(One of the conundrums, and amusements, of writing about Vega’s work is how best to classify music that resists taxonomy.) “Cracking,” the lead track from Vega’s first album ( Suzanne Vega 1985) is a song with rap-like cadences wrapped in the package of “alternative rock” or “alternative folk”. The transformation of Vega’s a cappella version of “Tom’s Diner” from Solitude Standing (1987) into a club mix by British producers DNA (1990) and then into a multitude of versions, including Nikki D’s rap, is a direct link between hip-hop and Vega’s music but I think that other, earlier songs have rap elements as well. But I chose it to begin an essay on Vega’s 1992 album 99.9 F ° because hip-hop is one of the elements that informs the album and is one of the more intriguing aspects of the music of Suzanne Vega because many casual listeners generally associate her with “folk” music. It’s another chapter of the long, strange and amusing journey of that song. Nikki D’s rap was built around a sample of Suzanne Vega’s “Tom’s Diner” (more precisely, Nikki D’s version is a sample of DNA’s sample of Suzanne Vega’s “Tom’s Diner”). Excerpt: "Daddy's Little Girl" by Nikki D. Its lead track “Daddy’s Little Girl” reached #1 on the Billboard Hot Rap Singles Chart. In the fall of 1991 Def Jam released the album Daddy’s Little Girl by Nikki D. 99.9 F ° came out in 1992. I’ve always been a fan of the album and I thought the 25th anniversary of its release was a good time to pull something together.
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