Speaker

TC in

TC out

Text

Screentext

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00:00:09

a Telus original

Screentext

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The Farmhouse Creative Labs

Screentext

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Hodgee Films

Ben Sisto

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00:00:27

Hi, may I please speak with Lita Rosario?

Lita Rosario

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Lita Rosario.

Ben Sisto

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Hi Lita, this is Ben Sisto. How are you?

Lita Rosario

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00:00:33

I’m okay.

Ben Sisto

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00:00:41

The nature of my inquiry is more, just sort of, fact checking some things. I’m trying to think of how to phrase this question.

Lita Rosario

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00:00:47

Well, I don’t know who you are.

And I don’t know what your objective is. I’m an attorney.

Ben Sisto

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Right.

Lita Rosario

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00:00:51

I’m not here to just give you information.

Ben Sisto

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00:00:53

I understand that.

Lita Rosario

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00:01:09

I don’t know exactly where you’re going with this. But, I have a client and I’m not in a position to provide free legal advice to you about what I think about some other person’s rights. You’re dragging up dirt.

Ben Sisto

00:01:09

00:01:11

Well, I wouldn’t say I’m dragging up dirt, but I’m interest-

Lita Rosario

00:01:11

00:01:21

Yeah you are. That’s what you’re doing. You’re treading on ground that could possibly create another lawsuit. And there’s been enough litigation on the song.

Ben Sisto

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00:03:06

Hey guys. Thanks for uh, being here tonight. So let’s get into it. Who let the dogs out? Like who, who did let the dogs out? It’s one of the great unanswered questions of our time.

How many times has this question been asked, let alone, like, heard? It’s, are we alone in the universe? Where did we come from? Is there a god? And who let the dogs out?

My name is Ben Sisto. I’m the world’s leading expert, or at least, undisputed expert, on the song “Who Let the Dogs Out”. I have a growing collection of over 300 items related to this song.

I’ve been researching “Who Let the Dogs Out” for about eight years. Or twenty percent of my adult life. “Who Let the Dogs Out” is a song so big, you gotta go international to get to the bottom of it.

So we just touched down in London. Downtown Los Angeles. Philadelphia. The Massachusetts College of Art. Providence, Rhode Island. Hello, Seattle. I’ve taken this live show all over the place. This question has been asked a lot.

“The Hangover” excerpt

00:03:07

00:03:14

Hey guys. You ready to let the dogs out?

What? Do what?

Let the dogs out, you know like, who let the dogs out, who who.

Ben Sisto

00:03:16

00:03:21

How can a question be asked that many times, and nobody has bothered to get to the bottom of it?

Ben Sisto

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00:03:42

So, in 2008, I moved to New York. I was spending a lot of time in places like public libraries.

I was distracted by an article one day about the ten-year anniversary of a song called “Who Let the Dogs Out”.

Voice in crowd

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00:03:42

Woo, yeah!

Ben Sisto

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00:04:34

Oh, you’re familiar with “Who Let the Dogs Out”, you’re in the right room.

I read this article, and I was kind of interested, and I went to Wikipedia. And something that was on this page that really stood out to me, was “Who Let the Dogs Out was heard by a hairdresser” and this hairdresser does not have a last name.

This is not proper for, like, citation reasons, and I thought, I don’t have a job. I don’t have a partner. I’m close to moving in back home, but I can do this. I can find out who Keith is and I can fix the Wikipedia page for “Who Let the Dogs Out.”

But what I didn’t know was that in fixing this one citation, I’d end up on the journey of a lifetime

Is anyone in the room not familiar with Baha Men? We’re going to do a little bit of a refresher, I’m just going to play you, like, a snippet. This is a song called “Who Let the Dogs Out”, by a group called the Baha Men.

The Baha Men

song

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00:04:56

Who let the dogs out? Who let the dogs out?

Who let the dogs out? Who? Who? Who? Who?

Who let the dogs out? Who? Who?

Ben Sisto

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00:05:09

Okay

So, to try to get to the bottom of this, we gotta go back and find out who the Baha Men are and where they came from. And this is gonna start in the Bahamas, in Nassau.

Isaiah Taylor

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All started right here, man.

Isaiah Taylor

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My name, Isaiah Taylor, leader of the Baha Men. We combine pop and junkanoo together. It separates us from any other act in the world.

Ben Sisto

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Junkanoo is a type of music, sort of polyrhythmic drumming, it’s like Carnival music. It’s outdoor, festive, party music.

Isaiah Taylor

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Junkanoo is our festival, we parade twice a year.

Man in Shop

00:05:49

00:05:50

Good to see you, my good man.

Isaiah Taylor

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00:05:57

Likewise.

This is part of a Junkanoo costume.

It’s a lead piece for the parade.

Ben Sisto

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Over the years, they had a bunch of changes.

Here you can see they have more of like a 90s Gap vibe going on. I think this is their best look aesthetically.

Isaiah Taylor

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Baha Men is bigger than me, or any member of Baha Men. Why don’t you get a younger singer?

I said, okay.

Ben Sisto

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They decided, well, rather than have one new singer, why don’t we have three? And this was sort of the idea of Steve Greenberg.

Steve Greenberg

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00:06:37

I’m Steve Greenberg, the founder and CEO of S-Curve Records. The first record that ever came out on S-Curve Records was “Who Let the Dogs Out”, and in fact, the reason S-Curve Records was formed was in order to put out “Who Let the Dogs Out”.

Ben Sisto

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Steve is, like, a music mogul. He’s responsible for the band Hanson. He’s worked at, like, every major label you can think of.

He just has a real ear for pop sensibility and what is going to cross over to the main stream.

Steve Greenberg

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I decide I’m gonna finally record this song, “Who Let the Dogs Out”. I knew the Baha Men were the people I wanted to record the song. They just made sense to me.

Isaiah Taylor

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Steve heard the song. But the song was done by someone else.

Ben Sisto

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00:07:13

He goes to Baha Men and says, I have a song. You gotta cover this song. It’s “Who Let the Dogs Out”. And the Baha Men’s reaction is…no.

Steve Greenberg

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00:07:17

And Isaiah’s like, “Ah, we can’t record that song. That’s already been a hit.

Ben Sisto

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00:07:18

So he was familiar with it?

Steve Greenberg

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00:07:27

Oh yeah, because in the whole Caribbean, the song had already been a hit. I said – I said no, Isaiah, trust me. No one outside the Caribbean knows this song. It could really be a big hit all over the world.

Isaiah Taylor

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00:07:35

I didn’t want to do the song.

That’s why I have to give Steve credit.

Steve will always be a part of Baha Men. Always.

Steve Greenberg

00:07:36

00:07:40

And it worked. It was like the Cinderella story. Baha Men were totally the Cinderella group.

Isaiah Taylor

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00:08:01

The band is going to be here.

And we gonna have a good time.

You are never bigger than the people that made you. On S-Curve, Steve, we gave him his first platinum. We gave him his first Grammy. We gave him his first Billboard. We made history together.

Ben Sisto

00:08:08

00:08:26

Okay. If you’re here because you’re a deep Baha Men fan, I apologize, this is kind of where I stop talking about them

Now, we’re gonna go back to the early UK punk scene, and actually a few years before. Because there, there’s this very very important salon, called Smile.

