Take It Back to 2008 with Pretty Lights' "Hot Like Sauce"

Electronic music has been forever enchanted since Pretty Lights released “Hot Like Sauce” back in 2008!

Pretty Lights was one of the first artists to really pull me into the world of electronic music. I had always been drawn to the vibe and sounds of hip-hop, so when I found Pretty Lights I was completely enamored with his production style. Blending live instrumentation, glitchy beats, experimental electronic sounds, and expertly sampled records, Pretty Lights took genres I already loved and brought them together with others I had only just scratched the surface.

Derek Vincent Smith released the two-part album Filling Up The Skies back in 2008 which is a solid mark of where Pretty Lights‘ sound began to bloom. The album clocked in at 25 tracks total and featured huge breakout tunes such as “Finally Moving”, “Summers Gone”, and “Hot Like Sauce”. Since then, he has established himself as a genre-bending music pioneer with productions that shatter sonic boundaries.

“Hot Like Sauce” really stood out to me as I ventured through the album’s exceptional variety of tracks. It begins with chopped and sample vocals before dropping into a funky electronic beat. Something about the way Smith composes the electronic melodies allows for rap verses to be overlayed seamlessly and organically with the experimental sound.

You can hear hip-hop influences not only in the beat but in the scratched and meshed lyrics as well. Although the vocals are almost indecipherable at points because of the scratching (which I love) I catch myself making up lyrics vibing out to the song. As the track progresses you can hear Bay Area samples like “Go hyphy in this bitch” and other lyrics that continue to take the track deeper. At seven minutes this track is a beautiful journey and introduction to a sound I have come to love because of Pretty Lights!