Petestrumentals 3, his first official sample-free endeavor and follow-up to 2015’s
Petestrumentals 2.
Aided by the immense talents of Jack White’s drummer Daru Jones, guitarist Marcus Machado, bassists MonoNeon and Christopher McBride, keyboardist BigYuki and vocalist Jermaine Holmes, the 14-song project harnesses Rock’s innate love for jazz and Hip Hop with relative ease. After all, Rock has been working on perfecting his craft since at least 1989 when he co-produced “Mood For Love” for his cousin and late rap icon Heavy D.
As Rock continued on his journey to musical greatness, he had the opportunity to play a few beats for Sean “Diddy” Combs — and one of those beats wound up being the blueprint for The Notorious B.I.G. single “Juicy,” a bona fide Hip Hop classic. Produced by Diddy and Poke of the Trackmasters, the song uses a sample of Mtume’s 1983 track, “Juicy Fruit” and features an alternative chorus sung by Total and Diddy himself.