Ben Sisto

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00:09:32

This is a picture of what the interior of Smile looks like, and it still looks pretty contemporary.

People who were getting their hair cut are like Paul McCartney, Jimmy Hendricks…it’s kind of the first place where if you have a longer men’s cut, you can go and be respected. They understand what the look you want is.

The proprietor of Smile is Keith. Keith Wainwright.

This is the Keith who I was looking for when I originally saw his last name missing in the Wikipedia article.

Here I am getting the royal trim in London from my Wikipedia mystery man, who turned out to not only be this legendary stylist, but a huge fan of steel drum music

One of his employees suggested, “you should really go to Trinidad and Tobago, I think you’d like it.” And he goes down, has a good time, really falls in love with the people and culture, and keeps going back.

Keith Wainwright

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Carnival is a competition. It’s a competition between steel bands, costumes, and Calypso. And they will be playing the Carnival tunes that year. “Who Let the Dogs Out” was one of many of those.

I would come back from Trinidad, very enthused about the music, and I would then give cassette tapes to A&R men in the music industry.

Ben Sisto

00:10:00

00:10:19

What he would do is take these tapes, bring them back to the salon and play them, and all these different A&R people that would hang out in the salon would hear them.

One of the people he was doing styling for was a young Jonathan King. And King would always meet him there, right when he knew he was coming back from carnival.

Because he knew he would have these, like of like, pop hits to explore.

Jonathan King

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00:10:32

What makes a hit? Anything can make a hit. Why am I good at spotting a hit, I have absolutely no idea.

Ben Sisto

00:10:32

00:10:41

Jonathan King might not be a household name but this guy discovered the band Genesis, was an early investor in Rocky Horror, and had a hand in Chumbawumba’s 1997 hit Tubthumping.

Jonathan King

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00:11:35

My name is Jonathan King, I’m Britain’s greatest living superstar, and I’m essentially the man behind “Who Let the Dogs Out”. I was played the track by Keith Wainwright, my haircutter. Keith always goes to Carnival, always comes back and always gives me a CD of all the tunes he heard on the float that he thought were great.

And this time, on one of the CDs that he gave me, was a track called “Who Let the Dogs Out.” I discovered there was no recording of the song. So, that’s when I went in, with a cod west indies accent that’s not very good, and made just a little version of “Who Let the Dogs Out” and threw in a few extra bits and pieces like “ha aha aha” and various other things that were catchy and so on.

And I had to release it, I’ll release it under the name “Fatt Jakk and his Pack of Pets.” Wrote it. Sang it. My god, I’m brilliant.

Ben Sisto

00:11:35

00:11:40

Let’s take a listen to Fatt Jakk and his Pack of Pets, and this is Jonathan King on lead vocal.

“Fatt Jakk and his Pack of Pets.”

00:11:40

00:11:50

Who let the dogs out?
Woof, woof, woof, woof, woof

Who let the dogs out?

Woof, woof, woof, woof, woof

Who let the dogs out?

Woof, woof, woof, woof, woof

Ben Sisto

00:11:50

00:11:57

Alright, well I notice none of you are dancing. Which is a little weird because I was playing the extended kennel club mix for you.

Jonathan King

00:11:58

00:12:12

The general reaction to my record was, “No, this is not a hit song. It won’t be a hit.” And I said rubbish. Or, in fact, the word I said was bollocks. I’m quite good at saying words like bollocks. I say bollocks strongly and forcefully. So bollocks, I said.

Steve Greenberg

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00:12:38

Johnathan was a very colourful character who had really good ears. You know, he was one of those guys who really could pick a hit. Fatt Jakk and his Pack of Pets. He put this record on and it was just about the worst record I’d ever heard in my life.

I mean it was – the track was really cheesy, and over the track, there was this guy who obviously wasn’t from the Caribbean, who was like, pretending to have a Caribbean accent. But, the song had a really amazing hook.

Ben Sisto

00:12:39

00:12:42

There’s a hit here, maybe it’s just not my version.

Jonathan King

00:12:42

00:12:48

I don’t think he liked Fatt Jakk, or the Pack of Pets. He certainly didn’t like me. He thought I was a shit. I am a shit.

Ben Sisto

00:12:51

00:13:19

Now, Jonathan King didn’t write this song, though. So where did Jonathan King get it? So, this is the story, just a quick recap. Keith find a tape, gives it to Jonathan King, gives it to Steve Greenberg. Steve Greenberg, Baha Men, the rest is history. Now, if you notice in the top corner, there’s a song called “Dogie” by a guy named Anslem Douglas. Who’s Anslem Douglas? Well, this is him. You know it’s him because his hat has his first name on it. 

Ben Sisto

00:13:19

00:13:23

I’ll show you this room, you can decide if I’m obsessed, I guess, or not.

Anslem Douglas

00:13:24

00:13:25

Whoa.

Ben Sisto

00:13:26

00:13:37

I did not mean for this to happen. I don’t want it to just be like, some stuff from Wikipedia that I read.

This group, “Attack of the Mad Axeman”, this is a death metal version.

Anslem Douglas

00:13:37

00:13:38

Of “Who Let the Dogs Out”?

Ben Sisto

00:13:38

00:13:39

Yeah, yeah.

Anslem Douglas

00:13:39

00:13:39

You serious?

Ben Sisto

00:13:40

00:13:43

It’s like a Wu-Tang record, and at some point, Method Man says “who let the dogs out?”

Ben Sisto

00:13:44

00:14:09

When Douglas wrote this song, he was trying to respond to this term called “skettle”, which kind of translate to slut, or whore, or like, loose person. And he was like, enough of this. Enough of this misogyny. I wanna write a song that can be like a rallying point for women. Like, a song where they can be like, enough of these dogs, let’s get ‘em out of here.

So, let’s take a listen to this original, sort of like, Calypso, Soca, Junkanoo “Who Let the Dogs Out”, or then titled “Dogie”.

Anslem Douglas song

00:14:10

00:14:23

Who let the dogs out?

Woof, woof, woof, woof, woof

Who let the dogs out?

Woof, woof, woof, woof, woof

One, two, three, four

Who let the dogs out?

Woof, woof, woof, woof, woof

Who let the dogs out?

Woof, woof, woof, woof, woof

Woof, woof, woof, woof

Anslem Douglas

00:14:34

00:15:07

“Who Let the Dogs Out” was and is still a big part of my life. It’s kind of like my signature song. My name happens to be Douglas, my nickname is doggie, it’s like, oh god, I can’t get away from this shit. (laughs)

I’m still amazed that after twenty years, it’s still out there playing, and new kids, a new generation is growing up on it.

If you don’t know the song “Who Let the Dogs Out”, you’re living under a rock. Think about it.

What other song you know, been out there for twenty years, and kids, every child knows it?

Screentext

00:15:18

00:15:23

1999-2000 SEATTLE

Ron Fairly

00:15:19

00:15:23

Tonight, Fox Sports presents live from the Safeco Field.

Dave Niehaus

00:15:23

00:15:28

The Mariners have struggled, as everybody knows, lately, but tonight, it doesn’t get any easier.

Ben Sisto

00:15:36

00:15:43

Gregg Greene is an emerging talent within the Seattle Mariners organization, and he programs a lot of in game music and sound effects.

