Pop Bâtard: Serge Goes South London

When interviewed about his Slime & Reason album in 2008, South London rapper Rodney Hylton Smith a.k.a. Roots Manuva said: „I wanted to capture a particular movement of drums and basslines ... It was like trying to bring out a peculiarness, like say Phil Spector, or Serge Gainsbourg, very sophisticated and very beautiful.“ A few months later, record store impresarios Paris DJs Soundsystem took him by the word and fused the instrumental version of Serge’s Requiem pour un con with the a capella from Roots Manuva’s Witness: Two tunes made for each other, late 60s funk hypno beat (originally composed for Georges Lautner's crime flick Le Pacha) meeting a raw, splendid flow Serge probably anticipated, though never knew.

Serge G. vs. Roots Manuva – Requiem for a Witness

Serge Gainsbourg – Requiem pour un con
Roots Manuva – Witness (1 Hope)

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