Dennis Bell & Ollie Cotton for City Slicker Productions
"La Di Da Di" is a song performed by Doug E. Fresh, who provides the beatboxed instrumental, and MC Ricky D (later known as Slick Rick), who performs the vocals. It was originally released in 1985 as the B-side to "The Show". The song has since gained a reputation as an early hip hop classic, and it is one of the most sampled songs in history.[2]
Content
"La Di Da Di" is a light-hearted party song wherein MC Ricky D (Slick Rick) tells a seemingly autobiographical story of a typical day in which he wakes up, bathes, gets dressed, and upon leaving his apartment is accosted by a female love interest, and then by her mother.[3]
Different edits
There are two releases of the song. The original vinyl and cassette versions contain sung lyrics from "Sukiyaki" by A Taste of Honey, but due to a lack of clearance, CD versions are missing the following [slightly modified] refrains in the middle of the song:
"It's all because of you, I'm feelin' sad and blue
You went away, now my life is [filled with] rainy day[s]
[And] I love you so, how much you'll never know
'Cause you took your love away from me"
Slick Rick's lyrics "For all of y'all keeping y'all in health / Just to see you smile and enjoy yourself" have been interpolated in several songs.[7] Namely "Lost Souls" by 2Pac and Outlawz; "Shyne" by Shyne featuring Mashonda; "4 All Y'all" by Conspirituality; "You're Welcome" by Jay-Z and Mary J. Blige.
The following is a list of other songs that referenced "La Di Da Di":
Spice 1's song "Strap on The Side" says the line, La di da di, I shot up his body".
InI & Pete Rock in their collaborative song "Think Twice" use a line saying "Throw a phat party and invite everybody, and play all the old school hits like La Di Da Di".
ADOR's song "From the Concrete" says the line, "Slam the child on the hard concrete" in the hook.
Robbie Williams's song "Rock DJ" borrows the line "and when we rock the mic, we rock the mic" with the high-pitched "right!"
Rap rock band Hed PE's songs "Crazy Legs" and "Murder" both have references to the song.
The hook of The Notorious B.I.G.'s song "Hypnotize" interpolates Slick Rick's lyrics: "Ricky Ricky Ricky, can't you see? Somehow your words just hypnotize me, and I just love your jazzy ways, oh MC Rick my love is here to stay", changing them to "Biggie Biggie Biggie, can't you see? Sometimes your words just hypnotize me, and I just love your flashy ways, I guess that's why they're broke and you're so paid."
Ludacris's verse on Jennifer Hudson's song "Pocketbook" from her self-titled album: "Baby because tonight is da night/And when we rock upon the mic we rock the mic right".
Will Smith's song "So Fresh" from his 1999 album Willennium samples this at the end of the song.
De La Soul samples the word "emcee" in the song "Supa Emcees" on their album Stakes Is High. They also sampled the phrase "I can't be your lover" as a running gag in several tracks on their album De La Soul Is Dead, including their Hip-house parody, "Kicked Out The House". Also on the De La Soul Is Dead album, the phrase "slammed the child on the hard concrete" in the song "My Brother Is A Basehead".
Pusha T also quotes the phrase "slammed the child on the hard concrete", making it part of the first verse of his song titled "Blocka"—the fourth track of his 2013 mixtape titled Wrath of Caine.
The intro to the Mary J. Blige song "No One Else" samples the beginning of "La Di Da Di" by sampling the phrase "there is no competition".
Das EFX samples the words "just some men that's on the mic" in the song "Jussummen" on their album Dead Serious.
Black Sheep samples the phrase "on and on she kept on" in their song "La Menage", featuring Q-Tip on their album A Wolf in Sheep's Clothing. They also sample the beatboxed, "you know what?" intro (right before the first verse starts) in their song "To Whom It May Concern" on their album A Wolf in Sheep's Clothing.
