My Favourite Samples by Danny
There was a time when Hip-Hop and I didn’t get on. In fact, I actively disliked the genre. This immature whimsy was loosely based on the premise that a rapper or producer must be devoid of any creativity – they are openly using another artist’s song, merely speaking/singing on top of it. Where is the craft of songwriting? It’s lazy, isn’t it? The short answer is “no”. If I continued this deluded analogy, then artists like Aretha Franklin and Frank Sinatra should not be respected, simply for copying other people’s songs.
In fact sampling is one of the most creative methods of making modern music. The subtle use of a sample, be it a groove underneath the melody, or simply a few seconds of a song set in a different context, can transform the identity of the original song, giving birth to an entirely different animal.
The problem was that the only Hip-Hop I was being exposed to was the dirge that permeated the airwaves and the top-selling charts. As with every genre that is championed by popular culture, unfortunately the cream rarely rises to the top. The samples I was used to hearing were either incredibly obvious and bordering on the obnoxious (‘Sunshine’ by Twistasampling Lovely Day by Bill Withers, ‘Touch The Sky’ by Kanye West sampling Curtis Mayfield’s Move On Up), and/or completely relied on the original songs, seemingly for commercial acclaim (‘Run On’ by Moby sampling Bill Landford and the Landfordaires, ’Praise You’ by Fatboy Slim sampling Camille Yarbrough). Other more recent examples seemed designed to offend our ears - The Time (Dirty Bit) by The Black Eyed Peas sampling Bill Medley & Jennifer Warns. While a few of these tracks sounded great, once I had discovered the original version of the song, I felt like a fraud listening to the remixed versions. Sometimes ignorance is bliss. But when you search underneath the rock, there are a multitude of treasures to be found.
These are my favourite samples. Feel free to correct any mistakes I may have made, and please, tell me what your own personal favourites are. In no particular order:
1.
Samples ‘Spinnin’ by Bernard Wright
“I wish I was little bit taller,
I wish I was a baller,
I wish I had a girl who looked good
I would call her
I wish I had a rabbit in a hat with a bat
and a 6-4 Impala”
Who doesn’t remember this self-deprecating rhythmic refrain from 1994? It works perfectly over those descending chromatic chords, taken from Bernard Wright’s ‘Spinnin’, from his debut 1981 album, ‘Nard. Wright was a funk/jazz keyboardist who began his career as a session musician, later releasing several solo albums in the 1980’s, with moderate success. ‘Spinnin’ was never released as a single. In fact the sample that Skee-Lo uses is a relatively short groove within the song, and isn’t integral to the piece as a whole. It acts as a link between the song’s main vocal hook, and the minor funk outro. It never features for longer than 20 seconds at a time: from 1.26 – 1.41, from 2.30 – 2.49, and again from 4.04 until the fade-out. Those 20 seconds are now more well-known than Bernard Wright himself, and indeed any of his songs.
Skee-Lo is not the first rapper to delve into Wright’s back catalogue – Snoop Dogg and L.L. Cool J are just two of too many to mention, and they probably won’t be the last. Wright is, without doubt, benefitting from royalties and doing what he likes to do best – namely, playing keys with Roy Hargrove’s critically acclaimed RH Factor. Here he is doing a virtuoso keyboard solo, circa 2010.
2.
A Tribe Called Quest – Can I Kick It?
Samples ‘Take A Walk On The Wild Side’ by Lou Reed
Question: “Can I Kick It?”
Refrain: “Yes You Can!”
This 1990 release from A Tribe Called Quest’s debut album actually features 8 different samples. A full list can be found here. However, the basis of the song is built on Herbie Flowers’ distinctive sliding double-bass take on Lou Reed’s ‘Take a Walk on The Wild Side’, from 1972’s Transformer. Flowers overdubbed a fretless bass track on top of the double-bass recording, providing that recognisable twin bass sound. He admitted as recently as 2005 on a BBC Radio 4 interview that his reasoning was financial rather than musical. As a session musician, he would have got paid twice as much for the recordings – musicians were paid double for playing two instruments on the same track. Whether this is modesty or honesty, we’ll probably never know. Lou Reed’s lyric covers as many taboo topics as he can think of, including transsexualism, drugs, oral sex and male prostitution. But the groove is unmistakably feel-good.
