Samples

• "I've Been Watching You" by Southside Movement from the album Moving South (1975)
• "Just Rhymin' with Biz" by Big Daddy Kane from the album Long Live the Kane (1988)

References

• Eddie Harris (1934-1996) - tenor saxophone jazz musician
• Paris - capital of France
• Spoonie Gee - old-school rap artist known as the "love rapper" for his romantic hip-hop style
• Chevy Impala - Chevrolet automobile
• Wisk - namebrand laundry detergent
• Ready-Whip - namebrand of whipped dessert topping
• Dr. Spock - Dr. Benjamin Spock (1903-1998), world-famous pediatrician whose book Baby and Child Care is one of the biggest-selling titles of all time; also referenced in "Crawlspace"
• Off the Wall - a street game in which a rubber ball is thrown against a wall by one player while other players scramble to catch it
• Victor the Cleaner - a character in the 1990 French film La Femme Nikita and 1993 American film Point of No Return who disposed of bodies using chemicals
• Gardena - city in southwestern California

Sample & Reference Breakdown

• "Just plug me in just like I was Eddie Harris" - refers to the song "Plug Me In" by Eddie Harris
• "You can't front on that" - a sample of Biz Markie
• "I'm like Spoonie Gee, I'm the Metropolitician" - refers to the lyrics in "Spoonin' Rap" by Spoonie Gee ("My name is Spoonie Gee and I wanna be known as the metropolitician of the microphone")
• "But the sweat is getting wet around the ring around your collar" - refers to a Wisk laundry detergent commercial slogan
• "I want you off the wall if you're playing the wall" - a phrase used by baseball coaches in directing their outfielders
• Guitar and bassline sample - "I've Been Watching You" by Southside Movement
• Scream sample - "Just Rhymin' with Biz" by Big Daddy Kane, screamed by Biz Markie

Beastie Boys

"Adam Horovitz had a couple of loops on his SP 1200 which we thought were cool. We put them on the two-inch tape with Mario, but then ended up playing over the samples, eventually replacing them all together. Adam played some guitar parts, I played some beats on the kit, and Mark Nishita did a few takes of some funky organ that we sampled as well. In a last-minute flurry, the vocals came together, and the Biz was sampled from an earlier session he had done with us, making the song complete" - Michael Diamond, 1999

Press

"...when Mike D raps 'I think I'm losing my mind this time, I think I'm losing my mind...' he sounds like he's speaking through a malfunctioning megaphone" - Newsday, 1992

"...a subterranean swirl, [So What'cha Want] recalls the rappers' former uncaged energy" - People, 1992

"The straight up street [So What'cha Want] shows and proves that [Beastie Boys] still have what it takes to make heads nod on the MC'in tip" - The Source, 1992