mixtape maestro (2.0)

Whether deliciously utilizing “Tainted Love”‘s familiar new-wave stomp on Rihanna’s “SOS”, cleverly supporting Rick Ross’ “Push It” coke rap rhymes with a swipe from the Scarface soundtrack, or tapping into the old-soul nostalgia of “Stand By Me” to help bring an instant multi-generational appeal to Sean Kingston’s “Beautiful Girls”, slick pop beatmaker JR Rotem has consistently made good use of some of the most obvious sample sources this side of late-90′s era Puffy.

R&B/ Pop newcomer Jason DeRulo greatly benefits from that backwards-gazing formula on his debut single “Whatcha Say”, a passable radio-friendly entry about past relationship regrets that truly wouldn’t warrant a second listen if it wasn’t for it’s attention-grabbing chorus, which is based around a loop of arguably the best section of Imogen Heap’s prime-time TV staple “Hide & Seek” (you know, that whole “mmmm whatcha say” breakdown).

Thanks to the Heap bite, “Whatcha Say” will likely end up one of the bigger Pop hits of the Fall season, and while it probably won’t help the otherwise generic DeRulo become a household name, we’re simply stoked that Rotem opted to use that specific sample here rather than squeeze it into a couple of tired club-oriented Flo-Rida verses (Cause you just know the “Low” rapper would have jumped at the chance to have this backing track first).