‘Can I Kick It?’ is classic Tribe, with non-aggressive lyrical rhyming and contemporary cultural references throughout. Producer Ali Shaheed Muhammed scratches in between vocals that are so laid back they sound lazy. ‘Kickin’ It’ is slang for simply hanging out, chilling. The effect is overwhelmingly peaceful, as rappers Phife Dawg and Q-Tip take us to the most chilled out place we can imagine, if only for just over 4 minutes. These days the ‘Tribe’ are all doing interesting solo projects. Here’s Q-Tip, from 2008’s The Renaissance - Manwomanboogie
3.
Blackstreet featuring Dr. De & Queen Pen – No Diggity
Samples ‘Grandma’s Hands’ by Bill Withers
This summer number 1 (and only?) hit for Blackstreet is infectious and catchy, annoyingly so. The chorus flows easily, without really meaning anything -
“I like the way you work it – No Diggity. I got to bag it up (bag it up)”
The phrase ‘No Diggity’ is apparently a positive confirmation, loosely meaning ‘no doubt’ or ‘absolutely’. Dr. Dre and Teddy Riley are responsible for the sample, taking the first 10 seconds of Bill Withers’ soul/blues song ‘Grandma’s Hands’, speeding it up slightly, and looping it for several minutes, thus laying the structure for Blackstreet’s platinum success. The sample features Withers humming two notes over a rhythmic E minor strumming pattern, and is constant for the entire song. ‘No Diggity’ is a tune in its’ own right though, featuring strong soulful vocals from Blackstreet’s forgotten men, and raps from Dre and co. Armed with a slick blinged-up video featuring sexy dancers, and during MTV’s golden era let’s not forget, it was a blitzkrieg attack on the airwaves, our screens and in nightclubs. ‘Grandma’s Hands’ went from being an ode to his grandmother, who used to protect him from beatings and play tambourine so well, to being used in a shallow boast about ‘attracting honeys like magnets’. To be honest, I don’t mind a shallow song if it makes me wanna dance.
‘Grandma’s Hands’ is Bill Withers’ favourite song that he wrote. From the 2009 documentary Still Bill – “I learned how to really love somebody from just a nice old lady. My favorite thing that I’ve written has to be about this favorite old lady of mine.” The song has inspired countless covers, notably by Gil Scott-Heron and Al Jarreau.
Bill Withers became disenchanted with the industry about 20 years ago, and stopped performing, bar one or two exceptions. He took up carpentry and spent his time looking after his family. He is a sample goldmine – most of his back catalogue has been sampled at some stage or another, including ‘Just the Two of Us’, ‘Lovely Day’, ‘Ain’t No Sunshine’, ‘Lean On Me’, ‘Who Is He (What Is He to You) and ‘Use Me’. Here is a gorgeous song from 1974 - Make A Smile For Me
4.
Samples ‘Ready Or Not Here I come (Can’t Hide From Love)’ by The Delfonics
Both songs - and
Reportedly Barack Obama’s favourite song, though that might have something to do with all of the war depicted in the video, This 1996 smash hit relied heavily on both The Delfonics 1968 pop song, and Enya’s eerie 1987 instrumental. The beat is taken from‘God Made Me Funky’ by the Headhunters, which is one of the most sampled beats in Hip-Hop. Lyrically, the theme of the song seems to be one of threatened aggression (even though the rapping is ‘cool’ rather than shouty), and the expensive ‘war-zone’ music video backs that theory up. In retrospect, The Delfonics original looks like a creepy insight into the mind of an obsessed stalker:
“Ready or not, here I come
You can’t hide
Gonna find you
And keep you happy
Ready or not, here I come
You can’t hide
Gonna love you
And make you love me
You can’t run away
From this love I got
Oh, baby, hey, baby
Cause I got a lot, yeah
Anywhere you go
My whole heart’s gonna know
Baby, hey, baby
You can’t hide from love, no”
The Fugees didn’t alter the tone too much, apart from a few minor adjustments – i.e. substituting ‘crew’ for ‘heart’. They also added in an extra beat to the chorus, to fit the meter of the drumbeat – just before “gonna find you” – the Delfonics version seems irregular in hindsight. The Fugees’ raps were filled with pop culture references, though it is difficult to tell whether the group are being: A) critical of, B) supporting the ongoing wars in the middle east, or C) using the American invasion as a metaphor for gang warfare. Perhaps the broad appeal of the song is due to this ambiguity, or perhaps it’s due to the brilliant genre-mixing of Ms. Hill and Wyclef Jean. The emotion in Hill’s vocal is audible. Pras remembers: “The three of us was each going through some pain. Lauryn was crying when she did her vocals. It was unbelievable. To see her singing with tears coming out of her eyes, it made me want to cry too.”
