Exclusive Remix Premiere: ‘¢râ?¬am,’ Dash Speaks

ABOVE: DASH SPEAKS. PHOTO BY THEA GOLDBERG

Horrifying but true: This November, the seminal Enter the Wu-Tang (36 Chambers) turns 20 years old. Since then, its second single, “C.R.E.A.M.,” has become legendary: as soon as you hear Raekwon spit “I grew up on the crime side, the New York Times side,” you can’t help but join in; and it’s hard to remember a time when “dollar dollar bill, y’all” wasn’t part of the common vernacular.

New York-based DJ Dash Speaks’ reinterpretation of the song, “¢r€am,” which we’re psyched to premiere here, works paradoxically: it proves the timelessness of the original precisely by updating it, into an ultra-contemporary club jam. He eliminates one of the most recognizable elements of the song—the delicate piano line Wu-Tang sampled from The Charmels’ 1967 song “As Long As I’ve Got You”—in favor of a commanding, brassy synth and scuttling beat; to entirely new effect.

“The first Wu-Tang records I bought were on cassette, and their music has been formative for me as a person and an artist,” Speaks explains. “With this record, I wanted to take a classic hip hop song and transform it into a banger.”

We should caution you that the remix may cause near-immediate, involuntary booty dropping—but don’t call it a twerk song. “Trap and twerk both resonate with me because they take EDM elements and utilize them with rap drums and pacing, and that is what I do. But those genres are set at the tempo and use the drum patterns of Southern rap and bounce, respectively. I love Southern rap and am a fan of bounce, but that’s not me,” Speaks says. “I’m a New York dude and a New York hip-hop head, so I want my music, be it somewhat trappy club-music like this or anything else, to reflect that.” Considering the source material—Enter the Wu-Tang put New York rap back on the map—we’re sure Wu-Tang would approve.

FOR MORE FROM DASH SPEAKS AND TO DOWNLOAD THIS SONG FOR FREE, VISIT HIS SOUNDCLOUD.