Gregg Greene

00:15:44

00:16:19

I didn’t have a song for one of our back up catchers, Joe Oliver. And, I threw it out there for him. Alex Rodriguez now wants the song, that I thought was, you know, we were just having fun with. And he’s like yeah, I like the sound of it, sounds like Miami. I’m like, okay dude, you got it.

Then he starts playing it in the clubhouse after wins, and it becomes the team anthem. They kind of shot into first place right after that.

Mariners Player

00:16:21

00:16:26

We knew Chicago was gonna be tough, they got a great offence, they got good pitchers, and we knew it was gonna be a dog fight.

Gregg Greene

00:16:26

00:16:36

Mariners go on to make the post season, have a good post season run. Our team started having success. The song started having success, and had success in the sports world.

Gregg Greene

00:16:41

00:16:44

There it is, Safeco Field.

Ben Sisto

00:16:44

00:16:45

Yeah. There it is.

Gregg Greene

00:16:46

00:17:09

The question becomes nationally, who let the dogs out? And it comes back to Seattle. The music gets tied to that, and the 2000 season, and the success the team started having.

It’s a unique experience to come and sit with, you know, 45-50,000 people, share that experience together, and to have music bond that experience as well. Ben, you ready to hear this in the ballpark?

Ben Sisto

00:17:09

00:17:10

I’m ready.

Gregg Greene

00:17:10

00:17:12

Alright, Yasmine. Go ahead, give it a roll.

The Baha Men

song

00:17:12

00:17:27

Who let the dogs out?

Woof, woof, woof, woof, woof

Who let the dogs out?

Woof, woof, woof, woof, woof

Who let the dogs out?

Woof, woof, woof, woof, woof

Who let the dogs out?

Gregg Greene

00:17:15

00:17:15

There it is.

Ben Sisto

00:17:27

00:17:28

I really feel like I’ve made it.

Gregg Greene

00:17:29

00:17:31

You’ve reached your mecca. (laughs)

Ben Sisto

00:17:31

00:17:32

It’s true, it’s true.

TMZ Guy

00:17:35

00:17:37

Hey, Baha Men.

The Baha Men

00:17:37

00:17:38

Oh. Hey.

Ben Sisto

00:17:42

00:17:45

What really makes a hit? What does a song need to break through?

Steve Greenberg

00:17:45

00:17:51

There’s the song, which is the melody and the words. There’s the production. And there’s the performance, which is the vocalist, usually.

Anslem Douglas

00:17:52

00:17:56

People always talk about a formula to write a song. There’s no formula. It’s just vibe, it’s just energy.

Ossie Gurle  y

00:17:57

00:17:59

The beat has to be infectious.

Steve Greenberg

00:17:59

00:18:01

A hit is just magic. You just hear it, and you know it’s a hit.

Anslem Douglas

00:18:02

00:18:07

If songwriters knew the formula, then that would be under lock and key. That would be top secret.

Lita Rosario

00:18:08

00:18:14

There’s something in the electromagnetic waves that just catches us as human, and it moves us to action.

Anslem Douglas

00:18:17

00:18:44

I never told anyone, hey, I came up with the phrase. Never did. Because I didn’t. You know? I know that my brother-in-law was the one who said, hey you gotta do the song. You gotta do the song. Who let the dogs out! I said, alright Darryl. We’ll do it. You know. So, he was the one who encouraged me to do it. So, I gave him that credit because he’s the one who said do the song.

Here I am with the song, and it feels as though just as the ship is about to come in, people just start coming out of the woodwork.

You know, wherever there’s a hit, there’s gonna be a writ.

Steve Greenberg

00:18:45

00:18:47

People love to be attached to a hit.

Steve Greenberg

00:18:47

00:18:50

When a hit gets really big, everyone starts claiming authorship.

Lita Rosario

00:18:50

00:18:57

So, the whole dispute was really about, who are the authors of this song. Stephenson and, what was the other one’s name?

Ben Sisto

00:18:57

00:18:57

Williams.

Lita Rosario

00:18:58

00:19:17

They were production assistants on a radio show in Canada. And the DJ for that radio show was Anslem Douglas’ brother-in-law. And they had created a tagline for the radio show with the “who let the dogs out, woof woof woof woof.”

Sound Recordist

00:19:17

00:19:18

Rolling.

Patrick Stevenson

00:19:26

00:19:27

It’s just my name on this one. He didn’t bring his.

Leroy Williams

00:19:27

00:19:29

I didn’t bring mine.

Patrick Stevenson

00:19:30

00:19:35

Patrick Stephenson and Leroy Williams, he’s got one too.

Ben Sisto

00:19:38

00:19:52

So, this gentleman, Patrick Stephenson, and his partner Leroy Williams, one day they hear “Who Let the Dogs Out” and they’re like, what’s going on? We wrote that. And they were promoting Wreck Shop Radio. They did this jingle, and it had the “Who Let the Dogs Out” refrain. Let’s take a listen.

00:19:52

00:20:00

Who let the dogs out?

Woof, woof, woof, woof

Woof, woof, woof, woof

Woof, woof, woof, woof

Woof, woof

Ben Sisto

00:20:00

00:20:06

So, Patrick Stephenson takes Anslem Douglas to court.

Leroy Williams

00:20:06

00:20:12

We’re all in the studio, and Anslem gets a copy of it, Anslem does his thing. He changes it, he turns it what not, aha!

Patrick Stevenson

00:20:12

00:20:17

But, we were passionate about creating and not taking care of the business. And the business bit us in the end.

Ben Sisto

00:20:18

00:20:20

So, at this point, this is when you decided to sue –

Patrick Stevenson

00:20:21

00:20:28

It wasn’t a matter of decide to sue, we wanted to know what our rights were. Everybody wants to say they wrote a hit song. I’m like, no dude, we wrote the song.

Ben Sisto

00:20:29

00:20:53

We allege that in late 1995 or early 1996, we were in the process of writing all these jingles, and during this process we conceived of the phrase “Who Let the Dogs Out”, and that specifically, they conceived of that phrase in combination with the sound of dogs barking, and that nobody else came up with that. Douglas countered, but Douglas ended up signing a declaration asserting that Stephenson and Williams were the originators of the hook, and that the hook is what he based his song on.

Leroy Williams

00:20:54

00:20:57

We had to come to an agreement, because we just walked away.

Patrick Stevenson

00:20:57

00:21:05

It could have been so simple, but it wasn’t, and for five years the industry basically owned us. We got screwed over, but we know what we did.

Leroy Williams

00:21:06

00:21:09

We – yeah, but, we made mistakes too.

Patrick Stevenson

00:21:09

00:21:09

Yeah.

Ben Sisto

00:21:09

00:21:22

Now, we’re gonna do a bit of a sidestep. So, this is Anslem Douglas’ former friend, Ossie Gurley. And Ossie Gurley worked with Anslem Douglas on “Dogie”, and on the album, he has credits as an arranger.

Ossie Gurley

00:21:25

00:22:26

I guess I just have an ability to hear things, and know when they’re gonna go beyond. Music is the love of my life. You’re from the Caribbean so, you have no choice but to be who you are. It’s energy, it’s life, it’s love, it’s happy music, happy people.

