New York rappers Rob Base and DJ E-Z Rock released their hip hop single It Takes Two on August 2, 1988. The song quickly became a top forty (40) hit and was later certified platinum by the RIAA. The song quickly became a top forty (40) hit and was later certified platinum by the RIAA.
There are many critics and listeners who claim that Rob Base & DJ EZ Rock's 'It Takes Two' is the greatest hip-hop single ever cut. It's hard to disagree with them. Built on a sample of Lyn Collins' 'Think (About It),' the song is a prime example of how the best hip-hop doesn't merely recycle the past - it expands upon it. 'It Takes Two' may be unthinkable without the sample, but it's hardly a loop - the bass phrase has been fattened and strengthened, placed front and center in the mix so it now functions like a heavy metal guitar riff. The beat is constructed around the phrase, and everything grows from there, from the female vocalist singing 'It takes two to make a thing go right' to Base's effortless rhyming.
This is party music, pure and simple, but it's transcendent party music - it sweeps you up immediately, and you're carried away by the sheer thrill of the bass, beat, and rhymes. It takes a few concentrated listens to realize just how immaculately the record is constructed, and, even then, it's amazing how easy Rob Base & DJ EZ Rock make it seem. But if it really was easy, not only would more hip-hop from 1988 be this timeless, but the years that followed would have produced many records that matched it. As it stands, 'It Takes Two' is a singular work. It broke down the doors for crossover rap - although it barely scraped the Top 40, it went platinum - and it provided the hook-heavy blueprint for its successors.
And, as the years pass, its musical brilliance loses none of its luster. It's still irresistible, and still a sure-fire way to get a party started right.