![]() Bigger Love benefits from that juxtaposition quite often. Like all things John Legend, “Actions” is overly sanitized and a little bit corny, but his voice remains a formidable instrument, and it tends to reach the peak of its power when cut with a hip-hop edge. In a track-by-track interview with Apple Music, Legend said the lyrics hearken back to the era of his 2004 debut album Get Lifted, when “I was writing all these romantic ballads but also being pretty messy and not, you know, living up to them.” Over a churchy chord progression that works in that percussive funk guitar figure from “The Edge,” he repeats the refrain, “Actions speak louder than love songs.” But it’s also a flashback to a few years later, when Legend was first breaking through. He and his collaborators on the track - producer Warren “Oak” Felder and a fleet of cowriters including Cautious Clay and Sebastian Kole - intended the sample as a direct callback to “The Next Episode.” Legend even reflects back Snoop’s “la-da-da-da-da” in his own smooth, soulful style. “Actions” is the second track and second single from Bigger Love, Legend’s first non-Christmas album in four years, which saw release last week on Juneteenth. Yet that sample is so thoroughly intertwined with Dre, Snoop, and Kurupt in my mind that hearing anyone else’s voice over it is disorienting - especially when the voice belongs to John Legend, and the music immediately pivots into one of the gospel-inflected adult-contemporary tracks Legend made his name on. It has been sampled so many times that I am stunned we never ran a Breaks With Tradition column about it. ![]() “The Edge” was produced by David Axelrod, a favorite among crate-raiding hip-hop producers. ![]() Dre sampled it on his massively popular 2001 track “The Next Episode.” If you know this particular noir-ish easy listening jazz-funk track - and chances are very high that you do - it’s probably because Dr. It sounds like a grand, shadowy introduction, like a secret agent crash landing on enemy territory and brushing off his shoulders before getting down to business, like a bomb dropping, smoke clearing, and the world snapping back life. Donald “Ducky” Mallard (yes that is really the character’s name) on NCIS. and who for nearly two decades has played Dr. “The Edge” is a 1967 instrumental by David McCallum, the Scottish actor who once starred in the ’60s spy show The Man From U.N.C.L.E. In 2015, he won an ‘Oscar’ for the song ‘Glory,’ which he had written for the historical movie ‘Selma.’ He has also won several other significant awards, which include ten ‘Grammy’ awards, as well as a ‘Golden Globe Award.’ He is also an actor and has made an appearance in the movie ‘La La Land,’ which became a huge hit, winning six ‘Oscars.’ He is known for his philanthropic activities, such as raising awareness to help the victims of ‘Hurricane Katrina.The cognitive dissonance is strong. During his time at college, he served as the president and music director for a musical group named ‘Counterparts.’ Having released many studio albums, Legend has collaborated with the likes of Kanye West, Britney Spears, and Lauryn Hill. From the age of seven, he started playing the piano. He started performing for his church choir at the age of four. He is best known for his albums, such as ‘Once Again’ and ‘Darkness and Light.’ Born in Springfield, Ohio, United States, Legend showed a keen interest in music from an early age. John Roger Stephens, known professionally as John Legend, is an American singer, songwriter, and musician.
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