You can go wherever you wanna go, you’ll always have that heat and that Caribbean energy.

Anslem came to me with some – with the lyrics, and melody. So, I said okay, do your final vocals, and I’ll do all the music. We became like brothers. But, brothers until the song became a hit. You know. And things did change.

There was a thing in the Caribbean, where there was little value on people who produce music. And it was just, I wrote the lyrics, that’s my song. I was advised to get a lawyer. So after that, we battled and battled and battled for years. Behind every hit, there’s some law suit. So, I figured well, okay, here’s a lawsuit.

Ben Sisto

00:22:27

00:22:42

So while Gurley and Douglas are fighting over writing credits, another player enters the mix. Wingspan Records representing the artist Chuck Smooth, who had also put out a song called “Who Let the Dogs Out”. This version has a sample of Douglas’ voice, making things even more complicated.

Ossie Gurley

00:22:44

00:22:49

Wingspan offered me a publishing deal at the time. Everything looked good and we signed on.

Ben Sisto

00:22:50

00:22:56

So here’s a picture of rapper Chuck Smooth on the left, and then in the glasses, that’s his partner Scott Brooks.

Chuck Smooth

song

00:22:59

00:23:10

Who let the dogs out?

Woof, woof, woof, woof, woof

Who let the dogs out?

Woof, woof, woof, woof, woof

Who let the dogs out?

Woof, woof, woof, woof, woof

Ben Sisto

00:23:10

00:23:30

Anslem Douglas put out “Dogie” in 1997, Chuck Smooth put out his “Who Let the Dogs Out” in 1998. So then, Gurley retroactively assigned them a copyright to a date after the Douglas version but before their version, and then sued Anslem Douglas for songwriting credits.

Ossie Gurley

00:23:32

00:23:43

Well, Wingspan was always supportive. Lita Rosario represented Wingspan. She’s a godsend in my life.

Lita Rosario

00:23:46

00:24:27

My name is Lita Rosario, and I’m an entertainment lawyer in Washington, DC. And my company is called Wise Girl Entertainment and also Lita Rosario PLLC.

Songs are usually collaborations. And Ossie came up with the musical track, with the chorus, and then Anslem would come in the studio, and they would do the lyrics. So, typically, the music gets 50% ownership, and the lyrics get 50% ownership. You end up with equal shares if there’s no written agreement. So, if there’s two people, it’s 50/50. The legal battle lasted approximately six years. There were a series of lawsuits that were filed to determine who the ownership of the song was.

Ben Sisto

00:24:27

00:24:34

This court case actually ruined a lot of relationships.

So, the litigation with Gurley and Wingspan, that all kind of settled out of court?

Anslem Douglas

00:24:34

00:25:05

Yeah, after about five years. And it wasn’t about the money, it still isn’t about the money. It’s about the betrayal. I felt the sense of betrayal coming from somebody who I considered my friend. We’ve heard this a million times, that, there’s no business like show business. This is the only business where you can put literally three minutes and twenty seconds of material together and make a hundred million dollars. Can you think of anything else you can do that with?

Ben Sisto

00:25:06

00:25:08

Um, sub prime loans?

Ben Sisto

00:25:12

00:25:20

But, none of this really matters, because something happened two years prior, in 1994, that makes this whole five year court battle seem laughable.

Gillette

00:25:20

00:25:31

Alright now, this – this next song is going to be next release. It’s called “You’re a Dog”.

Ben Sisto

00:25:33

00:25:40

“You’re a Dog”? 20 Fingers, kinda similar to Anslem Douglas, they were unhappy with a lot of, like, dance floor misogyny.

Manny Mohr

00:25:40

00:25:49

We got all these negative songs about women, I wanna write to where the women could have so much fun. Gillette was a receptionist at a medical centre or something like that.

Ben Sisto

00:25:50

00:25:52

Gillette had no musical background?

Manny Mohr

00:25:52

00:26:00

Zero. Even though she was the face, and the artist, those were our records. So, I came up with the hook.

Ben Sisto

00:26:00

00:26:06

The chorus of it, not very interesting to me, but there’s another refrain in it, that is very interesting. Let’s take a listen.

Gillette

Song

00:26:07

00:26:21

Who let them dogs loose?

Woof, woof, woof, woof

Who let them dogs loose?

Woof, woof, woof, woof

Who let them dogs loose?

Woof, woof, woof, woof

Ben Sisto

00:26:22

00:26:24

Sounds familiar, right?

Manny Mohr

00:26:24

00:26:30

I think we say, who let them dogs loose, and they say, who let the dogs out or something?

Ben Sisto

00:26:30

00:26:36

Contextually though, loose and out, they both imply that previously contained dogs are now freed.

Manny Mohr

00:26:36

00:26:36

Right.

Ben Sisto

00:26:38

00:26:40

You’re telling me, today, you’re telling me you wrote this?

Manny Mohr

00:26:41

00:27:10

It was a long time ago, but you know, when you’re making those kinds of records, you know, especially back then…those were party records, and there were a lot of chants. Everybody was barking on songs, and it was a big mix tape era. Especially from Miami. You would get a lot of those party mix tapes in.

In the 90s, everybody was sampling. I don’t want to sound unethical, but that’s the way to do it. So then, you know, it kind of made me think, like, you know, maybe I did hear it somewhere. I don’t want to discredit these guys, but we were first.

Ben Sisto

00:27:10

00:27:15

The very first time you heard Baha Men’s “Who Let the Dogs Out”, what was going through your mind?

Manny Mohr

00:27:16

00:27:19

Those mother fuckers. No, I’m playing. (laughs)

Ben Sisto

00:27:20

00:28:02

Now, we’re gonna do another switching of gears. We’re talking about copyright. In a little more detail than we’ve talked already. I’d like to invite you to step into my courtroom. A presentation within a presentation, ladies and gentlemen.

Well, if you just play this. Yeah, play it without the barks.

In copyright infringement cases, access is very important, and so is substantial similarity.

You know, it does make you wonder, this whole court approved or agreed upon mainstream dogs narrative…maybe there’s more to it than that.

So, John, I sent you all these audio files to kind of compare and contrast. Maybe do a little bit of beat matching.

John Diemer

00:28:03

00:28:07

So, I’m just going to overlay the “Who Let the Dogs Out”, the barks…

Ben Sisto

00:28:07

00:28:56

One of the pillars of copyright is this idea of substantial similarity. There’s intrinsic and extrinsic tests that you apply to audio files to determine that. Basically, what that means is, if you played different audio files for an ordinary person, would they say, yeah these sound alike, and then the other test is, if you played these for an expert, in this case, that’s you, how closely do these actually match up?

Are the waveforms similar? Are the patterns similar? Is it a little deeper than just sounds alike?

Because two people can come up with the same concept, but if you can prove that they would have been aware of each other, that’s really where you can start making some claims.

This is Gillette and 20 Fingers “You’re a Dog” 50/50 mixed with the Stephenson and Williams song, because they came out around the same time.

Gillette

Vesrion / Stevenson and Williams version

00:28:57

00:28:56

Who let them dogs loose/out?
Who let them dogs loose/out?

Who let them dogs loose/out?

John Diemer

00:28:59

00:29:02

Four percent faster…cause we’re gonna try to speed up Stephenson and Williams.

