In 1988, I left Houston for Howard University and experienced a culture shock I wasn’t prepared for. Back home, my soundtrack was soul, R&B, gospel, and the laid-back drawl of Southern rap. Howard introduced me to East Coast rap, house music, and dancehall. I immediately fell in love with those new sounds because they felt fresh, urgent, and alive.
Rob Base’s music sat at the intersection of everything I was discovering.
“It Takes Two” blended hip-hop and house with an infectious groove that forced you to move. Every time a DJ dropped that Lyn Collins sample and Base came in with “I wanna rock right now,” we rushed the dance floor and released our inhibitions.
“Joy and Pain,” his remake of the Maze classic, connected my two worlds. Frankie Beverly’s original was a staple of Black Southern life, played at cookouts, family reunions, and slow Saturday afternoons. Base rebuilt it for the club, and it worked in both places.
That’s what made Rob Base significant beyond his hits. At a moment when hip-hop was still fighting for mainstream legitimacy, he proved the genre could absorb house, soul, and funk without losing its identity. “It Takes Two” crossed over to pop radio because the song was authentic and connected in a real way.
It has since been sampled by Snoop Dogg and the Black Eyed Peas, appeared in films like The Proposal and video games like GTA: San Andreas, and landed at No. 24 on Rolling Stone’s list of the Greatest Hip-Hop Songs of All Time.
Rob Base died on May 22, 2026. He was 59 years old, only a few years older than me. That proximity makes the loss land differently. He wasn’t some distant figure from music history. He was a contemporary whose peak years overlapped with the years I was becoming who I am.
“It Takes Two” can still fill a dance floor. It still carries that feeling of being young, unburdened, and completely present. In the song, Base says, “I’m not internationally known.” The irony is that he became exactly that. The record traveled the world, outlived its era, and still reminds us that joy has always been one of hip-hop’s greatest powers.
Frederick J. Goodall is the Editor-in-Chief of Mocha Man Style, media spokesperson, event host, photographer, and a top social media influencer in Houston, TX. He likes to write about fashion, cars, travel, and health.