More Bounce to the Ounce

The record

“More Bounce to the Ounce” was the lead single from Zapp, the debut album by the band led by Roger Troutman, released by Warner Bros. on July 30, 1980. Troutman wrote and arranged the song, and he and Bootsy Collins produced it. On the album Troutman is credited with guitars, vocals, keyboards, talk box, bass, harmonica and vibraphone, with Collins adding guitar. The single reached No. 2 on the Billboard R&B chart and No. 86 on the Hot 100. Backed with “Freedom,” it also reached No. 19 on the dance club play chart, and the album topped the R&B albums chart and was certified gold in November 1980.

The break

The song is built on a slow, heavy loop rather than a separate breakdown. Collins later recalled that George Clinton advised them to loop one section and lay the other talk box parts over it, an approach that was unusual at the time. The result is a long, steady groove with Troutman's talk box riding on top. Chris Frantz of Tom Tom Club said the record stood out because it was played at a slower, funkier tempo than most dance tracks of the period.

Into hip hop

That groove and the talk box made the record a natural source for rap producers. EPMD built “You Gots to Chill” on it in 1988, and Ice Cube used it on “The Bomb” from AmeriKKKa's Most Wanted in 1990. X-Clan used it on “Heed the Word of the Brother” in 1990, MC Breed and DFC on “Ain't No Future in Yo' Frontin'” in 1991, and Kris Kross on both “It's a Shame” in 1992 and “2 Da Beat Ch'yall” in 1993. On the West Coast, Snoop Dogg's “Snoop Bounce” on Doggystyle in 1993 and Ice Cube's “Friday” in 1995 returned to it, and the Notorious B.I.G. used it for “Going Back to Cali” in 1997.

Legacy

The Zapp album is credited with partly influencing G-funk, the West Coast sound that became popular in the early and mid 1990s, and “More Bounce to the Ounce” is its best known track. Troutman's talk box became part of the style's vocabulary. EPMD returned to the song a decade after their first use with “You Gots 2 Chill '97,” and Daz Dillinger later recorded “More Bounce 2 the Ounce” with Zapp. The record remains a standard source for producers looking for a slow, rolling funk groove.