Ice Cube paraphrases the song in his track "Stop Snitchin'", singing "Nigga nigga nigga/Can't you see/Somehow your words incarcerate me". He also samples the phrase "Stepped out my house stopped short" in the hook of "Look Who's Burnin", on his album Death Certificate.
Ice-T's track "Radio Suckers" from the Power album contains a reference to the song in the lyrics: "They bleeped words from Doug's La-Di-Da-Di, I can't get a bleep - What's the deal? Maybe my words are just too real".
Black Thought quotes the song on "Mellow My Man" track on The Roots album Do You Want More?!!!??! by saying: "La Di Da Di, who likes to party? Like Slick Rick the Ruler, I'm cool as a ice brick"
N.W.A sample the intro part that says 'let it go a little something like this/Hit it!' in their song "Gangsta Gangsta".[7]
Beyoncé samples the song on her "Party" collaboration with André 3000 of her album 4.[8] In 2003, she also used the song's line "You're about witness... before" as a prelude to "Hip Hop Star" during her Dangerously in Love Tour. The performance appeared on the 2004 DVD, Live at Wembley.
Slick Rick quotes the song title after a line in a Mos Def song ("Auditorium" from The Ecstatic), which features him: "Walk over kicked, one of my fabulous raps (la di da di)".
J. Cole borrows a verse and uses the expression "La Di Da Di" in his featured appearance on Beyoncé's "Party".
Hi-C (rapper) samples the line "And with your wrinkled pussy, I can't be your lover" in "I'm Not Your Puppet".
50 Cent in his song "I'm On It": "La Di Da Di, we like to party".
Tech N9ne references the song in his song "Dysfunctional": "La di da di, La-di-da-di, I'm at the party, On a drunk night with a punk, might dudes tryin' to pick a fight because he's sorry."
Miley Cyrus references the song in the chorus of her 2013 single "We Can't Stop": "La da di da di, we like to party..."
Die Antwoord references the song in their song "Happy Go Sucky Fucky" on their 2014 album Donker Mag: "La di da di, yo we party."
Tyler the Creator references the song in his song "Deathcamp" on his 2015 album Cherry Bomb: "La-di-da-di, I'm going harder than coming out the closet to conservative Christian fathers."
Kid Ink references the song in his song "Be Real" on his 2015 album Full Speed: "Roll up good Cali, la di da di."
Fun Lovin' Criminals reference the song in Come Find Yourself's "King of New York": "La di da di, free John Gotti, the King of New York, the King of New York!"
Iggy Azalea also references the line "Ricky, Ricky, Ricky, can't you see, somehow your words just hypnotize me" in her song "Beg For It" featuring MØ changing the lyrics to: "Iggy, Iggy, Iggy, can't you see, that everybody wanna put their hands on me".
In the Gorillaz' original version of "Clint Eastwood" with Phi Life Cypher, the word "Concrete (concrete, concrete)" is repeated at the end of one verse. This is likely an allusion to the line "Slam the child on the hard concrete" from "La Di Da Di".
BTS references the song in their 2017 song "Mic Drop": "La di da di, 아 너무 바빠."
Will Smith's beatboxing scene in the film Men in Black II (his beatboxing answer of Booo's answer) samples the beatboxing outro of this song.
The Coup referenced the line "fresh, dressed, like a million bucks" in their song "Fat Cats, Bigga Fish" from the 1994 album Genocide & Juice.
Sublime samples the line "I'm feeling sad and blue" in their song "April 29, 1992"
Onyx sampled the line "So listen close to what we say, because this type of shit happens everyday" to "Just listen up to what I say, the feds get shot daily, everyday" off their song Live Niguz.
The USA Network reality show Peter Perfect, S2:E7 "Brewing Up Success" (2009), featured a makeover of a children's tea party event space in Ohio called "La Tea Dolly (We Like Tea Party)."[10]
100 gecs referenced the song in the line "la di da di da di, all I wanna do is party" in their song "757" from the 2023 album 10,000 gecs.
