Looking for the Perfect Beat

Producer Arthur Baker recalled that Tommy Boy Records head Tom Silverman decided that "Planet Rock" was successful enough that the group should have a follow-up.{{sfn|Mao|2007}} Following this period, Baker released leftover music from the "Planet Rock" sessions titled "Play At Your Own Risk" after adding vocals and some more music to it.{{sfn|Buskin|2008}} While the Soulsonic Force was touring, Baker worked on a new track at Robie's apartment home and were trying to develop a new track.{{sfn|Mao|2007}}{{sfn|Buskin|2008}} Baker felt that the group needed a different approach than "Planet Rock" as "everyone was sort of biting off what we had done. I thought there’s no way we can do the same thing, we have to do something different." and "we couldn't go even close to anything with that kind of tempo or beat."{{sfn|Mao|2007}} The pressure of creating a follow-up led to Baker "rediscover[ing] drugs" and was "doing lots of cocaine – it didn’t really help."{{sfn|Mao|2007}}

Baker recalled that the song's title arrived to him when developing the track, thinking "Man, we're looking for the perfect beat and we've already found it.' It quickly dawned on me that this was a good song title".{{sfn|Buskin|2008}} Soulsonic Force member MC G.L.O.B.E. was tasked with writing the lyrics.{{sfn|Buskin|2008}} Baker performed some vocals on the track that the rappers did not want to perform, including the lines “Beat This” and the “Looking for the per- looking for the per- looking for the perfect.” and some barking on the track which the rappers did not want to perform.{{sfn|Mao|2007}}{{sfn|Buskin|2008}} In 1999, Baker declared that the "Beat This" was "almost a taunt at Sylvia [Robinson], because there was definitely competition between us and Sugar Hill. It was like a challenge. It was really adventurous. I didn’t wanna do a typical rap record.{{sfn|Brewster|Broughton|1999}}

"Looking for the Perfect Beat" was released in December 1982.{{cite magazine|magazine=Billboard|title=A galaxy of Solid Gold Talent on a Single Label|date=25 December 1982|quote="Look out for the new 12" single from the Jonzun Crew, "Space Is The Place" TB 8282 and in the coming week, the long-awaited follow up to "Planet Rock", "Looking For the Perfect Beat" by Afrika Bambaataa & Soulsonic Force."|page=49|volume=49|issue=51}} Attempts to get a full-length album for Bambaataa were not possible with Tommy Boy as Silverman's contract with him was strictly for singles; re-negotiating the contract proved to be difficult.{{sfn|Watts|2018}} A full-length album titled Planet Rock: The Album was released in 1986, which contained the three other singles "Planet Rock", "Renegades of Funk", "Frantic Situation", and three previously unreleased tracks.{{sfn|Watts|2018}}{{sfn|Brown}}

From contemporary reviews, J.D. Considine gave the song a four out of five rating, writing in The Baltimore Sun that "Looking for the Perfect Beat" "doesn't manage the same sense of discovery" as "Planet Rock" but it "manages to be almost as catchy" stating that it "refines the relationship between the vocals and the electronic pulse" noting that " the rapping on the song was "fairly trite, but it makes up for that by always being "on the one.".{{sfn|Considine|1983}}

Critic Robert Palmer placed "Looking for the Perfect Beat" as his top single of 1983 declaring it "The year's finest single" noting it was "an ingenious small symphony in rap rhythms, and a dance-floor favorite" noting that it was "the year's most widely imitated new sound."{{sfn|Palmer|1984}} "Looking For the Perfect Beat" was ranked at number 13 among the "Tracks of the Year" for 1983 by NME.{{cite magazine |url=https://www.nme.com/bestalbumsandtracksoftheyear/1983-2-1045394 |title=Albums and Tracks of the Year |date=2016 |magazine=NME |access-date=23 February 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111114154201/http://www.nme.com/bestalbumsandtracksoftheyear/1983|archive-date=14 November 2011}}

12" single (TB 831){{Cite AV media notes |title=Looking For the Perfect Beat |others=Afrika Bambaataa & the Soul Sonic Force |type=label |publisher=Tommy Boy Records |id=TB 831}}

1. "Looking for the Perfect Beat (Vocal)" – 6:56
2. "Bonus Beats II" – 2:00
3. "Looking for the Perfect Beat (Instrumental)" – 6:58

Credits adapted from the liner notes and expanded with information in the article.