Gillette

Vesrion / Stevenson and Williams version

00:29:02

00:29:09

Who let them dogs loose/out?

Woof, woof, woof, woof

Who let them dogs loose/out?

Woof, woof, woof, woof

John Diemer

00:29:09

00:29:14

You can even look, there’s the bark, there’s the bark there. And they’re all the exact same. No time change, no anything.

Ben Sisto

00:29:14

00:29:15

Yeah, the pattern is exactly the same.

John Diemer

00:29:16

00:29:16

And that’s the exact same.

Gillette

Vesrion / Stevenson and Williams version

00:29:16

00:29:20

Who let them dogs loose/out?

Woof, woof, woof, woof

Ben Sisto

00:29:20

00:29:28

I would say that they’re similar. I would say they’re substantially similar.

Are either of you familiar with an artist named Sandra Gillette?

Stevenson and Williams

00:29:28

00:29:28

No.

Ben Sisto

00:29:29

00:29:34

Are either of you familiar with the group 20 Fingers?

Does that sound familiar?

Leroy Williams

00:29:34

00:29:37

No, is he related to Edward Scissorhands?

Patrick Stevenson

00:29:38

00:29:38

Or Sticky Fingers?

Leroy Williams

00:29:38

00:29:41

No, I’ve never – no.

Ben Sisto

00:29:41

00:29:43

In particular, a song called “You’re a Dog”?

Leroy Williams / Patrick Stevenson

00:29:43

00:29:44

No. No.

Ben Sisto

00:29:45

00:29:53

Okay. I did wanna play you this record too, because I think that this is the missing link. Let’s see, club mix, album mix…

Gillette version

00:29:54

00:30:08

Woof, woof, woof, woof

Who let them dogs loose?
Woof, woof, woof, woof

Who let them dogs loose?
Woof, woof, woof, woof

Ben Sisto

00:30:09

00:30:14

1994. A full year plus before Stephenson and Williams recorded.

John Diemer

00:30:15

00:30:17

What does this mean from a legal standpoint?

Ben Sisto

00:30:17

00:30:29

I did play it for one lawyer, but I don’t think hearing it made her particularly happy.

Are you familiar with an artist named Gillette, or a group named 20 Fingers?

Lita Rosario

00:30:29

00:30:29

Nope.

Ben Sisto

00:30:30

00:30:39

I can’t necessarily prove access, but I’ve always had a suspicion that Stephenson and Williams may have been aware of that. They feel very similar to me.

Lita Rosario

00:30:39

00:30:42

There would have to be a judicial determination of that.

Ben Sisto

00:30:43

00:30:48

There’s no judicial determination in any of the Wingpsan/Douglas cases, right? Those were all settled out of court.

Lita Rosario

00:30:49

00:31:01

Right, so even if there has been a judicial determination, that issue wouldn’t have come up because that issue wasn’t in dispute. What you’re asking me now doesn’t have anything to do with the history. You’re dragging up dirt.

Ben Sisto

00:31:02

00:31:03

Well, I wouldn’t say I’m dragging up dirt, but I’m interest-

Lita Rosario

00:31:03

00:31:17

Yeah you are. That’s what you’re doing. You’re bringing in a new aspect of the story that a lot of people aren’t aware of. You’re treading on ground that could possibly create another lawsuit. And there’s been enough litigation on the song.

Lita Rosario

00:31:18

00:31:30

Copyright means just that, the right to copy. So as long as we didn’t copy each other and we both came up with the song, we both have a right to market and produce the song. Neither one of us can stop the other.

Ben Sisto

00:31:34

00:32:29

What is “Who Let the Dogs Out”? It’s made up of a few short monosyllabic words.

Who

Let

The

Dogs

Out

And this is followed by a series of barks.

People of all ages love to bark. We call each other dog as a term of endearment. They’re our best friends and members of our families. All of this adds up to a pop hook recipe that’s hard to beat.

There’s no question mark so it’s not even a question.

So if it’s not a question, then what does it all mean? Who are these dogs? How did they get out? Where are they going? And why should we even care?

What is this question? It’s like what Meatloaf won’t do for love. It’s one of the great unanswered questions of our time. It’s an open question, if the hook is even a question to begin with. If it is, then let’s remember that in a lot of these tracks, the dogs are men behaving badly and these men, they’ve always been out.

Woman on stage

00:32:29

00:32:31

Move your dog

Anslem Douglas

00:32:33

00:32:49

I don’t mind being a dog and you know why? Because a doggie is nothing if he don’t have a bone

We live in a woman’s world. It used to be a man’s world and that’s no more. Woman is boss and they run things.

Ben Sisto

00:32:49

00:33:29

Would an attempt to answer the question of Who Let the Dogs Out be problematic in that an answer might potentially absolve these dudes of responsibility? It’s a lot to unpack. The song itself id almost 50% who let the dogs out. The Macarena? 12% Macarena. All I remember from that song is Macarena so you can really see that Who Let the Dogs Out is very much a hook. The song is a delivery mechanism for a hook.

Maybe I’ve thought about this a bit too much. While the phrase Who Let the Dogs Out has stood the test of time, it’s position at the top of the Billboard charts was pretty short lived. After about a year of constant barking, I think the world had had enough.

Boy in library

00:33:35

00:33:36

Hello.

Ben Sisto

00:33:37

00:33:38

Do you know the song Who Let the Dogs Out?

Boy in library

00:33:38

00:33:39

Yes.

Ben Sisto

00:33:39

00:33:40

What do you think about it?

Boy in library

00:33:42

00:33:44

I kinda think it’s annoying.

Montage

00:33:50

00:33:58

Who Let The Dogs Out

Woof Woof Woof

Who Let The Dogs Out

Woof Woof Woof

Ben Sisto

00:33:58

00:34:12

This run of peak dog fever kinda had to come to an end. Gregg Greene says it came to end at the start of the next Mariners season. Fans were like ‘fuck this song, we’re done. We don’t want to hear it anymore. It’s just played out’

Gregg Greene

00:34:12

00:34:20

By that time, every NFL team was playing it, every NBA team was playing it, every college football team was playing it. We let the dogs out and it was time to put them back away.

Mitt Romney

00:34:21

00:34:24

Who Let the Dogs Out

Woof Woof

Family Guy

00:34:28

00:34:30

It’s a song about dogs and letting them out

Ben Sisto

00:34:38

00:35:14

So love it or hate it, we’re in way too deep to turn back now. We keep hearing this mention of a Miami sound so I think there’s only one place to look next. We’re going to Florida. Jacksonville, Florida 1992. Miami Bass is booming down there, parties all night, big speakers, big sound systems.  

Brett Hammock

00:35:14

00:35:22

It was booty and bass.

The reason they say Miami Bass is because it’s rap from Miami but it’s a type of bass with a very low kilohertz.

Ben Sisto

00:35:23

00:35:30

These two guys down there, Brett and Joe, are Miami Boom Productions. B-Nastie and Miami J

Joe Gonzales

00:35:30

00:35:36

This is Ed, this is where we went to school. Brett and I don’t even like to look at it anymore. You look over here, there’s woods!

Brett Hammock

00:35:36

00:35:38

That’s the school but we never actually went.

