Matoma & The Notorious B.I.G. feat. Ja Rule & Ralph Tresvant - Old Thing Back

"Firestone"'s success was really disappointing to me because, late 2014 picture: here you have this great new style clearly on the cusp of properly breaking out, and the biggest name puts out his first original; big moment! Except it turns out blandified beyond interest, with the remnants of what drew me into tropical house little more than a few drums and chimes sitting over a bad Avicii song. (And of any dance genre I can think of, tropical has to be the least unpalatable possible). Eh, just 1 song, who cares. And then it became the face of a genre. Not cool.

This is the track that should've been the breakthrough. It's the perfect summation of tropical house's aura, and whether or not it's the best of anything ("Gold" is of course my favourite), it just demands attention.

I can't overlook the source, Biggie's flow is incredible and surely near-unbeatable (the other guys are cool too). But really the understated champion is all Matoma's doing beneath; Biggie doesn't pop anywhere near as much on either of the originals, and though the juxtaposition on its own surely helps, how the beat guides the raps along, especially when dropping out/picking back up = so on point, really full-sounding too. It does lose its way slightly in the chorus where the vocal and synth melodies seem to clash (and the latter briefly does, ironically, sound like a copy-pasted Kygo beat), but the backing keyboard keeps it going strong anyway.

Straight to my mental summer playlist, and that is never not a great thing.