• Arthur Baker — producer, arrangements, mixing, composer, vocals
• John Robie—producer, arrangements, mixing, composer
• Tom Silverman — executive producer
• Afrika Bambaataa Aasim — composer (on tracks "Looking For the Perfect Beat" and "Bonus Beats II")
• Soul Sonic Force — composer (on tracks "Looking For the Perfect Beat" and "Bonus Beats II")

{{Reflist}}

{{refbegin}}

• {{cite web|url=https://daily.redbullmusicacademy.com/2018/01/arthur-baker-interview|publisher=Red Bull Music Academy|title=Making Musical History: Arthur Baker and Electro in 1980s New York|access-date=14 November 2019|date=1999|last1=Brewster|first1=Bill|last2=Broughton|first2=Frank|archive-url=https://archive.today/20191115042412/https://daily.redbullmusicacademy.com/2018/01/arthur-baker-interview/|archive-date=15 November 2019|url-status=live}}
• {{cite web|url=https://www.allmusic.com/album/planet-rock-the-album-mw0000050240|publisher=AllMusic|title=Planet Rock: The Album - Afrika Bambaataa, Afrika Bambaataa & The Soulsonic Force|last=Brown|first=Marisa|access-date=2 January 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190424155307/https://www.allmusic.com/album/planet-rock-the-album-mw0000050240|archive-date=24 April 2019}}
• {{cite web|url=https://www.soundonsound.com/people/afrika-bambaataa-soulsonic-force-planet-rock|title=Afrika Bambaataa & The Soulsonic Force: 'Planet Rock'|last=Buskin|first=Richard|date=November 2008|access-date=15 November 2019|work=Sound on Sound|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171224213543/https://www.soundonsound.com/people/afrika-bambaataa-soulsonic-force-planet-rock|archive-date=24 December 2017}}
• {{cite news|title=Electronics and black music|last=Considine|first=J.D.|date=March 13, 1983|newspaper=The Baltimore Sun|author-link=J. D. Considine|page=D 12|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/56990533/the-baltimore-sun/|access-date=August 9, 2020}}
• {{cite web|url=https://www.redbullmusicacademy.com/lectures/arthur-baker-the-man-who-rocked-the-planet|publisher=Red Bull Music Academy|title=Arthur Baker|first=Jeff "Chairman"|last=Mao|year=2007|access-date=15 November 2019|archive-url=https://archive.today/20191115050947/https://www.redbullmusicacademy.com/lectures/arthur-baker-the-man-who-rocked-the-planet/|archive-date=15 November 2019|url-status=live}}
• {{cite news|newspaper=Herald and Review|title=Pop Critics, Public Agree - Sometimes|date=January 1, 1984|last=Palmer|first=Robert|authorlink=Robert Palmer (American writer)|page=E3}}
• {{cite web|url=https://www.redbull.com/au-en/tommy-boy-records-facts-and-retrospective|title=How Tommy Boy Music helped shape the history of hip-hop|date=24 September 2018|last=Watts|first=Alex|access-date=18 November 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191119030030/https://www.redbull.com/au-en/tommy-boy-records-facts-and-retrospective|archive-date=19 November 2019|publisher=Red Bull Music Academy}}
• {{cite book|last=Williams|first=Justin A.|title=The Cambridge Companion to Hip-Hop|year=2015|publisher=Cambridge University Press|isbn=978-1107037465}}
• {{cite book|title=The A to X of Alternative Music|publisher=A&C Black|year=2006|last=Taylor|first=Steve|quote=The album did not appear until 1986, bringing together the title track with another early electro classic, 'Looking for the Perfect beat'|isbn=0826482171}}

{{refend}}

{{Afrika Bambaataa}}

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Category:1982 singles

Category:Afrika Bambaataa songs

Category:Songs written by John Robie

Category:Songs written by Arthur Baker (musician)

Category:Tommy Boy Records singles

Category:1982 songs

Category:Song recordings produced by Arthur Baker (musician)