Ben Sisto

00:35:39

00:35:45

Brett was an aspiring rapper and Joe, he was pretty handy with early recording gear and they came together

Joe Gonzales

00:35:51

00:35:56

San Marco’s always been San Marco. It’s one the historic districts, it’s somewhat upscale although a bit mixed.

Ben Sisto

00:35:57

00:36:03

The photoshoot here was specifically done to promote Who Let the Dogs Out, this demo tape.

Joe Gonzales

00:36:03

00:36:03

Yah

Brett Hammock

00:36:04

00:36:07

It’s Spring of ’93 to promote the song.

Joe Gonzales

00:36:12

00:36:13

The look on my face.

Brett Hammock

00:36:13

00:36:14

Why so serious, Joe?

Joe Gonzales

00:36:15

00:36:17

Brett was hard and scary.

Brett Hammock

00:36:18

00:36:21

I was not. It was all a front for sure.

Ben Sisto

00:36:22

00:36:24

Describe what’s going on in those photos, what are you guys thinking?

Joe Gonzales

00:36:25

00:36:26

Who Let the Dogs Out?

Joe Gonzales

00:36:37

00:36:58

Mamdo was one of the most well known for making music, producing music here in Jacksonville. She was definitely one of the studios we decided we were going to go to when we started getting serious about making music. When this guy got to rapping. The exact words ‘Do said were, with a big smile, she said “Ya’ll tore that microphone up!” and I said “we’re in”.

Mamado

00:36:59

00:37:10

I just couldn’t believe because the look that they had, you’d think they’d go to college and become doctors or lawyers and stuff and then when they start rapping, I was like oh my god, you know, white kids like coming in, like, this is phenomenal.

Ben Sisto

00:37:11

00:37:13

You guys wrote a song called “Who Let the Dogs Out”

Joe Gonzales

00:37:13

00:37:13

We did.

Brett Hammock

00:37:13

00:37:14

Correct.

Ben Sisto

00:37:14

00:37:26

November 30^th 1992.

This is the only remaining demo of all of their songs. We are though going to listen to the lead off track on this demo, “Who Let the Dogs Out”

Miami Boom Productions version

00:37:28

00:37:39

Party People…

Who Let the Dogs out?

Woof, woof, woof, woof

Who let the Dogs Out?

Woof, woof, woof, woof

Who let the Dogs Out?

Ben Sisto

00:37:40

00:37:55

Miami Boom Productions also has all of this other stuff. The lyrics sheet here is really interesting too. Where Joe was writing a lot of his lyrics was at Little Caesars.

Here in my hands I’m holding some pieces of ephemera. Do you remember these objects?

Joe Gonzales

00:37:55

00:37:56

Yes.

Brett Hammock

00:37:56

00:37:58

Little Caesars bread bags.

Joe Gonzales

00:37:58

00:37:59

Brett’s handwriting.

Brett Hammock

00:38:00

00:38:09

When you’re at work and a good line hits ya or a good hook hits ya, you gotta write with what you got and this is what we had, Little Caesar’s bread bags.

Joe Gonzales

00:38:09

00:38:14

Played it off, saw some girls. Starting acting wild. ‘Cause that works, of course.

Ben Sisto

00:38:15

00:38:19

Did you start writing or write any part of Who Let the Dogs Out here at this Little Caesar’s?

Brett Hammock

00:38:19

00:38:21

I would say yes.

Joe Gonzales

00:38:21

00:38:22

Odds are really high

Brett Hammock

00:38:22

00:38:22

I would say yah

Joe Gonzales

00:38:23

00:38:27

Let me look at my lyric sheet one more time. Yah, I think the odds are really high.

Ben Sisto

00:38:27

00:38:48

These two kids with a great story but no hard evidence. In copyright cases you need that, you need some kind of physical media or you need hard dated digital media or else you just don’t really have a case. Joe was able to dig up something in his archives that made me even happier. Floppy discs.

So these are the discs you bought at this K-Mart.

Joe Gonzales / Brett Hammock

00:38:47

00:38:48

Yes.

Ben Sisto

00:38:48

00:38:48

25 years ago?

Joe Gonzales / Brett Hammock

00:38:49

00:38:49

Yes.

Ben Sisto

00:38:50

00:39:02

Two of the discs are these two, “Who Let the Dogs Out Samples” and “Who Let the Dogs Out Chants”, also in the box is a receipt from K-Mart in Jacksonville, Florida dated 1992.

Joe Gonzales

00:39:03

00:39:07

We’re just here to return them.

Yah, we’re done with them now.

We gotta put the dogs back in.

Brett Hammock

00:39:09

00:39:21

I actually had someone call me and they were like “hey I heard your and Joe’s song on the radio” and I was like “no, you didn’t” and he was like “oh yah, I swear to you, Who Let the Dogs Out, I just heard it on the radio”. We flipped it on and I’m just thinking somebody ripped off our track.

Mamado

00:39:21

00:39:37

I was like shocked just cause my first thought was that they sold it. It was really no different. They took the whole overall hypeness of it and it sounded exactly the same. I’ve seen this happen so many times to different people.

Brett Hammock

00:39:38

00:39:55

When I think about the times making this music, it was phenomenal. It was the best times of my life. The bottom line is I know where we believe it came from. There’s three names missing from the song and they’re sitting right here. We should own that song

Ben Sisto

00:39:58

00:40:02

These double-sided, double density disks…what’s on them?

Brett Hammock

00:40:05

00:40:07

Proof. That’s what’s on those disks

Ben Sisto

00:40:09

00:40:24

If I was to put these disks into a home computer with mold on them over the years or just deterioration, that top magnetic layer can just fly right off so I really wanted to make sure that I did it right and I wanted these things looked at professionally.

Istvan Fabian

00:40:24

00:41:04

My name is Istvan Fabian and my day job is to work for Sony, I work on the playstation and when I’m at home I have a hobby that is data preservation.

What you have is a very special disk code colour here that directly talks to the floppy disk drive and tries to decode what data is stored on the disk. The sampler device communicates with the disk drive and tries to match the description of the disk format to what is actually being found on the disk.

Istvan Fabian

00:41:08

00:41:09

Take a look.

Screentext

00:41:13

00:41:17

Visualization of data on Miami Boom Productions’ floppy disks

Ben Sisto

00:41:14

00:41:55

So this is a visualization of the contents of those floppy disks and what this animated gif is doing is blasting through all those sectors. I won’t get into further than that but green is good so we knew that these were clean and readable and we should be able to put them into a device without blowing them up.

Now in the header information, like the text of the file, we were able to find some hints that it was probably recorded on an Emu SP1200 or Emulator 2 keyboard. So if we’re able to track down this specific smapler, pop in the disks from Miami Boom then we hear these dogs samples then we may just have found a holy grail. The proof we’ve been searching for.

Adrian Michna

00:41:55

00:42:05

This is the SP 1200 drum machine made by Emu and it was release in August 1987. You can sample from records or from your voice and put it in there and manipulate it.

Ben Sisto

00:42:06

00:42:09

Alright, first disk I’m going to give you- “Who Let the Dogs Out Chants”

Adrian Michna

00:42:13

00:42:14

Loading sequences and sounds.

Ben Sisto

00:42:15

00:42:18

I can see here it says complete. What’s the next step?

