I’ve been listening to Visti & Meyland’s Yes Maam for a couple of years now. I discovered it on a compilation called Rasa Exotica 3. Didn’t really think much about it when I first started listening to this song but later it really grew on me. I was really interested in finding out where the sample comes from and I was definitely going to find out. Searching around online I found out that Trentemoller had also done a remix of Yes Maam which gives it the more electro club groove to it. The original is more chill with a beat. So I finally found out after researching online that Yes Maam incorporates a sample from Ora Dell Graham’s Little Girl, Little Girl. I was able to find the album that it came off of as well. The sample is pretty short – about 25 seconds in all that’s the entire length of the song on the compilation album called Afro-American Blues and Game Songs.
This isn’t the first time that an electronic band or musician has sampled old blues recordings. The compilation Afro-American Blues and Game Songs contains songs by Vera Hall as well. If you remember Vera Hall or if you don’t know of her music then you’ll probably recognize her voice on Moby’s very successful album Play with the song Natural Blues. Her song was called Troubled So Hard and Moby had sampled Vera Hall’s recording and made it into a very popular downtempo electronic beat. Love that song and I’m still very happy to hear of great sampling jobs happening with electronic musicians.
The album Visti & Meyland also contains a cover of Nightclubbing the Iggy Pop and Grace Jones song which I think is pretty cool and another hit track called Stars.
Going back to Yes Maam, I have heard of a version of Yes Maam with a rap thrown in it and I think that version sucks! Please, please don’t throw a Goddamn rap in every damn song. I hate the version of this with the rap it makes it too poppy and gives it a mass produced pop song quality and takes away from the Ora Dell Graham sample. It kind of puts it down because the rap is so damn huge and raw the female voice much more gentle so it comes off pretty bad. Stay away from the rap version of Yes Maam and go right to the original version. And the remix by Tretemoller is great too. Enjoy!
Little Girl, Little Girl by Ora Dell Graham
Yes Maam by Visti & Meyland
Yes Maam (Trentemoller Remix) by Visti & Meyland
If you like what you hear please download the rest of the Visti & Meyland album by clicking on the album artwork below.






















































