‘Boacidea’ adds a sinister touch to an already disturbing lyric. Initially Enya was uncredited, and threatened to sue. Upon discovering that The Fugees weren’t “Gangsta Rappers”, she withdrew the lawsuit, though the Fugees did eventually make a settlement out of court. The Fugees split in ‘97, and each did their own thing, with Wyclef and Hill especially receiving several solo accolades. Here’s Lauryn at her best: Every Ghetto, Every City
The Delfonics recieved belated dues when one of their songs was featured on Tarantino’s Jackie Brown. Didn’t I Blow Your Mind This Time, but they had several other great songs too, including La La Means I Love You and Hey Love
And here’s a cover version of the Delfonics song with lead vocals from a teenage Michael Jackson
5.
Samples ‘Are You My Woman? (Tell Me So)’ by The Chi-Lites
Probably the most recognisable of the samples in this list, ‘Are You My Woman? (Tell Me So)’ was a minor hit in 1970 for Chicago soul singers The Chi-Lites. It’s a desperate cry of insecurity “I don’t wanna get my heart broken”, coupled with a celebration of the woman’s sexuality, revealed by the repeated line (which is tame by today’s standards) – “You set my soul on fire”. The horn riff only happens 3 times, at the start, in the middle and at the end. Jay-Z and his production team took that riff, used it to open the song, and as the hook for that thumping catchy chorus, with Beyoncé gyrating and belting out the lyrics “Got me lookin’ so crazy right now”, followed by the link to the verse “Uh Oh, Uh Oh, Uh Oh, Uh Oh”. The song is about being so infatuated that you lose your inhibitions. It is a dance floor sensation that everyone can relate to. The summer of 2003 will always be remembered by furious hip-shaking to a rhythmic horn riff. And that is no bad thing. Indie group Anthony & the Johnsons do a shoe-gazing cover which misses the point completely – they omit the best part of the song – the classic horn line. If Beyoncé is a global superstar, this is surely the song that propelled her to such bombastic heights, which she arguably hasn’t been able to reach artistically ever since.
The Chi-Lites eventually disbanded in 1977, reforming several times with members coming and going. Their big hits came in the early 70’s with the romantic ballads ‘Have You Seen Her?’ and ‘Oh Girl’. They also do a mean version of Marvin Gaye’s ‘Inner City Blues’.
6.
Gettin’ Jiggy With It – Will Smith
Samples ‘He’s The Greatest Dancer’ by Sister Sledge
and
‘Sang and Dance’ by The Bar-Kays
Will Smith is sometimes justifiably derided for his bland, inoffensive lyrics. But his producers (in this instance – Nas and Poke & Tone) came up trumps with this clever mix of two unrelated songs. Chic’s songwriting team of Rodgers/Edwards are responsible for the incredibly funky guitar on Sister Sledge’s disco anthem ‘He’s The Greatest Dancer’. The ‘Na na na na na na na’s constituted the cherry on top. They feature sparsely in the raucous funk jam ‘Sang and Dance’ by the Bar-Kays, once at the very start of the song, and again after almost 2 minutes. The perception that they seem out of place in the original is testament to how well they fit over Sledge’s disco groove. In ‘Gettin’ Jiggy With It’ they announce the chorus. The delivery is slightly irregular at the end of the first verse – Smith adds an extra bar before their entry, consciously or not, which gives him enough time to deliver the hook “Gettin’ Jiggy With It”. Lyrically there is nothing intellectually stimulating, and it seems as if he’s going out of his way to make it acceptable for kids, thus widening his demographic -
“Ciga-cigar right from Cuba-cuba
I just bite it,
It’s for the look – I don’t light it”
But its his rhythmic delivery over the combined samples that made this mash-up a 1998 summer smash hit. ‘Gettin’ Jiggy’ has sexual connotations, but it also just means ‘to dance’. Smith later claimed that the word ‘Jiggy’ comes from the racist term ‘Jigaboo’ describing African-Americans, and that his song celebrated and empowered American blackness by redefining the word.
