A while ago, I started spending a lot of time researching and hoarding sampled tunes from great rap tunes. The idea was to make a mix to send to all my music-lovin’ pals out there. Very quickly, my obsession got the best of me and this collection grew way too big to send out all at once. So here’s the first installation of ORIGINALS, a mix series in which we nod and acknowledge the building blocks of our own classics.
Download here.
Tracklist and super nerdy research notes below.
1. LABI SIFFRE “I GOT THE BLUES” (1975)
2. EMINEM “MY NAME IS” (1999)
Labi Siffre is a British dude who made Dre & Em change the lyrics to “My Name Is” before allowing them to use this sample. Listen around 2:08 for when the beat really kicks in.
3. THE CHARMELS “I’LL NEVER GROW OLD” (1967)
4. WU-TANG CLAN “C.R.E.A.M.” (1993)
The Charmells (sometimes credited as the Charmels, previously known as the Tonettes) were a girl group on Stax in the 60’s. Turned out a couple of singles, the best of which, “I’ll Never Grow Old” was handpicked by the Rza and morphed into a rap classic.
5. JOE COCKER “WOMAN TO WOMAN” (1972)
6. TUPAC “CALIFORNIA LOVE” (1995)
I interviewed Joe Cocker a few years ago and couldn’t help asking about this sample. As it turns out, he had no idea that Tupac Shakur had a major hit in “California Love” by heavily sampling his tune - and had to take legal action after it was already on the air. I think Joe’s version is just as fierce as Pac’s.
7. WILLIE HUTCH “TELL ME WHY HAS OUR LOVE TURNED COLD” (1973)
8. THREE SIX MAFIA “STAY FLY” (2005)
This Willie Hutch tune comes from the soundtrack to The Mack, a movie about pimps that is referenced in everything from Chappelle’s Show to Jay-Z albums to Outkast song titles. You know the song Player’s Ball? That comes from a scene in The Mack. This is not the only time Willie Hutch will turn up on this mix. Mackin’ ain’t easy.
9. CHI-LITES “ARE YOU MY WOMAN?” (1971)
10. BEYONCE FEAT. JAY-Z “CRAZY IN LOVE” (2003)
I like this Chi-Lites song because it’s got all the swagger of 1970’s funk and soul with a little bit of leftover doo-wop influence. I like the Beyonce song because of the “Uh-oh, uh-oh, uh-oh, oh no no” part. Almost impossible to listen to the original without singing that part.
11. ISAAC HAYES “BUMPY’S LAMENT” (1971)
12. DR. DRE “XXPLOSIVE” (1999)
13. ERYKAH BADY “BAG LADY” (2000)
14. SOLANGE “STILLNESS IS THE MOVE”(2009)
Isaac Hayes is king of men, can we just say that and get that out of the way? Bumpy’s Lament is from the soundtrack to Shaft, and is just about the saddest song about gangsters you’ll ever hear. Dre picked it for “Xxplosive” on The Chronic 2001, Erykah used part of that melody in a barely-there sample on “Bag Lady,” and Solange flipped it all upside down last year with her cover of the Dirty Projectors’ “Stillness Is The Move.” More Isaac coming up next.
15. ISAAC HAYES “HUNG UP ON MY BABY” (1974)
16. GETO BOYS “MIND PLAYIN’ TRICKS ON ME” (1991)
Another slice of awesome from the Isaac Hayes film-soundtrack collection; this one is from a 1974 movie called Tough Guys. Not a lot of info out there on that flick but I’d be surprised if it wasn’t about pimpin’. Stephen Jenkins of Third Eye Blind once said that Geto Boys’ 1991 “Mind Playing Tricks On Me” was a big influence on writing “Semi Charmed Life,” a useless fact that makes no sense but I thought I’d include here anyway.
17. CHUCK BROWN & THE SOUL SEARCHERS “BLOW YOUR WHISTLE” (1972)
18. EVE “TAMBOURINE” (2007)
Chuck Brown is from Washington, D.C. and is credited as being the “Grandfather of Go-Go,” a subgenre of 70’s funk. “Blow Your Whistle” is one of his earlier hits with the Soul Searchers before releasing probably his biggest hit, “Bustin’ Loose,” referenced in Nelly’s “Hot In Herre” (“I feel like bustin’ loose, I feel like touchin’ you”) but that’s neither here nor there. Eve and Swizz Beatz downpitched the shit out of vocal sample for Tambourine, but it still sounds great.
19. ANN PEEBLES “I CAN’T STAND THE RAIN” (1974)
20. MISSY ELLIOTT “THE RAIN (SUPA DUPA FLY)” (1997)
Before Missy inflated her garbage-bag suit and used “I Can’t Stand The Rain” as the chorus on “Supa Dupa Fly,” this song was covered by both Ronnie Wood and Tina Turner. Missy’s version is probably best known at this point, however, and I especially like how her take is pretty faithful to the original- strange, percussive, etc. I just want to be 15 and see that video for the first time again. Weird!!
21. MTUME “JUICY FRUIT” (1982)
22. NOTORIOUS B.I.G. “JUICY” (1994)
You can all thank Mtume for coming up with the instrumentation underneath the greatest rap song of all time. Enough said.
23. MFSB “SOMETHING FOR NOTHING” ( 1973)
24. JAY-Z “WHAT MORE CAN I SAY?” (2003)
MFSB, which stands for Mother Father Sister Brother, was a collective of thirty-plus studio musicians that recorded at Philadelphia’s Sigma Sound Studios. They turned out some pretty dope tracks, including this super-cinematic piece used on Jay-Z’s The Black Album.
25. DELFONICS “READY OR NOT, HERE I COME” (1968)
26. FUGEES “READY OR NOT” (1996)
27. MISSY ELLIOTT “SOCK IT TO ME” (1997)
More from Philly with a group loved by both myself and Quentin Tarantino: the Delfonics. They were a big part of the movie “Jackie Brown,” and also majorly sampled in these two rap classics. The Fugees use the vocals, Missy uses the ominous horn section. The Fugees’ “Ready or Not” is Barack Obama’s favorite song, FYI. Also, remember Da Brat?? She was terrifying.
28. LES MCCANN “VALANTRA”
29. NOTORIOUS B.I.G. “TEN CRACK COMMANDMENTS”
This sample is barely discernible. I played it for my brother once through my computer speakers and he was convinced I had gone bananas. Two tiny notes from “Valantra” add to the weird/foreboding flow of “Ten Crack Commandments,” listen close for it. And remember, never, ever, ever get high on your own supply.
