These Are the Breaks: Nas

Since Nas is all the rage these days, I decided to use that momentum to my advantage and feature him in this weeks section of... (cue the horns)... "These Are The Breaks"

This week: Nas

We are going to take a look at three different Nas tracks, from three different albums. Let's start from where you should always start - the beginning. When you first popped in that Illmatic tape, and after listening to the album intro to get you hyped, the first song that hit your ears was "N.Y. State Of Mind", a gritty and dark, bass-driven track produced by DJ Premier. it was a hell of an introduction to the Queensbridge emcee. So, where did Primo find that legendary bass loop?

From Philadelphia Jazz musician Joe Chambers. Joe was trained as a drummer, but was also well versed as a pianist [pause] and composer. He also scored music for movies, including Spike Lee's Mo Better Blues. The "N.Y. State Of Mind" sample comes from Joe Chamber's song, "Mind Rain" which appeared on his 1978 album Double Exposure.

The sample comes in at 1:09

Joe Chamber - "Mind Rain"


Next up, was Nas' sophomore album, It Was Written which is his best selling album to date. It was a departure from his first album, as it featured bigger production and had a much more mainstream sound. This album birthed the Nas Escobar persona as he developed a mafioso style (which eventually led to The Firm fiasco). The album's second single, the Poke and Tone produced "Street Dreams" featured a slick bassline that was also used in 2Pac's "All Eyez On Me."

The loop was borrowed from R&B singer Linda Clifford's song "Never Gonna Stop (Loving You)." Although she had some minor hits, this song didn't make much noise except for the classic hip-hop songs that followed. The groove is so dope.

Linda Clifford - "Never Gonna Stop"


Last comes a song from a time when nobody really cared about Nas, aka The Nastradamus years. He released 2 albums in the same year, the second being Nastradamus which included the title track "Nastradamus." Talk about the Department of Redundancy Department. Anyways, the song borrowed from the legendary funky soul band The J.B.'s (who were James Brown's band which included funk icons like Bootsy Collins and Bobby Byrd). Along with James Brown, the J.B.'s are one of the most sampled acts of all time, and by far one of the funkiest. Their 1975 song "(It's Not the Express) It's the J.B.'s Monaurail" was the record Nas flipped for his track "Nastradamus." The funk groove and horn arrangements on this record are so sick...it's by far one of my favorite J.B. songs.

The sample comes in at 2:35, but just enjoy the funky ride.

The J.B.'s - "It's the JB's Monaurail"


[BONUS] DOWNLOAD: Linda Clifford - "Never Gonna Stop (Loving You)"
[BONUS] DOWNLOAD: The J.B.'s - "It's the J.B.'s Monaurail"