If you haven’t heard of Nina Simone, now you have. I don’t know how to describe her songs without gushing; suffice it to say she’s as amazing as she was prolific. The songs in their original recordings are powerful stories and poems of her time, testimonies of deep love, deep hurt, deep anger and deep emotion.
There’s a whole Verve release called Nina Simone:Remixed and Reimanged but they tend to get a little too… remixed, if that makes sense. What I’ve compiled today is a list of seven (7) of the better remixes of some of her well-known songs. There are plenty of other excellent songs sampled from her body of work, especially in hip-hop (‘sup Kanye West). And, of course, the line between sample and remix gets pretty thin, but we can always pick that apart later. For now, enjoy a few remixed/sampled Nina Simone songs.
Note: Video heavy post after the jump.
1. Lilac Wine (The Album Leaf)
My absolute favorite of all the Nina Simone remixes gives me goosebumps everytime I listen to it. Every. Time.
2. Misunderstood (Devo Springsteen for Common)
My girl Zavi told me about this one and I bought Common’s album just because of it.
3. Four Women (Talib Kweli)
More hip hop goodness for you! I respect Talib Kweli for always including positive messages about black women in his work.
4. See Line Woman (Masters At Work)
Found this via SoulBounce and loved it.
5. See Line Woman (Feist)
Definitely missing a lot of the mmph! of the original, but I still enjoy a little Feist now and then.
6. Black is The Color of My True Love’s Hair (Verve Remixed)
Another one of my favorite remixes. I could listen to the first minute over and over again… delicious!
7. Ain’t Got No (Groovefinder)
This is your mind. This is your mind after college.
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