Adrian Michna

00:42:18

00:42:20

Next step is you can just hit a button.

Ben Sisto

00:42:21

00:42:23

So each time I hit one of these, it can play a different sample?

Adrian Michna

00:42:23

00:42:23

Yep.

Ben Sisto

00:42:24

00:42:25

Alright, let’s give it a go.

Samples

00:42:25

00:42:29

Woof, woof, woof

We don’t need no water, let the

Ben Sisto

00:42:29

00:42:30

Oh, another famous chant.

Samples

00:42:31

00:42:38

woof, woof, woof, woof

woof, woof, woof

Who let the dogs out

Adrian Michna

00:42:38

00:42:39

I think that’s your holy grail.

Samples

00:42:40

00:42:42

Who let the dogs out

Woof

Ben Sisto

00:42:42

00:42:44

Oh and that’s the bark. That’s amazing

Samples

00:42:44

00:42:47

Who let the dogs out

Woof, woof, woof

Adrian Michna

00:43:00

00:43:08

It’s a time capsule. The range of sounds is very true to the era between 1990 and ’92. Everyone’s main goal was probably to get hold of one of these.

Samples

00:43:09

00:43:13

Burn mother

Oh oh Oh ohhh

Adrian Michna

00:43:13

00:43:15

So these are all original.

Samples

00:43:15

00:43:16

Who let the dogs out?

Ben Sisto

00:43:16

00:43:23

You’re saying that would have come from them plugging in a microphone into the SP and recording themselves? It’s not a sample you’ve heard before?

Adrian Michna

00:43:23

00:43:25

Right. Someone created that with their voice.

Ben Sisto

00:43:25

00:43:27

We exported this

Samples

00:43:27

00:43:31

Woof

Who let the dogs out

Ben Sisto

00:43:31

00:44:55

So that’s like the raw wave export from these disks.

So let’s do another recap, this time in reverse order. Baha Men, newly front by three youthful vocalists release their smash hit in 2000. They’d gotten it from their long time manager, Steve Greenberg, at S-Curve Records

Steve had gotten it from Jonathan King who was passed the mix tape from my Wikipedia mystery man, Keith Wainwright. Keith had come into possession of the tape  in Trinidad during Carnival and what was on that tape was a song called Doggie by Anslem Douglas

As soon as the Baha Men version became popular, a whole bunch of legal battles starting popping up. We’ve got Patrick Stephenson and Leroy Williams from WBLK in Buffalo suing Douglas and Ossie Gurley. We’ve got Wingspan Records working with Gurley.

And let’s not forget Gillette and 20 Fingers who are somewhere over here for now, never really got involved with the legal disputes but it’s a mystery as to where exactly Manny Mohr got the phrase “Who Let Them Dogs Loose”.

And let’s not forget the Gregg Greene’s of the world, the behind-the-scenes players who helped catapult this song into the spotlight. And now all of the sudden we have these floppy disks that seem to be hard evidence that two teenagers from Jacksonville, Florida came up with the hook way before anybody else.

So is this it? Are we about to solve one of life’s greatest mysteries?

Screentext

00:44:55

00:44:57

Who let the dogs out?

Ben Sisto

00:44:58

00:45:05

I’m going to play you a kind of montage of the songs, give us a refresher of what we’ve been through tonight. Let’s take a listen.

All the versions of the song

00:45:05

00:45:36

Party people..

Who let the dogs out?

Woof, woof, woof, woof, woof

Who Let them Dogs Loose?

Woof, woof, woof, woof, woof

Who let the dogs out?

Woof, woof, woof, woof, woof

Who let the dogs out?

Woof, woof, woof, woof, woof

Who let the dogs out?

Woof, woof, woof, woof, woof

Who let the dogs out?

Woof, woof, woof, woof, woof

Who let the dogs out?

Woof, woof, woof, woof, woof

Who let the dogs out?

Woof, woof, woof, woof, woof

Ben Sisto

00:45:37

00:46:01

Ok, sorry I didn’t let that one fade but I think we’ve had enough. So who let the dogs out? We’ve seen a bunch of candidates tonight. Every time I do this talk, someone afterwards is like “no man, you’ve got it all wrong. I know the real answer”

Who Let the Dogs Out? I’m going to say…

John Michael Davis

00:46:10

00:46:26

Gosh I wish I could correct the record on this thing… It isn’t a song, it’s a chant. Every now and then, I check Wikipedia, and once I called Wikipedia and they say “Well you need, absolute, like, proof.”

Ben Sisto

00:46:26

00:46:37

I like to think I’ve been pretty exhaustive in my research, but at no point have I found anything prior to 1992… And you think that this dates to 1990?

John Michael Davis

00:46:38

00:46:40

This dates to 1990, yes.

Ben Sisto

00:46:40

00:46:40

Mmm hmm.

John Michael Davis

00:46:40

00:46:46

Like newspaper clippings, or, you know, they took recordings of all their games.

Ben Sisto

00:46:46

00:46:48

There an audio or video recording?

John Michael Davis

00:46:48

00:46:50

There’s absolute proof.

John Michael Davis

00:47:01

00:47:19

The entire town turned out to bellow that magical question, who let the dogs out?

My name is John Michael Davis. Dowagiac, Michigan let the dogs out.

Lance Reeves

00:47:26

00:47:34

When I was growing up everyone wanted to be a Chieftain. When we had that run, we set records most points scored, most passing yards.

Commentator

00:47:35

00:47:39

And this one is 37-1 Dowagiac

John Michael Davis

00:47:40

00:47:50

Dowagiac is where it was at and we were gonna knock the hell out of you. Dowagiac, dog patch…same thing. Dog patch, they’d just say dog patch and we flipped it on it’s head.

Lance Reeves

00:47:51

00:47:58

And now being from Dog Patch wasn’t an embarrassment anymore. It was something to kinda poke your chest out about and say “yah that’s where we’re from and we’re proud of it”

Lance Reeves

00:48:00

00:48:06

Our key factor was our coach, Coach Thomas. We were his dogs and who let the dogs out, that’s where that came from.

Coach Bernard Thomas

00:48:06

00:48:26

There we were, we were a small town, we were an underdog, we barely made it into the playoffs and we become the toast of the town in the state champions and we were the team that almost didn’t happen. All the good memories in your life have a soundtrack and the soundtrack to our state championship football team was Who Let the Dogs Out.

Commentator on tv

00:48:29

00:48:36

Football Championship on the line in what might be the most exciting final here in 1990. Two clubs that really can’t put some points on the board

Team players singing

00:48:37

00:48:48

Who let the dogs out

Woof, woof

Who let the dogs out

Woof, woof

Who let the dogs out

John Michael Davis

00:48:48

00:48:52

There was not stopping it and it was like just building momentum.

Chris Hodshire

00:48:53

00:48:59

The whole entire town had embraced it and it began the trademark of Dowagiac. It was magical. It was a Disney movie, really.

Coach Bernard Thomas

00:49:11

00:49:16

It is amazing what a sporting event can do for a small community.

Coach Bernard Thomas

00:49:17

00:49:21

We were a shot in the arm when it was needed. We boosted these people’s morales when it was needed

Chris Hodshire

00:49:22

00:49:25

It lifted the community spirits and gave them hope.

