What do Robbie Williams, Snoop and Miley Cyrus have in common? They all sample the same song, Doug E Fresh and Slick Rick’s La Di Da Di.

La Di Da Di is one of the most sampled records of all time, with artists still borrowing Slick Rick’s distinctive vocals, lyrics and ad libs for their own tunes nearly 40 years later. And one of the things that made Rick the Ruler’s vocals distinctive was his accent… because he was born in Mitcham.

An instant classic when it dropped, La Di Da Di was also sampled by two of the biggest East and West Coast rappers at the height of the East/West divide within a couple of years of each other. But Rick wasn’t around to see the reaction.

This is the story of one of the first great British-born rappers who continues to influence hip hop right up until today.

In this episode we hear from Slick Rick, hip-hop journalist Elliott Wilson (Rap Radar), rapper Cookie Pryce, Romesh Ranganathan and Mark Ronson.

Archive in this episode:
Slick Rick on BBC Radio 1Xtra
Mark Ronson: How Sampling Transformed Music: TED Talk

Presenter: Ashley Walters
Producer: Emily Dicks
Written by Emily Dicks
Technical production: Ant Danbury
Additional production: Dari Samuels, Tommy Dixon and Zayna Shaikh
Editor for BBC Audio: Andy Worrell
Commissioning producer: Jonathan O’Sullivan
Commissioner for BBC Music: Will Wilkin
A BBC Audio production Show less