# please help me figure out this song! **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [November 4, 2016, 9:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-help-me-figure-out-this-song/770595 "2016-11-04T09:19:23Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 7\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![curwin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f05b48/32.png) [@curwin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/curwin)\ **Post date:** [November 4, 2016, 9:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-help-me-figure-out-this-song/770595/1 "2016-11-04T09:19:23Z")
This is a weird one, I know, but hopefully someone can help me out… A few months ago, I got a bit of a song stuck in my head, but I could not remember what it was. All I could remember was a line that was something like “you and I [something] oh, yeah!” I remembered the tune, but no one I sang it to had any idea (my lack of singing talent I’m sure contributed to that). Strangely, this stuck with me for weeks, but I never heard it again on the radio or anywhere else. Until… A couple of weeks ago, I heard the new Bruno Mars song, “24K Magic.” While this is clearly not the song stuck in my head, both due to the lack of the (fragmented) lyrics that I remembered, and because it was released this October, and my initial recollection of the song predates that, there is a part of the song that is _very_ similar to the bit I recall. It’s the part where he says: " I’m a dangerous man with some money in my pocket (Keep up)" Is it possible that the tune to that part is sampled/copied from another song, or some other song is just similar to that? Anyone have any clue? I know this is silly, but I would love to just get this ridiculous clip out of my head… ---
**Author:** ![GuanoLad](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guanolad/32/42_2.png) [@GuanoLad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GuanoLad)\ **Post date:** [November 4, 2016, 9:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-help-me-figure-out-this-song/770595/2 "2016-11-04T09:40:07Z")
I don’t get it. There is no tune when Bruno says that line, it’s basically just spoken. ---
**Author:** ![curwin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f05b48/32.png) [@curwin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/curwin)\ **Post date:** [November 4, 2016, 11:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-help-me-figure-out-this-song/770595/3 "2016-11-04T11:49:26Z")
I don’t know if it’s exactly a tune, but the way he says it (the cadence?) is just like the song I remembered. ---
**Author:** ![curwin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f05b48/32.png) [@curwin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/curwin)\ **Post date:** [February 1, 2017, 9:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-help-me-figure-out-this-song/770595/4 "2017-02-01T09:33:10Z")
FWIW, the earlier song came on the radio today, and this was definitely it: > **[King Kunta](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/King_Kunta)** > > "King Kunta" is a song by American hip hop recording artist Kendrick Lamar, taken from his third album, To Pimp a Butterfly (2015). It was released as the album's third single on March 24, 2015. Lamar co-wrote the song with Thundercat, while Terrace Martin, Michael Kuhle, and Sounwave served as producers. The song features interpolations and references to lyrics written by Michael Jackson, James Brown, Fred Wesley, John Starks, Ahmad, Redfoo, and Johnny Burns, who are all credited as songwriters... I did a little googling, and found that I’m not the only one who thought there was a similar sound. ---
**Author:** ![Snowboarder\_Bo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/snowboarder_bo/32/229_2.png) [@Snowboarder\_Bo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Snowboarder_Bo)\ **Post date:** [February 1, 2017, 10:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-help-me-figure-out-this-song/770595/5 "2017-02-01T10:18:32Z")
Pretty much everything Bruno Mars does sounds like something somebody else did years ago, IMO. It seems to be a trend in music this past decade or so, although there were certainly earlier isolated examples (\Lenny Kravits\, etc.). ---
**Author:** ![WordMan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/e8c25b/32.png) [@WordMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WordMan)\ **Post date:** [February 1, 2017, 1:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-help-me-figure-out-this-song/770595/6 "2017-02-01T13:56:37Z")
> [@curwin](#): > > FWIW, the earlier song came on the radio today, and this was definitely it: > > [King Kunta - Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/King_Kunta) > > I did a little googling, and found that I’m not the only one who thought there was a similar sound. Yeah, I hear the similar feel of the fast-patter flow used. I love the feel of King Kunta - great groove. ---
**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\ **Post date:** [February 1, 2017, 2:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-help-me-figure-out-this-song/770595/7 "2017-02-01T14:09:26Z")
> [@Snowboarder\_Bo](#): > > Pretty much everything Bruno Mars does sounds like something somebody else did years ago, IMO. I agree. I dig a lot of the songs, but they do feel like they’re consciously evoking nostalgia. Parts of “24K Magic” feel like Prince to me (like I swear that tinkling four-note repeated synth pattern in the background is from a Prince song, but I can’t remember which one.) The rapping and beat remind me of old school rap. I know the OP found the Kendrick Lamar line from 2015, but that line reminds me of something much older, I want to say 80 rap. Now it’s gonna bug me.