Syleena Johnson is back with another offering, “Different Strokes,” from her upcoming album, Legacy.
On the hip-hop soul track, produced by Dar’rell Banks and Frederick “Toxic” Taylor, Johnson tells a disheartening story of unrequited love.
“I have not accepted who you really are / The truth is I have been subjected to playing a part / It’s got me going in circles / Pushing on the start / And you been lying from the start / You mishandled my heart,” she sings.
“Different Strokes” samples Johnson’s late father Syl Johnson‘s 1967 single of the same name. It is the third single, following “Black Balloon” and “Monsters in the Closet,” from Legacy, which releases Aug. 30 via SJ Entertainment.
“Recording ‘Different Strokes’ was intentionally done to honor the legacy of my father, Syl Johnson,” Syleena Johnson tells Rated R&B.
“This track is a classic and staple in music, one of hip-hop’s most sampled tracks today, so if I’m dedicating this album as an ode to my dad’s impact to music, it was a no-brainer to cover and recreate an iconic track that has been an influential to hip-hop culture and covered by today’s rap pioneers. My fans and even listeners of rap music will be excited to hear a new spin to such a classic track with my signature sound.”
The original version of “Different Strokes” appeared on Syl Johnson’s 1968 album, Dresses Too Short. The song peaked at No. 17 on Billboard’s Hot Rhythm & Blues Singles chart (now Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs) and reached No. 95 on the Hot 100.
As Syleena indicated above, “Different Strokes” is among her father’s heavily sampled songs. The song has been sampled by Kanye West and Jay-Z (“The Joy“), Public Enemy (“Fight The Power“), Wu-Tang Clan (“Shame On a N****), and Eric B. & Rakim (“I Know You Got Soul“), among many others.
In a 2020 interview with Blues Blast Magazine, Syl share the story behind recording “Different Strokes.”
“The way ‘Different Strokes’ came about was, we had recorded a track called ‘Fox Hunting On The Weekend.’ My background singers were Fontella Bass, Minnie Riperton, and Jackie Ross. After we were done with that track, they were just sitting there. Then it hit me. The spirit moved me to record ‘Different Strokes,'” Syl explained.
He also explained that the song was based on a true story about an “impotent” moment in the bedroom after he took a Dexedrine that a friend gave him, who said it would give him stamina.
“I’m trying to make it with this girl, and the Dexedrine made me impotent. I’m tryin’ to do this girl and I failed. I can remember the girl laughed me out of there. I was so embarrassed,” Syl recalled. “When I was recording ‘Different Strokes,’ I thought about it and decided to put in my grunt and Minnie Riperton’s laugh at the beginning of the track. I’d asked the background girls who could do the laugh and Minnie spoke up, ‘I’ll do it. I’ll do it!'”
Legacy is the follow-up to Syleena’s The Making of a Woman (2021), a deluxe edition of her 2020 album, Woman.
Stream Syleena Johnson’s new song “Different Strokes” below.
