Search - Various Artists :: Tribute to Roger Troutman

A good selection of Zapp inspired vocoder tunes...

yygsgsdrassil | Crossroads America | 05/31/2000

(4 out of 5 stars)

"...what in the heck is a vocoder? It's that mouth tube that's hooked up to a guitar or synthesizer to give that robotic sound that Roger/Zapp were famous for. Some folks have listened to that sound for years and had no clue to what it was or what it was called...My first exposure to it was when Peter Frampton used it on his live album. Then Stevie Wonder used it on some of his lesser cuts in his masterpiece era. Zapp/Roger came about in the 80's. By the late 80's, rappers and DJ's were mixing Zapp/Roger to their repertoire. One of the first Zapp sampled tunes I noticed was EPMD's "You Gots To Chill". And a year or two afterwards came MC Breed's "Ain't No future in Your Fronting"...both have sampled "More Bounce To the Ounce" liberally. Years later H-town disguised Zapp's "It's Alright" pretty handily in "Knockin' the Boots". Those three jams are included here. One could also see how whoever put this together could be prompted to call this a tribute with the likes of Dre & 2 Pac's "California Love" and Jodeci's "How About Us" in the mix. A better tribute would be for various artists to redo some of Roger's tunes. Not that I'm complaining about this CD, though..."

A Way To Sample A Legend

J. H Meeks | St. Louis, MO | 01/20/2005

(5 out of 5 stars)

"First of I want to say is Roger Troutman, you were the best at what you did and there will never be no one like you and I want to say is R.I.P. and hope that many people from young to old will just take time to learn more how much of an influential figure you was to the music industry. This CD may not have had all of the best sampled cuts from Roger but these were the hits that I can relate to. Roger Troutman was a very underrated artist that impacted the R&B/Rap scene of the 80's & 90's and the bad part about it is that no talks about him today or even uses any of his material and I think his material will make a lot of these artist today mediocre from horrible. The one track that raised my eyebrow on this CD was the remix of "In The Hood" by Donnell Jones in whice once again Eddie F. & The Untouchables puts it down again with the "Computer Love" sample which makes it so tight. Roger had a big impact on the west coast where you saw a lot of artist like Ice Cube, DJ Quik, Bloods & Crips, and many other artists. Roger, RIP and I have forgot about you."

A tribute to Roger Troutman

Duyahn Walker | kansas city | 01/19/2003

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Okay, this is the first of many tribute albums to come for the late great Roger Troutman. Roger still lives on in our hearts when you play this album. From California Love, to True Love, your neck will not want to stop snappin'. Big Robb is even on this album, and that's great. There is even some old classics like, EPMD's Chill, and Blackstreet's Booti call. You even get to here the old Jodici song What about us. I'm tellin' you if you want to remember Roger Troutman then get this excellent album. You won't be disappointed. I wasn't when I bought it and I plan to keep playin it until the disk needs to be replaced."