The Nile Rodgers/Bernard Edwards songwriting duo produced several disco hits for Sister Sledge and Chic, the most famous of which -’Good Times‘ was in turn sampled for The SugarHill Gang’s ‘Rapper’s Delight‘. Others included ‘We Are Family‘, ‘Le Freak‘, and for Diana Ross – ‘I’m Coming Out‘ and ‘Upside Down’
The Bar-Kays had some nice instrumental grooves, of which ‘Soul Finger’ is the most widely known.
7.
For Corners – Digable Planets
Samples ‘Island Letter’ by Shuggie Otis
and
and
‘It’s a New Day’ by Skull Snaps
My personal favourite of these songs, ‘For Corners’ is as chilled out and as melodic as Hip-Hop can be. Digable Planets were a Brooklyn-based trio which only made two studio albums in the mid 90’s. They achieved underground acclaim for their choice and excellent use of jazz, soul and funk samples. This track is from the album ‘Blowout Comb’ (named after a grooming product used for the upkeep of afros in the 1970’s), which I cannot recommend highly enough. Like The Fugees, Digable Planets were made up of three brilliantly named rappers, two of which were male – Butterfly and Doodlebug, and the female – Ladybug Mecca. They waxed lyrical on social matters such as black nationalism, religion, community pride and the persecution of political prisoners, without these heavy topics intruding on our listening pleasure. Lyrically, ‘For Corners’ nostalgically mentions several blaxploitation films, credits local Hip-Hop, and alludes to the band’s Islamic leanings (specifically the Five Percent Nation), all over a sumptuous mellow guitar groove, with occasional brass interludes.
The beat comes from ‘It’s a New Day’ by the Skull Snaps, who only released one eponymous album in 1973. They used drum breaks and slow funk beats, and have been sampled numerously, notably by The Prodigy – 1995’s ‘Poison’.
The guitar riff comes from Shuggie Otis’ ‘Island Letter’, from the oft-overlooked 1974 opus Inspiration Information, in which he wrote, arranged, sang and played everything on the album himself. An anomaly in Otis’ career – he was known as a straight bluesman – this album reinvented smooth, laid-back, musical soul and funk twenty years before D’Angelo came on the scene. ‘Island Letter’ is a melancholy letter to a former lover who is gone for reasons not given, with subtle drum loops, tasteful guitar work and strings that dance over legato vocals, giving way to a gentle wah-wah guitar-backed keyboard outro.
Digable Planets looped this guitar intro and added the frantic horn line from vibes player Roy Ayers’ ‘Ebony Blaze’ (A Tear to a Smile, 1975), albeit slowed-down to fit over the laid-back groove, adding background voices low in the mix to create a party atmosphere. ‘For Corners’ stands at 7 minutes long without boring our ears, in fact it does exactly the opposite. After Blowout Comb the trio split, citing personal differences and unfair business practices – Ladybug Mecca wasn’t credited with the equal work that she put into both albums. She subsequently pursued a solo career. Digable Planets are currently touring, and include guest female MC’s to fill Ladybug’s shoes.
Here’s another funky tune called ‘Jettin’‘ from the same album
Shuggie Otis’ dreamy ‘Inspiration Information’
8.
Dr. Dre feat. Snoop Dogg – The Next Episode
Samples David McCallum’s ‘The Edge‘
“Lada dada da – It’s the one and only D-O double G (Snoop Dogg!)
Dada dada da – You know I’m mobbin’ with the D-R-E.”
