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Chiddy Bang Debut Retro 'Ray Charles' Single -- Listen

Posted Nov 15th 2011 1:20PM by Kenneth Partridge
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EMI Music

Six years after Kanye West scored big with 'Gold Digger,' an interpolation of the 1955 Ray Charles hit 'I Got a Woman,' Chiddy Bang is paying tribute to the same R&B legend.

Today (Nov. 15) marks the debut of 'Ray Charles,' the first single from the Philadelphia-bred duo's forthcoming debut album, 'Breakfast.' Much like West's 2005 hit, Chiddy Bang's 'Ray Charles' offers a modern hip-hop take on vintage sounds, with rapper Chidera "Chiddy" Anamege rhyming over DJ Noah "Xaphoon Jones" Beresin's sampled pianos and horns.

The track even features gospel-style singers, who open the song with the line, "Ooh boy, open your eyes/ A girl like me ain't waitin' all night."

As the lighthearted jam unfolds, Chiddy -- who earlier this year set a new Guinness record with a nine-plus-hour freestyle rap -- compares himself to Charles, referencing the late singer's blindness without ever making fun.

"I can hear the evil, but I won't see it," Chiddy raps just before the hook, "and if the blunt go out, you better reheat it."

'Breakfast' is due out Feb. 28, and Chiddy is promising what audience's in Ray's day might have called a tasty platter.

"Breakfast is the most important meal of the day," he says in a press release. "Our 'Breakfast' is going to be the breakfast of champions. Who wouldn't want that?"

Listen to Chiddy Bang's 'Ray Charles'