Coach Bernard Thomas

00:49:25

00:49:34

That football team kinda brought the community together and that song brought the football community together even more because now we had a common denominator.

John Michael Davis

00:49:35

00:49:41

This is the town where this chant was pushed into the stratosphere.

Coach Bernard Thomas

00:49:41

00:49:57

Here in the capital of dog pound ville, we let the dogs out.

I don’t know what other people are saying but I know we saying it in 1990, now if you can pre-date 1990 then you are good to go but right now we think we’re the big dogs on the block.

Teams chanting

00:50:00

00:50:19

who who let the dogs out

who who let the dogs out

who who let the dogs out

who who let the dogs out

who who let the dogs out

Teams chanting

00:50:26

00:51:08

who who let the dogs out

Who Let the Dogs Out

Woof, woof, woof, woof, woof

Who Let the Dogs Out

Woof, woof, woof, woof, woof

Who Let the Dogs Out

Woof, woof, woof, woof, woof

Isaiah Taylor

00:51:09

00:51:24

You don’t own anything in life. Someone else is going to take it, then someone else is going to take it. You have to give people their props, you know you can’t just try and take the credit for yourself. That’s why I have to give Steve credit.

Ben Sisto

00:51:24

00:51:27

Steve Greenberg, who let the dogs out?

Steve Greenberg

00:51:32

00:51:38

That’s a funny question. So whoever came up with that hook was a genius, in that moment.

Lita Rosario

00:51:39

00:51:45

Who do I think let the dogs out? I would say Anslem and Ossie let the dogs out.

Ossie Gurley

00:51:45

00:51:55

Well I would say Anslem and myself and maybe Patrick and Leroy too, who knows. Haha, I don’t know.

Patrick Stevenson

00:51:55

00:51:56

We did.

Leroy Williams

00:51:56

00:51:57

I did

Leroy Williams / Patrick Stevenson

00:51:57

00:52:00

We did, yah.

Anslem Douglas

00:52:00

00:52:05

I let who let the dogs out. I don’t even have any of this stuff

Ben Sisto

00:52:06

00:52:06

Jonathan,

Jonathan King

00:52:06

00:52:07

Yes

Ben Sisto

00:52:07

00:52:08

Who let the dogs out?

Jonathan King

00:52:09

00:52:10

Woof, woof

Ben Sisto

00:52:10

00:52:10

So Gregg,

Gregg Greene

00:52:11

00:52:11

Yes

Ben Sisto

00:52:11

00:52:12

Who let the dogs out?

Gregg Greene

00:52:12

00:52:16

Haha, that’s a great question. I let them out here, I let the dogs out.

Manny Mohr

00:52:17

00:52:24

Haha I did, I let them out. And when I want them back, they’re coming to me.

Mamado, Joe Gonzales, Brett Hammock

00:52:25

00:52:25

We did.

Mamado

00:52:25

00:52:29

We did it. We let the dogs out and they took it and ran with it

Joe Gonzales

00:52:30

00:52:31

We let the dogs out

John Michael Davis

00:52:34

00:53:52

I’m not the one who turned it into a record, I’m not the one who made it a beat and put a rap over it. That’s not really the point. The only sting is that it doesn’t feel like they know what they have.

They have this powerful catalyst. One little moment that was pretty cool that has shaped some part of our culture, you know, into a medium for much more. You don’t understand that you have a gift.

The cadence and the full force of the chant, not the ooh let the dogs out ooh ooh. No, no, no that’s not gonna get it, it’s not going to dig. I mean maybe you need a study behind it but if you go ooh ooh let the lions out, I bet they win a Superbowl. I guarantee they win a Superbowl and the whole state of Michigan is going to be like LET THE LIONS OUT OOH OOH and it’s over. Snap! The worst team in the world, the most heartbreaking team in the world is going to win and that’s what I believe.

John Michael Davis

00:53:55

00:55:27

People have to believe and they have to want to put everything in and go for gold. It’s like the hope and what’s instilled inside of us, in our society. The system of interactive communication and this network that we share globally through our language, everything you say to everyone you meet somehow carries.

We do borrow, I think it’s ok. I do not believe that they’re imitations. I believe in the authenticity of creativity and it comes from a magical, mystical kind of place.

It’s so wonderful to understand how close we really are, that is kinda what art is supposed to be on a level. Sound is light concentrated, like a laser we’re concentrating light and it’s just moving around the planet in waves, it’s surreal the idea that one person can touch the lives of every person on the planet.

You may not even know you’re doing it. You may not know that you’ve already done it. I love to connect those dots, even if it’s very like reaching sometimes it’s jazz.

Ben Sisto

00:55:41

00:55:56

I appreciate you guys being here tonight for this somewhat abridged but also probably too deep look into the history of Who Let the Dogs Out. We’ve traveled from Seattle to England. We’ve seen a bunch of candidates tonight.

Song played in Safeco Statdium

00:55:56

00:56:07

Who Let the Dogs Out

Woof, woof, woof, woof, woof

Who Let the Dogs Out

Woof, woof, woof, woof, woof

Ben Sisto

00:56:07

00:56:20

I didn’t expect to be on the jumbotron. Uhh.. glad that happened.

It’s just a song that I think belongs to popular culture at this point. In a way, we all let the dogs out.

Mamado

00:56:25

00:56:28

I’ve only been tattooing like three and a half, four years.

Ben Sisto

00:56:33

00:56:35

Is this your first dog bone tattoo?

Mamado

00:56:35

00:56:36

Mm Hmm

Ben Sisto

00:56:39

00:56:43

I’ve been researching this song for like eight years, yah, it’s part of me.

Mamado

00:56:44

00:56:45

So let me get the saran wrap for you.

Ben Sisto

00:56:46

00:56:48

I like it a lot. What do you think?

Istvan Fabian

00:56:51

00:56:54

If I may, can I ask you something in return?

Ben Sisto

00:56:54

00:56:54

Yes

Istvan Fabian

00:56:54

00:57:03

Ok, so what made you do this and why this specific song? I mean there are literally millions of songs out there.

Ben Sisto

00:57:04

00:57:43

I’m not good at making music, I’m like a mediocre, at best, artist. I’m ok at my job but this, there’s nothing else that I’m the expert at.

So I moved to New York about a decade ago and back then I didn’t have a partner or a job. I didn’t have a beautiful baby.

I used to have a museum in my house but now I have a nursery.

So yah, life’s changing. It definitely feels like my dogs research is coming to an end and maybe someone else can take it from here or maybe not, I don’t know.

Ben Sisto

00:57:44

00:58:06

So what I’d like to do in lieu of an applause or throwing roses at me, I don’t how this is going to end but I would really like to end this with a really solid group chant. If you enjoyed what you heard tonight, or you’re looking to get out of here fast and you’ll do anything to make that happen please bark along a few times to this dogapella.

Song playing, crowd barking

00:58:06

00:58:20

Who Let the dogs out

Woof, woof, woof, woof

Who Let the dogs out

Woof, woof, woof, woof

Who Let the dogs out

Woof, woof, woof, woof

Who Let the dogs out

Woof, woof, woof, woof

Ben Sisto

00:58:21

00:58:23

Thanks very much guys. Thanks for coming.

CREDITS

00:58:26

01:01:00

CREDITS