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Song Stories

“Big Pimpin'”

Jay-Z feat. UGK | 1999

"Big Pimpin'," as a track, is a concoction of cultures as Brooklyn-bred MC Jay-Z and his accelerated flow, teamed with Virginia's own Timbaland, for a track that sampled a Middle Eastern tune, "Khosara" (a lawsuit would follow), and featured Houston's UGK (RIP Pimp C). But, a decade later Jay admits that he's not proud of his ode to pimping. "Some [lyrics] become really profound when you see them in writing. Not "Big Pimpin." That's the exception. It was like, I can't believe I said that. And kept saying it," Jay confessed.

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Song Stories

“Help Me”

Joni Mitchell | 1974

Joni Mitchell wrote and recorded this song for her album Court and Spark, but she had to switch from her regular band to make the song sound exactly the way she wanted. "I had attempted to play my music with rock & roll players," she told Rolling Stone. "They’d laugh, 'Awww, isn't that cute? She's trying to teach us how to play.'" Mitchell switched to a jazz band, Tom Scott’s L.A. Express, and scored the biggest hit of her career in the process.

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