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"

These Are The Breaks.

(Our weekly look back at the original songs your favorite Hip-Hop records sampled)

THIS WEEK: James Brown.

A new week, a new break. It's no surprise that the Godfather of Soul (R.I.P.) has made his way into this section. In fact, James Brown is the most sampled artist in music history, as he's been flipped almost 1000 different times (and counting). His song "Funky Drummer" is the most sampled song of all time, and the drum break at the end of the song has been used over 100 times - this all before sampling was illegal.

"I made 7 whole albums with no James Brown,
and even though I love his music, I just can't stand...
the way they used it all up and didn't pay the man." (c) Too Short.

But we're going to dig a little deeper here, and take a look at one of his lesser known samples. His song, "Blind Man Can See It" was originally from the soundtrack to the blaxploitation flick, Black Caesar starring Shaft himself - Fred Williamson. The movie was a remake of the 1931 film Little Caesar, and though it wasn't a commercial success it featured a notable musical score by James Brown (with heavy input from his bandleader Fred Wesley), which happened to be his first experience for writing music for film. The soundtrack is dope, through and through, and features one of James' most bad-ass songs "The Boss."

"Blind Man Can See It" is a superfunky instrumental track that keeps a fairly simple funk melody throughout the beginning of the song, and then at 0:45 seconds in - that's where the magic happens. At that point, the beat drops...and there, my friends is where we find today's sample.

LISTEN: James Brown - "Blind Man Can See It"

Most of you will riggitty-recognize it instantly, as it's that classic biggity-bum rush music from the niggity-nappy headed duo striggity-straight from the sewer.


Das EFX - "They Want EFX"