S. Samuel
With the late Amy Winehouse's current Nas-featured "Like Smoke" currently circulating across the Internet, producer Salaam Remi explains how the duo's music never got out to the public until now.
According to Remi, there was always an initiative for Amy to link with Nas for multiple records.
“Amy sang on records that we never put out with Nas,” Remi said in an interview. “As far as them now getting on the same record, that was a conversation in play for the last couple of years but that just didn’t happen yet, and when I listened to that song, I was like, you know what? This makes sense, to actually make that happen as far as things that she wants to do that didn’t happen yet…As far as myself, I feel like I’m repping her musically because that’s what I know of her more than anyone else — and then as far as where [Nas is] at, he put that energy back into [the song], because she repped for him. I mean, who writes songs for people, unless you really respect them?” (MTV)
Last week, Winehouse and Nas’ “Like Smoke” filled the online blogs.
A bittersweet treat. My Hot 97 family got the scoop on this new Amy Winehouse x Nas song, “Like Smoke” which posthumously fulfills the late singer’s wish to collaborate with her friend “Mr. Jones”. It’s a gorgeous retro-soul track, in typical Winehouse style and produced by Salaam Remi back in 2008. “Like Smoke” is the lead single off Lioness: Hidden Treasures, a collection of songs Amy recorded before her death this past July. “…like a polygamist with a twist, will I marry again, maybe, I guess….I be out in London, Camden, hunting for the answers why the God take away the homie. I can’t say that I’m a firm believer that we all meet up in eternity. Just hope the big man, show me some courtesy….” (Miss Info TV)
The late singer’s The Lioness: Hidden Treasures is expected to hit retail outlets in a month.
An album of material recorded by Amy Winehouse before she died, including new tracks as well as reworked versions of songs made popular by her and other artists, will be released on Dec. 5, an announcement on her Web site said Monday. The album, called “Lioness: Hidden Treasures,” will be released by Island Records, which released her two previous albums, “Frank” and “Back to Black.” (New York Times)
In October, Nas confirmed he was the subject of Winehouse’s “Me & Mr. Jones” 2007 record.
Nas confirms to XXL that Amy Winehouse’s classic song is about him… Rumor has it that Winehouse once had a crush on Nas, but interpretations on the song vary. “Mr. Destiny, 9 and 14,” Winehouse sings, referencing Nas’s daughter, Destiny, and the September 14 birth date she shared with the rapper. “Nobody stands between me and my man/’Cause it’s me and Mr. Jones.” Nas recalled to XXL about hearing about the Salaam Remi-produced song prior to its release. “I don’t really remember if Salaam, who was really close to her, who introduced us, if he told me about it or not,” Nas told XXL. “I don’t remember right now. But, I heard a lot about it before I even heard the song.” (XXL Mag)
The Lioness: Hidden Treasures is slated to drop Monday, December 5th.
Check out “Like Smoke” below:
