Labi Siffre, I Got The | Throwback Vibez 🕶️🎶

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In the 84th edition of Throwback Vibez (2023), we recollect and reflect on “I Got The” by Labi Siffre.

The vibes, the vibes, those Throwback Vibez ️! Throwback Vibez ️ is a column that celebrates awesome songs from the past. The records that grace this column are older, but that doesn’t necessarily mean that they’re ancient – no fossils ! All genres of music are welcome. In the 84th edition of Throwback Vibez (2023), we recollect and reflect on “I Got The”, performed by Labi Siffre.

“I got the blues, but I don’t mind,” British singer, songwriter, and poet Labi Siffre asserts on his classic, “I Got The”. “I Got The” appears as the opening track from his 1975 LP, Remember My Song. The underrated, genre-bending musician often encompasses folk, jazz, pop, and soul. In the case of “I Got The,” it is a soul joint. He continues singing in the first verse, “All I have to do is get to you / And then I feel just fine.” So, even though he gets down, this person, or perhaps substance (see the rest of the verse), lifts him higher. Given Siffre’s knack for poetry, it’s unsurprising that the lyrics are so compelling. Notably, the first part of the record features a more lush sounding backdrop. Eventually, things shift to the most famous instrumental portion of the song, the one that Eminem sampled in his rap classic, “My Name Is”.

Siffre, who penned “I Got The” ultimately signed off on Eminem sampling his classic, but it’s a bit surprising. Labi is gay, and at the time, Eminem was extremely raw – f-slurs and ample controversy. Notably, if you interpret “I Got The” as being addressed to a person, Siffre avoids specific pronouns. Per a fabulous article penned by Tim Jonze for The Guardian, this was intentional:

By his third album – Crying Laughing Loving Lying – Siffre’s lyrics were no longer written as if for the opposite sex. “It occurred to me that I couldn’t do that any more,” he says.

classic Notably, the pronouns aren’t important – the effect of fulfillment is sufficiently captured with You. Through the course of this six-and-a-half-minute gem, Siffre shows utter musical genius. His vocals are silky smooth, while the lyrics are potent. Furthermore, the production – Big Jim Sullivan and Derek Lawrence – stupendous. If you have somehow neglected “I Got The” in your soul, vintage music rotation, it is time to right that wrong – it’s marvelous!