Dexter meets Wanda Dee uptown? Trevor Jackson mediates?

Before we begin..., I read some of this post to my wife and she didn't want me to share it. I told her I didn't think there was anything wrong with it but she felt otherwise. Well, everything that follows below is what I'd written, though if anything I've said bothers anyone, please know that wasn't my intent.

Call me crazy... no seriously, it's okay, you can call me crazy. That said, before last night I'd never heard the original version of Wanda Dee's To the Bone. I suppose that's because it's a long out-of-print record that is best known as the source of the "gonna make you sweat" sample in the the "live" version of The KLF's What Time Is Love, though I'd heard a version where Trevor Jackson of Playgroup mashed the acapella with Dexter's I Don't Care to wonderful effect. I'll stick with that version, as the original is rather dated.

While reading through the comments on the YouTube video for To the Bone, I found a string of responses from someone named Siameze Floyd who claims to be the child of Wanda Dee. They went off on a ramble about how the KLF were the ones truly at fault here, not Wanda Dee for doing live performances where she credited herself as the "leader" of the KLF. While yes, it's pretty well known that the KLF never asked for permission to use that sample, it's a very small part of the track which is already a remix of an earlier version. On the other hand, earning tour revenue by claiming you are representing a group you have nothing to do with is pretty sleazy.

Now, I'd like to make some things clear, I'm not questioning whether Siameze is truly the child of Wanda Dee. They very well may be, it's not really my concern. It's more that I find their comments strangely amusing the way they go after the KLF like a child angered you said something about their parent they didn't like, no matter how innocuous it might be. (ala "You're late to the meeting." "My mom drives fine! Shut Up!") And as they are attacking the KLF, it seems they forgot their acronym stood for "kopyright (sic) liberation front", as in they didn't pay for shit. That's how they lived and what they stood for, which is both bad business and the most hip-hop, anarchist attitude you can have. Personally, I have more respect for anyone that lives and dies by their word than someone trying to use someone's name to sell tickets. And yeah, from a legal perspective, you should definitely clear all your samples, meaning Wanda Dee deserved to get some money out of it, though again, it's one thing to sample a small phrase and another to claim someone else's group is their own when no one involved has anything to do with them.

Am I going to die on this hill? Nah, it's really nothing, I just find it peculiar as hell. I could tell something was a sample when I was a kid, it's not like I ever confused Wanda Dee's repeated statement with Ricardo's rap. And again, it's not like Baauer sampling Plastic Little as the main hook in his dumb little song and not paying them. That's an obvious kind of stupid theft if there ever was. At the end of the day, we should all just pay for sample clearance and not get lawyers involved or act skeezy after the fact.

Now, what does any of this have to do with the title of this post? The aforementioned Trevor Jackson mashup of Dexter and Wanda Dee that he definitely paid the clearance fees for! As the version legally available is mixed in with other records so you don't get a firm start or finish, I added them back in for maximum jamming potential. Just don't tell Wanda Dee, she'll claim I'm somehow stealing from her and her litigious husband/manager.




By the way, Wanda Dee, keep on keepin' on. I'd prefer you to leave the KLF's name out of your sets, but everyone has a hustle. You're a performer, keep on performing, just don't expect fans of the KLF to like your using their name for your shows.

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