Praise You

"Praise You" is a song by British big beat musician Fatboy Slim. It was released as the third single from his second studio album, You've Come a Long Way, Baby, in 1999. It reached number one on the UK Singles Chart, number four in Canada, number six in the Republic of Ireland and number thirty six in the United States.

Samples

The song features a prominent vocal sample from the opening of "Take Yo' Praise" by Camille Yarbrough, as well as a prominent piano sample from the track "Balance and Rehearsal" from a test album entitled Sessions released by audio electronics company JBL. The song also features a guitar sample from the opening of "It's a Small World" from the Disneyland Records-released album Mickey Mouse Disco, and the song's bridge also samples the theme from the cartoon series Fat Albert and the Cosby Kids.

Track listing

Music video

The accompanying video for "Praise You" was directed by Spike Jonze with Roman Coppola. Jonze starred in the film under the pseudonym Richard Koufey, along with a fictional dance group The Torrance Community Dance Group. The video intro described it as "A Torrance Public Film Production".

Norman Cook

Norman Quentin Cook (born Quentin Leo Cook on 31 July 1963), also known by his stage name Fatboy Slim, is an English DJ, musician and record producer/mixer.

As a solo electronic act, he has won ten MTV Video Music Awards and two Brit Awards. His records as Fatboy Slim also helped to popularise the big beat genre, which achieved mainstream popularity in the 1990s.

Cook first rose to fame in the 1980s as the bassist of the indie rock band The Housemartins who scored a UK number-one single with their a capella cover of Isley-Jasper-Isley's "Caravan of Love". After the band split, Cook formed Beats International whose début album spawned their signature hit, "Dub Be Good to Me" which was another UK number-one as well as going on to become the seventh best-selling single of 1990 in the UK. Cook then went on to join numerous other acts including Freak Power, Pizzaman and The Mighty Dub Katz to moderate success.

Cook adopted the Fatboy Slim moniker in 1996 and released Better Living Through Chemistry to critical acclaim. Follow-ups You've Come a Long Way, Baby and Halfway Between the Gutter and the Stars, as well as their associated singles, including "The Rockafeller Skank", "Praise You", "Right Here Right Now", and "Weapon of Choice", were also met with positive reviews and commercial success.

Praise

Praise refers to positive evaluations made by a person of another's products, performances, or attributes, where the evaluator presumes the validity of the standards on which the evaluation is based. The influence of praise on an individual can depend on many factors, including the context, the meanings the praise may convey, and the characteristics and interpretations of the recipient. Praise is distinct from acknowledgement or feedback, which are more neutral forms of recognition, and encouragement, which is more future oriented. In addition, while praise may share some predictive relationships (both positive and negative) with tangible rewards, praise tends to be less salient and expected, conveys more information about competence, and is typically given more immediately after the desired behavior.

As behavioral reinforcement

The concept of praise as a means of behavioral reinforcement is rooted in B.F. Skinner's model of operant conditioning. Through this lens, praise has been viewed as a means of positive reinforcement, wherein an observed behavior is made more likely to occur by contingently praising said behavior. Hundreds of studies have demonstrated the effectiveness of praise in promoting positive behaviors, notably in the study of teacher and parent use of praise on child in promoting improved behavior and academic performance, but also in the study of work performance. Praise has also been demonstrated to reinforce positive behaviors in non-praised adjacent individuals (such as a classmate of the praise recipient) through vicarious reinforcement. Praise may be more or less effective in changing behavior depending on its form, content and delivery. In order for praise to effect positive behavior change, it much be contingent on the positive behavior (i.e., only administered after the targeted behavior is enacted), must specify the particulars of the behavior that is to be reinforced, and must be delivered sincerely and credibly.

Mary Mary

Mary Mary is a Grammy Award-winning American contemporary gospel duo, consisting of sisters Erica Atkins-Campbell (born (1972-04-29)April 29, 1972) and Trecina "Tinkins-Campbell (born (1974-05-01)May 1, 1974). The duo are often credited along with Kirk Franklin for broadening the fan base of urban contemporary gospel in the 2000s by introducing elements of soul music, hip hop, funk and jazz. Mary Mary broke onto the music scene with their popular song "Shackles (Praise You)"—which is considered one of the pioneering songs of urban contemporary gospel music. The group's name, as stated in an interview is inspired by the two famous Marys from the Bible; Mary, the mother of Jesus Christ, and Mary Magdalene.

Their debut album, Thankful (2000), was certified Platinum. In addition, the duo has released two Gold albums: Incredible (2002) and Mary Mary (2005), both of which have charted at No. 1 on the Billboard Top Gospel Albums. They have also received four Grammys, among other awards. In 2011, they released their fifth studio album, Something Big.

Casting Crowns

Casting Crowns is a contemporary Christian and Christian rock band started in 1999 by youth pastor Mark Hall, who serves as the band's lead vocalist, as part of a youth group at First Baptist Church in Downtown Daytona Beach, Florida. They later moved to Stockbridge, Georgia, and more members joined. Some members of the band currently work as ministers for Eagle's Landing First Baptist Church in McDonough, Georgia. The band has won Grammy and Dove Awards.

History

1999-2004: Early days and Casting Crowns

Christian rock group Casting Crowns began as a student worship band in Daytona Beach, Florida, in 1999. Led by singer, songwriter, and youth pastor Mark Hall, the group initially included guitarists Juan DeVevo and Hector Cervantes, violinist Melodee DeVevo, and drummer Rob Cervantes (a.k.a. Chavez). The group relocated to Stockbridge, Georgia, in 2001, adding Chris Huffman on bass, Megan Garrett on keyboards and accordion, and drummer Andy Williams. This augmented version of Casting Crowns released two independent albums on CD, both of which were well received in the Atlanta area. Both independent albums were efforts on the part of Mark Hall and the rest of the group as outreach projects for youth in the area. The group won the GMA regional songwriters competition at Palm Beach Atlantic University, West Palm Beach, Florida, in both the "Best Song" and the "Best Artist" categories in 2004. Although the group was not searching for a record label, one of the group's albums found its way into the hands of Mark Miller, lead singer for country group Sawyer Brown, who was struck by Casting Crowns' driving pop/rock style and Hall's vocal delivery of his hard-hitting but devout songs. Miller signed Casting Crowns to his fledgling Beach Street Records, a division of Reunion Records with distribution by the Provident Label Group, making Casting Crowns the first artist signed to Beach Street Records.