Pease Porridge

Album: De La Soul Is Dead (1991)
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Songfacts®:

  • This song is based around a deceptively jaunty sample of American whistling and bone-playing recording artist Brothers Bones' "Black Eyed Susan Brown." You may know Brother Bones from his recording of the standard "Sweet Georgia Brown," which became internationally famous after being adopted as the theme song of the Harlem Globetrotters basketball team in 1952.

    Other samples in the song include James Browns' "Make It Funky," the Headhunters' "God Made Me Funky" and Harrell & Sharon Lucky's "Pease Porridge Hot" and "Finger Fun."
  • The lyric finds De La Soul pointing out that just because they are laid-back, it doesn't mean they'll let any one walk over them. Trugoy the Dove explained to Melody Maker: "That song's just saying that if people want to test us, we're not gonna stand for it. Just 'cos we spoke about being peaceful and positive, it doesn't mean we're gonna let ourselves be trampled on. We will do whatever it takes to defend ourselves. There have been situations where people tried to test us, and we defended ourselves, and whether it was worse for us or for them, it doesn't really matter."

    Trugoy added that he's not talking about gangsta rappers but kids of different ages that the band met in clubs. "They'd come to see our show, so it wasn't to do with music, it was just them wanting to test us as so-called peaceful people." he said.

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