month August.

Finally she did it, a song that releases the full potential of her voice and energy that is in there. I have no clue how she got onto this and didn’t take any time to look into it, but I know this is how I like Kelis to sing.

Lucky for me there is also an acapella version of the song Acapella, so now I can be a very happy man and say thanks to Kelis. To express my appreciation for this masterful peace of musical art I’ve decided to put it into the monthly acapella spotlight for the month July.

I like this acapella for a number of reasons. It can be played at a very wide speed range, up to 50% pitch. While the original is rather slow it has been sampled into various happy hardcore tracks in the late 90s.
Younger children who are at the age of watching the Simpsons may not know the song but definitely recognize the voice of Bart.

When playing a 90s party this track can bring back the 90s ambient because of both its musical and TV memories. Best for last of course, it is one of the most happy acapellas I have in my collection, so definitely worth the acapella of the month spot during June.

Funny details is his name, which is his actual name and not an artist name as one would expect. In his performances he dressed up like a colonel giving more deception to the name.

What I like about the song is the funky baseline, which was re-used (stolen) in the hit from Rick Astley: Never gonna give you up. Also a number of synth samples from Trapped have been re-used in other tracks.

The reason I made this acapella of the month is because I really like the lyrics of this track. The vocals from Colonel Abrams have a unique sound that give it an urban ambience. The real power comes however from the backing vocals that add at the right moments a great dimension.

Count on top of that the wide ambience sounding drums that became part of the acapella and you have the Acapella of the month March.

I had this acapella for some time on my list as monthly acapella candidate. I’ve always liked this American-Italy dance act and it is for me a typical late 90s track. The song used samples that go back to the Jacksons’ Can you feel it. Stuttering the acapella though some house set gives a nice effect. Although a little bit late, it still is a great acapella and therefore put it up as acapella of the month February.

For a lot of people Beats International did only one big hit, but the people behind it have crawled all over the music scene to do there dance with Dub and Acid House sounds. People including big names like Fatboy Slim and Terry Lewis. Although the track was made following the work from the SOS Band’s Just be good to me they definitely gave their own spin to it. SOS Band made it sound like a Disco track with a prudent funky synth while Beats International used a fat Dub beat and way more funky samples. The acapella is still of great value today, especially the end rap that came from Johnny Dynell’s hit Jam Hot. One detail I like is the change from Just into Dub, be good to me.

Tank fly boss walk jam nitty gritty you’re listening to the boy from the big bad city, this is jam hot, this is jam hot

Cuba Gooding sang lead on hits by the Main Ingredient. His sons played in a number of movies and TV series. If you listen to the original and someone would have told you that we would today still hear from this song, you probably would have laughed just like me. But over the years some people have listened past the soft disco song and heard a lot of great samples.

The single acapella sentence “Happiness is just around the bend” has been used in a lot of house productions. Also Ben Liebrand has used this acapella in a lot of his work. His mashup with Giorgio Moroder – Chase has always fascinated me. When played at the right tempo, 126 BPM, it releases a burst of energy from the acapella of that same slow and soft disco song.

One day I hope to make a mashup with Cuba Gooding that will also release that burst of energy like Ben Liebrand once did for me. Until then Cuba Gooding can already shine as acapella of the month December.

A little while back, when I was still DJ-ing at Café Miller Time, there was someone who was always requesting the Sound of violence. He always talked about how great the song was and that you never heard it anymore. He probably had some great memories from a summer festival of it.

Unfortunately for him I didn’t have the track, but I always did have the acapella with me. So I always made a live mashup with another track to satisfy his request.

Today I was warping the track in Ableton and testing the warp markers and before I knew I had a mashup with AnnaGrace. So for everyone who had forgotten about this song and especially for the Miller Time requester, it’s back in the spotlight as acapella of the month November and soon also in a mashup.