Earlier this year, as a surprise for his fans, the rapper Pusha T (real name Terrence Thornton) decided to release his fourth studio album, It’s Almost Dry. Met with primarily positive reviews, It’s Almost Dry had several highlights. However, one of its most successful singles and undoubtedly its best track was ‘Diet Coke’, which contains one very interesting sample.
Produced by 88 Keys and sample extraordinaire Kanye West, ‘Diet Coke’ was the lead single for the rapper’s most recent project. A sonically old-school track with its infectious piano melody and chopped, pitched-up vocals, the beat is reminiscent of old Kanye work, similar to the type he used to make for Common and Talib Kweli.
The infectious piano melody used by Kanye for ‘Diet Coke’ is an extremely small snippet from the 1974 track ‘Take The Time To Tell Her’ by soul singer Jerry Butler.
Released on Mercury Records in 1974, ‘Take Time To Tell Her’ was released as the second single from Butler’s Sweet Sixteen LP. The Chicago-raised singer, prior to his Sweet Sixteen LP, had had a number of well-known hits, including the song ‘He Will Break Your Heart’ the original of the cover ‘He Don’t Love You (Like I Love You)’ by Tony Orlando and Dawn.
Butler also wrote a lot of well-known songs performed by other artists, such as Otis Redding’s 1965 hit ‘I’ve Been Loving You Too Long’ and ‘For Your Precious Love’ by The Impressions. However, it was Butler’s 1974 track ‘Take The Time To Tell Her’ that Kanye (now known as Ye) thought would be fit for Pusha’s most recent album.
You can hear the original Jerry Butler track as well as the Pusha T song below.