(These are the radio-friendly censored lyrics. Insert “motherfuckin” when applicable).
In 2000, Dr. Dre released the album – 2001. ‘The Next Episode’ was the hit single. It featured vocals from Snoop Dogg, Nate Dogg and Korrupt, though the latter two were uncredited. Basically a boast about how cool they are, there is zero lyrical depth, with bland, predictable gangster rap lyrics.
“Bitch quit talkin’, quick walk if you down with the set
Take a bullet with some dick and take this dope from this jet”
– more of the same:
“Get my drink on, and my smoke on
Then go home with, somethin’ to poke on (whassup bitch?)”
Luckily that’s not the point. You could put a shopping list to this song and it would be catchy. The “Lada dada da” hook is smart, but the inspiration, once again, is in the sample.
In 1967, funk and soul arranger David Axelrod produced an instrumental album by David McCallum entitled – Music: A Bit More of Me. David McCallum was a Scottish actor, famous for his heart-throb role as a Russian agent in the hit TV show – The Man From U.N.C.L.E. He was also a classically trained musician, and conducted several pieces of his own along with some popular hits of the time. The pieces have a Lalo Schifrin/Henry Mancini feel, with prominent flute, oboe and french horn over a guitar, bass and drum foundation. The sample Dr. Dre used is from a song called ‘The Edge’, a moody instrumental, the first 20 seconds of which sounds like a natural Hip-Hop sample years ahead of its time – Dre added a beat, lots of compression, and invited some rappers to guest.
McCallum married Karen Carpenter, and unfortunately they spend their time these days involved in charities that support the United States Marine Corps. Here’s McCallum with Nancy Sinatra in his better days.
Just for kicks, here’s Snoop at his sleazy best.
9.
Fantasy – Mariah Carey
Samples the Tom Tom Club’s ‘Genius of Love‘
Mariah Carey’s 1995 hit ‘Fantasy’ is pure pop-disco perfection. A departure from her previous releases (largely over-sentimental clichéd ballads), the single and its’ parent album Daydream marked her first conscious foray into R’nB and Hip-Hop – The remix even features a verse from a rapper – Ole’ Dirty Bastard, a move initially opposed by her then-manager/husband and her record company, for fear of alienating her fans. Written by Carey, producer Dave Hall and Sean Combs (a.k.a. Puff Daddy/Diddy or whatever moniker he goes under these days), ‘Fantasy’ is a jaunty, catchy, pop song laid over the funky disco groove of the Tom Tom Club’s 1980 dance-club success – ‘Genius of Love’. Carey’s depth of range and her vocal control seem effortless, from the very first melismas framed by Hall’s atmospheric strings, to the incredibly catchy vocal introduction, and into the staccato verse:
“Oh when you walk by every night
Talking sweet and looking fine
I get kind of hectic inside
Oh baby I’m so into you
Darling if you only knew
All the things that flow through my mind”
All of this happens before the the sucker-punch chorus where we hear multiple Mariahs underneath the main line – lyrically an acceptance that the verse is based on an unreality. ‘Fantasy’ is a simple universal concept based on unrequited infatuation, but with a lucid twist. She is fully aware of the imaginary nature of this daydream, and the lyrics might appear tragic under different circumstances. But ‘Fantasy’ taps into the genius of Motown in its’ heyday by making a musical celebration out of what could easily come across as someone feeling sorry for themselves. Unusually for a pop song, the melodies for the first and second verses are different – the second verse develops what we’ve heard before, with Carey throwing in several pauses that further the offbeat, jerky syncopated rhythm:
“And my heart beats faster (variation on the melody)
(pause) When you take me over”
Interestingly, the song was written with the sample in mind from the very beginning. Carey recalled:
“I was listening to the radio and heard ‘Genius of Love’, and I hadn’t heard it in a long time. It reminded me of growing up and listening to the radio and that feeling the song gave me seemed to go with the melody and basic idea I had for “Fantasy”. I initially told Dave about the idea, and we did it. We called up the Tom Tom Club and they were really into it.”
