“Find a Way” is not only a fantastic song, but a great example of the role our brain plays in the interpretation of sound. A Tribe Called Quest provides the vocals for this hit 1998 song, while the beat was produced by renowned producer J Dilla. A key feature of J Dilla’s music is his esoteric samples. In “Find a Way,” Dilla uses a sample from Towa Tei’s “Technova” to provide background vocals for the chorus.
On a first listen, the chorus seems pretty straightforward: Q-Tip raps over a recorded backup singer. However, this is not the case. Our brains infer that the background vocals are the same lyrics as Q-Tip’s chorus, but the truth is the sample is in Portuguese. What’s happening is known as priming, which is when one stimulus alters our perception of another. Even with this knowledge it’s difficult to fight our brain’s instincts. “Find a Way” is unique in not only how it’s produced, but in the way that our brains decode it.