Who sings the female backing vocals on The Prodigy song ‘Smack My Bitch Up’?
It’s extraordinary what barely five years did to The Prodigy across the bawdy 1990s.
A creature of the UK’s electronic rave scene that terrorised the authorities with its ungovernable hedonism, the Essex bunch were sporting the movement’s uniforme de rigueur around 1992’s Experience debut, all long hair, baggy jeans, and loud waistcoats jiving to composer and gearhead Liam Howlett’s pummelling synth bounce.
In swift time, a more belligerent edge would emerge. Teased on follow-up Music for the Jilted Generation two years later, industrial bite and a tougher bristle of affrontery would pull The Prodigy to darker terrain, gleaning a volatile marriage with alternative rock and dance music as rave began to traipse toward its final ebb as that year’s Criminal Justice and Public Order Act was due to pull the plug on the pilled-up fun. Dropping ‘Poison’ as the final single, its bubbling electronic venom would set the stage for their explosive assault on the UK charts.
It’s easy to forget how iconic frontman and dancer Keith Flint was to the 1990s’ musical landscape. Just as commanding of the pop-cultural milieu as Jarvis Cocker crooning in ‘Common People’s giant shopping trolley or Geri Halliwell’s Union Jack dress at the 1997 Brit Awards, the double mohawked Stars and Striped menace running manically in some abandoned underground station for the burning ‘Firestarter’ heralded the band’s apex evolution and finest hour, lighting an electrical fire of techno electronica and punk grit that, along with the equally brilliant ‘Breathe’, would push The Fat of the Land to to the top of the album charts on both sides of the Atlantic.
Hot water would be reached for the album’s third single, however. Artfully sampling a collage of clips and snippets from Kool & the Gang, Mixmaster Gee and the Turntable Orchestra, and Rage Against the Machine, the choice of selection of old band favourite Kool Keith rapping “Switch up change my pitch up” / “Smack my bitch up…” from Ultramagnetic MCs’ ‘Give the Drummer Some’ would prompt condemnation from feminist organisations at the time, objecting to the song’s supposed misogynistic sentiment. Sincere if naïve, The Prodigy had stressed the line to mean any kind of intensity, but, coupled with its controversial video from Jonas Åkerlund blocking further commercial potential, ‘Smack My Bitch Up’ would still eke out a UK top ten despite the notoriety and BBC panic stations.
‘Smack My Bitch Up’s most memorable feature is arguably the mysterious female vocals that puncture the big beat swagger midway, an enchanting and highly confounding addition to the bristling dance cut whose identity is often unknown to even longtime fans.
So, who sings the backing vocals?
Reportedly, Howlett wanted Sheila Chandra’s evocative vocals from ‘Nana (The Dreaming)’ for ‘Smack My Bitch Up’s intriguing vocal break, but wasn’t able to clear the sample. Eager for the uniquely stirring Alap vocal style, a chance encounter with a demo tape provided Howlett with the perfect substitute.
The Indo-Arabic sirens were recorded by British-Bengali singer Shahin Badar. Enamoured with her voice, The Prodigy invited Badar to the studio, suggesting her improvised raga style as an experimental curiosity. It worked spectacularly, imbuing the provocative number with a sensual and exotic edge, countering the single’s chaotic bruise. As well as collaborations with Jah Wobble and Supafly, Badar would join forces with The Prodigy again for ‘Get Up Get Off’, a cut with Juliette Lewis from 2004’s Always Outnumbered, Never Outgunned.
