Yum, Yum (Gimme Some)
View on Discogs
Album Summary
The Fatback Band, those hard-working funk soldiers out of New York City, dropped 'Yum, Yum (Gimme Some)' in 1975 on Spring Records, right in the thick of their most prolific and inspired period. Led by the visionary drummer and bandleader Bill Curtis, the band had been honing their street-level funk sound for years, and this record captured them firing on all cylinders. Produced with that raw, no-nonsense energy that defined the Spring Records stable, the album delivered two sides of uncut, percussion-driven funk that felt like a Saturday night block party pressed into vinyl.
Reception
- The title track 'Yum, Yum (Gimme Some)' performed strongly on the R&B charts, helping to cement The Fatback Band's reputation as one of the premier funk outfits working in the mid-1970s.
- The record was embraced by club audiences and radio programmers alike, fitting naturally into the dance-floor-driven format that dominated Black radio in 1975.
- Critics who covered the funk and soul scene recognized the album as a tight, focused release that showcased the band's rhythmic precision and infectious energy.
Significance
- 'Yum, Yum (Gimme Some)' stands as a prime example of the New York funk sound of the mid-1970s — grittier and more percussively aggressive than its Southern counterparts, rooted deeply in the streets rather than the studio polish of the era.
- 'Let The Drums Speak' is exactly what its title promises — a showcase for the kind of drum-forward, rhythmically complex funk that Bill Curtis and The Fatback Band built their entire identity around, influencing the direction of dance music for years to come.
- The album arrived at a pivotal cultural moment when funk was the dominant force in Black music, and The Fatback Band's contribution helped lay the rhythmic groundwork that would connect funk directly to the emerging sounds of the late 1970s and beyond.
Samples
- "Yum, Yum (Gimme Some)" — one of the most recognizable funk grooves to be lifted by hip-hop and dance producers, with its infectious rhythm and vocal hook appearing across numerous recordings throughout the golden era of sampling.
- "Let The Drums Speak" — the raw, stripped-down drum breaks on this track made it a natural target for hip-hop producers hunting for percussive source material, and it has surfaced in various productions drawn from the classic Fatback catalog.
Tracklist
-
A Yum, Yum (Gimme Some) —
-
B Let The Drums Speak —
Artist Details
The Fatback Band is a funky, soulful powerhouse that came up out of New York City in the early 1970s, blending hard-driving funk, R&B, and disco into a groove so deep it could swallow a man whole — led by drummer and founder Bill Curtis, these cats laid down rhythms that made dance floors shake from Harlem to Havana. They hold a special place in music history as pioneers who helped bridge the gap between funk and the emerging hip-hop scene, with their 1979 track "King Tim III (Personality Jock)" widely recognized as one of the very first commercially released hip-hop recordings, dropping just months before the Sugarhill Gang's "Rapper's Delight" hit the airwaves. The Fatback Band may not have always gotten the spotlight they deserved, but real music lovers know that their contribution to the DNA of modern Black music is undeniable and immeasurable.
