BeatTips MusicStudy and Source Material: Gwen McCrae – “90% Of Me Is You”

Just as there are gateway beat machines and beatmaking tools, there are also gateway digging records. Gwen McCrae’s “90% of Me is You” was a gateway digging record for me. Before I heard this record, my approach to digging for records was casual. I would search for records and recording artists that were popular, or at least the ones that I had faintly heard of. When I picked up Gwen McCrae’s album Rocking Chair, I had bought for one song: “90% of Me is You”. But little did I know what was on the other side. Still, I must have listened to “90% Of Me Is You” at least five times a day for six months straight.

Everything about this song is dangerous. There’s the opening guitar riff. It’s warped (a sound that you hear throughout). There’s the second guitar that seemingly plays off in its own rhythm, yet it never leaves the pocket of the entire groove even though it skips across the arrangement randomly throughout. There’s the bass line, for the most part a simple but steady anchor that goes Up and down, down and up, up and down before it rounds off the end of the second bars with a small break in the pattern then it repeats. For the bridge, the bass joins the rest of the instruments for a change in the pitch. Then there’s the strings, a polite soaring pattern that puts you in the mind of a Gamble & Huff produced arrangement, only here the strings do more simmering rather than soaring.

Of course, I’d be remiss if I didn’t mention the drums. The hi-hat has a ticking sound that floats over the top of everything and punches in and out with urgent gracefulness all at once. The kick and the snare pattern is a simple K K S K K S pattern (I cover drum patterns in great detail in The BeatTips Manual), but because it’ so tight, it’s combination with the hi-hat makes for an incredible swing rhythm and shuffle, perfect for Gwen McCrae to ride the groove with her earnest and searingly soulful vocals.

It’s also worth pointing out that I learned more about how to create drums and drum patterns from this song than I did listening to any hip hop/rap song. From how to create swing naturally through the use of certain drum sounds, to how to shuffle my hi-hats, to how to incorporate the right velocity and sustain for open hi-hats, to how to anchor my kick drums so that their movement sits with the arrangement— No doubt, “90% of Me Is You” was important to my understanding of music and my development as a beatmaker.

The music and video below is presented here for the purpose of scholarship.

Gwen McCrae – “90% of Me is You”

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The BeatTips Manual by Amir Said (Sa’id).
“The most trusted name in beatmaking.”