Music Review: Lisa Lisa... "Let The Beat Hit 'Em"
Lisa Lisa and the Cult Jam
from 
JoeUser Forums
JoeUser Forums
Let The Beat Hit 'Em
Album: Straight Outta Hell's Kitchen
Year: 1991
Lisa Lisa encourages the DJ to play excellent beats in the snobbish "Let The Beat Hit 'Em."
A serious male voice opens the single and tells the audience the only way they can play it is loudly. It sets a smug tone.
Civilles and Cole tell everyone a great beat is coming. A record scratches as a member of Full Force counts to four, signaling for it to begin. Then, a lethargic house beat starts. In the middle of it, Full Force says that it's exciting. The lethargic beat continues. After a couple seconds, a woman's knowing voice hints that it's a pun. Three seconds later, another woman's voice says she wants to hear more.
Grunts occur over piercing keyboard beats. A drum machine zings in the background.
Then, the serious male voice returns to tell everyone that this section will be repeated four times. He recommends a way to listen to it. Then, another count happens.
Album: Straight Outta Hell's Kitchen
Year: 1991
Lisa Lisa encourages the DJ to play excellent beats in the snobbish "Let The Beat Hit 'Em."
A serious male voice opens the single and tells the audience the only way they can play it is loudly. It sets a smug tone.
"In order to play with this record, you must tune your bass to up."
Civilles and Cole tell everyone a great beat is coming. A record scratches as a member of Full Force counts to four, signaling for it to begin. Then, a lethargic house beat starts. In the middle of it, Full Force says that it's exciting. The lethargic beat continues. After a couple seconds, a woman's knowing voice hints that it's a pun. Three seconds later, another woman's voice says she wants to hear more.
"Look out /One, two, three, four, hit it /Rock the house, y'all/You know what I mean/Come on, you only gave us a sample. We want the real thing."
Grunts occur over piercing keyboard beats. A drum machine zings in the background.
Then, the serious male voice returns to tell everyone that this section will be repeated four times. He recommends a way to listen to it. Then, another count happens.
"This sequence will be repeated several times/Listen to it a location midway between the loudspeaker. One, two, three, bass."
Over the previous section Civilles and Cole tell Lisa Lisa to get down. In the first verse, Lisa Lisa says everyone is enjoying the DJ's set. She loves it and has to dance. It helps her escape from reality."LL, get funky/Everybody's movin' to the beat/beat hit 'em/The jam is pumpin'/Got to move my feet/So I use the music to try and get away from the strain and the pressure/The DJ comes to my rescue/He throws a beat you've got to groove to/The people screamin', yellin' on the floor saying, "please Mr. DJ!"
A sample of the "Ow!" from Kool and the Gang's "Celebration" follows.
The fourth section begins. Marching band drums and a beeping sound are combined together. A goofy guy says the word "stereo" twice. The drums then are pounded rapidly. So far, it's the only section worth being extended.
The fifth section begins. Civilies and Cole once again says "Rock house the y'all" and the sound of high-pitched whistle can be heard. The beat switches to synths which zig and zag. Over it Lisa Lisa says that "it's time to move" twice. The fifth section begins again.
The sixth section begins immediately with a female voice saying "shut up and dance." The original melody can be heard. However, it's blended with a snazzy piano. A male voice says "Do it!" A male voice asks another person "can you dig that?" The person says "yeah. man. I can dig it." Lisa Lisa screeches.
Lisa Lisa asks people like the beat and if they get it. However, it's a reminder of the group's glory days."Can you feel the beat/Can you feel the beat/Movin' and groovin' way deep down inside/Let me hear you say/Hey, hey, yeah/Hey, hey, yeah/Hey, hey, yeah/Hey, yeah."
For the seventh section, a male voice says "all together!" It then returns to the high-pitched whistling sound. Lisa Lisa says "hey, hey, yeah" three times over it. A creepy male voice interrupts with "yes, baby, yes baby." Lisa Lisa then returns to her regularly scheduled repetitious lyrics.
Then, the chorus is sung three times with a female vocalist. It's sung in the traditonal disco style. The female vocalist tells the DJ to blow people away with his set. She says the beat is imaginative and the people should just go with the flow."Let the beat hit 'em/Let the music take control/The beat goes 'round and/ 'Round and up and down and /Let the beat hit 'em /Got to learn to let /Go."
The irritating fifth section with the high-pitched whistle begins again.
Full Force once again says "Rock the house, y'all" and the eighth section begins. The beats seem to be rubbery and bouncing from the keys. Over it a guy says "do it, hey!" It's a cool effect. Again, another section worth extending.
Then a rap starts. In the rap, Civillies and Cole say every cliche possible: the beat's great. people are rowdy and loving it, they are throwing their hands up in their air."Bah-boom, the bass vibrating in the room/You want more, scream it on the dancefloor/Ho!/The music is loud, the crowd rumbles making walls crumble/You bumpity-bump, jumpity-jump/Let it hit you hard, don't let catch you off guard/So throw those hands up in the air like you just don't care/Yeah, drop it!"
In the ninth sequence, the drum machine is rapped by a feisty beat. Lisa Lisa tells everyone to "Keep movin', keep movin'/Move it, groove it/Move it, groove it, yeah, yeah."
The chorus is sung five times.
At the end, a woman asks if people will be shocked to hear such sounds."What will people say?"
The single is supposed to resemble a typical house song. However, it has every element jammed into it within 7 minutes, 24 seconds. The song is loaded with filler. It starts off being self-aware and clever. Then, by the chorus, it becomes a parody of itself. It's a string of endless sequences which do not make any sense together.
Every sound effect a person could think of is used. It includes whistles, marching band drums, rap, voices (ranging from formal to fun) and much more. Random phrases create the hook in dance music. If done correctly, it give the song a sense of humor and link the sequences together. Civilles and Cole latch onto several phrases hoping one would stick and to distract listeners from the monotonous beat.
Lisa Lisa is really nothing more than an accessory in the single. Her presence is a cameo. Otherwise, it's a Civilles and Cole song.
"Let The Beat Hit 'Em" is an embarassment to dance music.