They were reportedly sufficiently intrigued to agree immediately. Founded by husband and wife Tina Weymouth and Chris Frantz, the Tom Tom Club was initially a side project for Talking Heads – Weymouth was Talking Head’s bassist, while Frantz was their drummer. It became a collective of like-minded individuals and they made several albums. ‘Genius of Love’ is from their first and most successful album, produced in 1980, and has been sampled numerously (by Grandmaster Flash, Redman, 2Pac, Ziggy Marley, Mark Morrison, Max B). It was actually a bigger hit than anything Talking Heads had released to that point. ‘Genius of Love’ has a slow funk feel to it, with hints of dancehall and reggaeton thrown in. In the lyrics, Frantz and Weymouth list artists that have influenced them, including Smokey Robinson, Bob Marley, Kurtis Blow, George Clinton, Bootsy Collins, Hamilton Bohannon and James Brown. The first refrain from ‘Genius of Love’ was also included by Carey in ‘Fantasy’-
“I’m in heaven, with my boyfriend, my laughing boyfriend
There’s no beginning, there’ll be no end
Feels like I’m dreaming but I’m not sleeping”
Mariah Carey went on to further commercial success, but musically, this was her zenith. The Tom Tom Club reunite regularly. Talking Heads’ frontman David Byrne credits the existence of the Tom Tom Club with the longevity of Talking Heads own career, in that each member was finding a release for his or her creativity.
Here’s another hit from the Tom Tom Club
Mariah Carey doing more nice melismas
10.
Daft Punk – Harder, Better, Faster, Stronger
Samples Cola Bottle Baby by Edwin Birdsong
Daft Punk’s Discovery album (2001) was a radio-friendly dance sensation. Clever sampling and prominent vocoder gave the French duo a signature sound, cementing them as the leader of the pack, where accessible modern electronic music was concerned. ‘Harder, Better, Faster, Stronger’ is the most famous of a number of popular releases, probably because it was in turn sampled by Kanye West (who can forget the ridiculous line: “You can be my black Kate Moss tonight”).
The statement Daft Punk are making is that the world is becoming one large factory, its’ people just cogs in an assembly line, where “our work is never done”. The voice seems to come from a figure of authority, dictating to his employees:
“Work it harder, make it better
Do it faster, makes us stronger
More than ever, hour after
Our work is, never over!”
This accurate yet bleak message is masterfully disguised by two things. The first being the delay in delivering the full stanza – it is chopped up and selected words are minimally and gradually released over the groove; by the time it does kick in, the listener is presumably too busy dancing to notice, which brings me to the second – the fantastic sample.
Daft Punk’s sample comes from an 11 minute suite named ‘Cola Bottle Baby / Phiss-Phizz’ by Edwin Birdsong, in which he likens a woman’s curvaceous figure to a bottle of cola. From the second half of the suite:
“Tight in the waist, fat in the hips, Phiss-Phizz – she’s just right
Tight in the waist, fat in the chest, Phiss-Phizz – she’s the best”
The end of the song features sounds of cola bottles being clinked and opened, pre-empting Coca Cola’s own TV campaign by 20 years. Perhaps another influence for Daft Punk was from the same album from 1979, ‘Freaky Deaky Sities’. The talkbox vocals used in the song is reminiscent of the vocoding effects that would later become so popular. Birdsong never achieved significant solo success during his prolific 1970’s funk/disco output, although he was recently honoured with a retrospective Grammy award on the back of ‘Harder, Better, Stronger, Faster’s phenomenal sales. A keyboardist and organ supremo, this former jazz student has played with Stevie Wonder, Miles Davis & Herbie Hancock. He co-wroteRoy Ayers’ hit ‘Runnin’ Away‘. His work has also been sampled by De La Soul, Mary J. Blige and Kelis, to name a few.
Daft Punk have great taste in music, and their use of samples could probably warrant a blog of its’ own – here is a list of the obscure music that they use. They recently worked on the soundtrack to Disney’s remake of the cult classic ‘Tron’.
If you’ve made it this far, thanks for reading. I enjoyed writing this, and I learned about some new music in the process. If you like, leave a comment below with your personal favourite samples. Peace,
Danny
Sweet as piece man,
You’ve Got What I Need – Freddie Scott —> Just a Friend – Biz Markie