Production Breakdown: Urban Music’s Love Affair With Coldplay

Even if you keep your dial locked on the urban airwaves at all times, donning earplugs at the slightest hint of guitar and overall steering clear of anything rock-related, there's one group whose name, and whose music you simply can't avoid: that's right, I'm talking about Coldplay.

Inspired by Chae Hawk's “Lost,” a promo single which found the Buffalo, N.Y. up-and-comer hooking up with J.R. Rotem to put their own spin on the Brit-rock juggernauts' cut of the (almost) same name, I decided I'd try to get to the bottom of urban music's love affair with Chris Martin and company – or at least suss out just how deep their connection with the rap game runs.

First off, for those who missed the joint when it hit the Booth earlier this week, here's Chae Hawk's cut:



With J.R. Rotem's always pop-appealing production, and Good Charlotte frontman Joel Madden's anthemic, Autotuned rendition of Chris Martin's chorus, this cut practically screams “crossover appeal.” And it shouldn't come as much of a surprise that Rotem's instrumental had previously been laced by rap's reigning Crossover King, B.o.B, on an unreleased joint (ed: the record was eventually included on his No Genre mixtape) deceptively titled “Not Lost.”



Anyway, onwards to Coldplay's own version of “Lost!” (I should note, although I am really excited about this, the exclamation point is part of the title).



Released in November 2008 as the third single off Coldplay's super-ultra-mega-hit senior album, Viva la Vida or Death and all His Friends, the record scored the group their fifth Billboard Top 40 hit.

Later that same month, the group released Prospekt's March, an EP featuring a remix entitled “Lost+.” Appropriately, the joint was essentially “Lost!” plus a certain special guest.



That's right, the one one and only Jay-Z; a man who had a lot to do with Coldplay's ascent to prominence in the hip-hop/urban-pop sphere. Though that remix came out, as mentioned above, in '08, the rap mogul first took a shine to Coldplay way back in the mid-2000s. Perhaps he was impressed with this unbelievably weird 2004 promotional video. Martin reportedly later joked that the video, which featured the frontman rapping (if you want to call it that), was inspired by Hova's work



Maybe they hit it off during the following year's Live 8 benefit concert, which featured performances by both acts. Maybe they were simply fated to come together, as artists at the top of their respective games. Whatever it was, Coldplay and Hova became fast friends, with the latter haling Martin in particular as a genius and stating that they were “brothers from another mother” in later interviews. And it wasn't all talk: Jay tapped Martin as producer on “Beach Chair,” the final track on his '06 Kingdom Come LP.



Disappointing album or no, it's a pretty fascinating instrumental, no?

Jay may have been Coldplay's most vocal supporter, but he wasn't actually the earliest adopter in the hip-hop/R&B scene. That honor goes to... drumroll, please... R&B singer Brady, yes, Brandy, who drew inspiration from 'play on not one but two joints (both Timbaland-produced) off 2004 LP Afrodisiac.

“I Tried” found the soul songstress shouting-out the band in the opening lines of the song, and going on to quote a chorus from “Sparks,” off their debut set, Parachutes. I'd quote you the lines but, well, the lyrics are right there.



And the source material:



They were really chill back in the day, huh?

On a totally-unrelated-but-too-awesome-not-to-mention note, the other inspiration behind “I Tried” was metal band Iron Maiden – specifically the opening riffs of “The Clansmen.”



Man, I bet Brandy has a killer record collection. Anyway, the second Coldplay sampling on Afrodisiac was on “Should I Go.”



I'm guessing that most will instantly recognize those piano arpeggios as originating from “Clocks,” a hit single off sophomore album A Rush of Blood to the Head.



Sadly, Coldplay never returned the favor by performing a song about how much they love listening to Brandy.

In the later years of the 2000s, the floodgates opened. '07 saw Swizz Beatz flipping “X&Y,” the title track off Coldplay's third set, for his cut “Part of the Plan.”



The same sample (reversed) served as the basis for Pac Div and Colin Munroe's “Underdogs II,” released in 2010:



Another “Lost!” sampling came courtesy of Joe Budden, on “Sidetracked” off '08 digital album Halfway House.



Last but not least, we have the wave of new joints inspired by album title track and mega-super-ultra hit “Viva la Vida” Which by now we all know by heart, so I don't need to look that one up, do I?

Those who picked up the retail copy of So Far Gone heard Drizzy flow over a synth-infused version of the joint on Mega Man-produced bonus cut “Congratulations.”



And Swizzy picked it up on this Life After the Party, inclusion, which saw him questing after “That Oprah”money.



Finally, Shawty Lo flowed over an unknown beatsmith's lower-pitched “Viva la Vida” sampling on 2009's “Roll the Dice,” a cut set to be included on the rapper's still-unreleased sophonmore set, I Am Carlos.



Phew – that's about enough examples for one week. What have we learned today? Well, rappers, like the listeners they serve, can't resist an anthem. And Coldplay are well aware they've hit upon a winning formula – from their humble beginnings as one of the sleepiest-sounding bands in the pop landscape, they've steadily built to the soaring, pristinely-produced musical epics they're known for today. If the trend holds true and album numero cinco (apparently due out this year) ramps the sweep factor up yet furthersure that beatsmiths will be there to flip their tracks into equally gigantic rap masterpieces.