"The Formula" is a song by

American American(s) may refer to: * American, something of, from, or related to the United States of America, commonly known as the "United States" or "America" ** Americans, citizens and nationals of the United States of America ** American ancestry, pe ...

rapper Rapping (also rhyming, spitting, emceeing or MCing) is a musical form of vocal delivery that incorporates "rhyme, rhythmic speech, and street vernacular". It is performed or chanted, usually over a backing beat or musical accompaniment. The ...

The D.O.C. Tracy Lynn Curry (born June 10, 1968), better known as The D.O.C., is an American rapper, songwriter, and record producer. In addition to a solo career, he was a member of the Southern hip hop group Fila Fresh Crew and later collaborated with ga ...

from his 1989 debut album ''

No One Can Do It Better ''No One Can Do It Better'' is the debut studio album by The D.O.C., released on August 1, 1989, by Ruthless Records and Atlantic Records. It reached no.1 on the US Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums chart for two weeks, while peaking in the Top 20 on the ...

''. It was released as the third single to support the album and reached #4 on the

Hot Rap Songs Hot Rap Songs (formerly known as Hot Rap Tracks and Hot Rap Singles) is a chart released weekly by '' Billboard'' in the United States. It lists the 25 most popular hip-hop/rap songs, calculated weekly by airplay on rhythmic and urban radio stat ...

and #76 on the

Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs The Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs chart ranks the most popular R&B and hip hop songs in the United States and is published weekly by '' Billboard''. Rankings are based on a measure of radio airplay, sales data, and streaming activity. The chart had 100 ...

charts in April 1990.

Background

"The Formula" was produced by

Dr. Dre Andre Romelle Young (born February 18, 1965), known professionally as Dr. Dre, is an American rapper and record producer. He is the founder and CEO of Aftermath Entertainment and Beats Electronics, and previously co-founded, co-owned, and ...

and contains samples from

Marvin Gaye Marvin Pentz Gay Jr., who also spelled his surname as Gaye (April 2, 1939 – April 1, 1984), was an American singer and songwriter. He helped to shape the sound of Motown in the 1960s, first as an in-house session player and later as a solo ar ...

's "Inner City Blues (Make Me Wanna Holler)", from his 1971 album '' What's Going On''. The remix of the song features a lengthy instrumental outro.

Music video

The music video for "The Formula" was shot before The D.O.C.'s car accident. It begins with

and

Eazy-E Eric Lynn Wright (September 7, 1964 – March 26, 1995), known professionally as Eazy-E, was an American rapper who propelled West Coast rap and gangsta rap by leading the group N.W.A and its label, Ruthless Records. He is often referred t ...

in a studio where musicians come in for an audition but get turned down; the two complain about the experience, finding it increasingly difficult to locate "the perfect rapper". In the video, Dre plays a scientist, and is implied to be biologically modifying the D.O.C. in a method similar to

Frankenstein's monster Frankenstein's monster or Frankenstein's creature, often referred to as simply "Frankenstein", is a fictional character who first appeared in Mary Shelley's 1818 novel ''Frankenstein; or, The Modern Prometheus''. Shelley's title thus compares ...

; this seems to be in order to create the perfect rapper, rather than finding him through the initially shown auditions. Throughout the video as more progress is made the D.O.C's shows more and more signs of life; at the very end a pair of headphones are put on his head and he sits up and eventually gets on his feet.

Track listing

;''US 12" Vinyl Single'' A side #"The Formula" (Funky FM Mix) - 5:37 #"The Formula" (Instrumental) - 4:07 B side #"Whirlwind Pyramid" - 3:16 #"The Formula" - 4:11

Charts

References

1989 singles American hip hop songs Song recordings produced by Dr. Dre Songs written by The D.O.C. 1989 songs Atlantic Records singles Ruthless Records singles G-funk songs {{Hiphop-song-stub