Much of city pop’s second life came through samples and covers. These are the best-known examples — and the original records behind them.[1]
Samples
Producers in hip-hop, R&B and electronic music have mined city pop for loops and hooks.[1]
Tomoko Aran — “Midnight Pretenders” (1983)
Sampled by The Weeknd on “Out of Time” from Dawn FM (2022).[1]
Sampled by J. Cole on “January 28th” (2014) and by Chris Brown on “Moonlight” (2023).[1]
Kingo Hamada — “Machi no Dolphin” (1982)
The source of Engelwood’s future-funk track “Crystal Dolphin” (2017), which became an internet meme.[1][2]
Sampled by Jenevieve on “Baby Powder”.[1]
Miki Matsubara — “Mayonaka no Door (Stay with Me)” (1979)
Sampled by 1nonly on “Stay With Me”, and covered by Indonesian singer Rainych in 2020, which helped spark its worldwide revival.[1][3]
Mai Yamane — “Tasogare” (1980)
Its intro was used on “Pissy Pamper” by Young Nudy and Playboi Carti, which leaked in 2019 but was never released because the sample wasn’t cleared.[1]
Covers
Tatsuro Yamashita’s “Christmas Eve” (1983), Japan’s best-selling single of the 1980s, has been covered by The Commodores and Pentatonix.[1]
References
- “Iconic City Pop Songs Covered or Sampled by Overseas Artists”. Tokyo Weekender.
- “Kingo Hamada”. Wikipedia.
- “Mayonaka no Door (Stay with Me)”. Wikipedia.