THESE ARE THE BREAKS: I Got Cha Opin.

I like to give you guys a taste of some of the records your favorite hip-hop songs sampled. Nothing but D. Originals.

DOWNLOAD: Barry White - "Playing Your Game, Baby"

These Are the Breaks: Isaac Hayes.

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

I took last week off from this section of the blog because I was on vacation, but I'm making up for it with an extensive post this time around. And it's only right that this week were are looking at a musical legend, a soul pioneer, the Black Moses: Isaac Hayes. Hayes passed away this Sunday at the age of 65 from an apparent stroke, but his music will live on forever - especially in Hip-Hop. His soulful music music has laid the groundwork for countless hip-hop artist and legendary rap records.

Alongside his work in popular music, Hayes was a film score composer for motion pictures. He's best known for creating the illest theme music ever for the 1971 blaxploitation film Shaft, which earned Hayes an Academy Award for Best Original Song (the first Academy Award received by an African-American in a non-acting category) and two Grammy Awards. Hayes also got his silver screen on and appeared in numerous movies and television shows. Most of you new jacks will know him as the voice of "Chef" on South Park.

Let's get into it the samples.

(1) Isaac Hayes - "Walk On By" [DOWNLOAD]

His first album, Hot Buttered Soul, is widely regarded as a landmark in soul music. Not only did it have one of the best album titles ever, but it broke away from the typical three-minute song format, but rather consisted of just four tracks ranging between 5 and 18 minutes long. The first song on the album is a Burt Bacharach cover and is titled "Walk On By." It's been sampled by Tupac, Compton's Most Wanted, and most notably The Notorious B.I.G.


Notorious B.I.G. - "Warning"




(2) Isaac Hayes - "Hyperbolicsyllabicsesquedalymistic" [DOWNLOAD]

Next up, from the same album, Hot Buttered Soul, the second track on the record is "Hyperbolicsyllabicsesquedalymistic." Say that 3 times fast. The funky bass and wah wah guitar loop were used most notably by DJ Quik and Public Enemy.


DJ Quik - "Born and Raised in Compton"


Public Enemy - Black Steel in the Hour of Chaos"




(3) Isaac Hayes - "The Look Of Love" [DOWNLOAD]

Hayes' released his fourth studio album, ...To Be Continued, in 1970. The album featured one of Isaac's most famous songs, "The Look of Love" which was another Burt Bacharach cover. It's one of the dopest instrumental intros of all time, and has been sampled by everybody: LL Cool L, Special Ed, Smif N Wessum, Snoop Dogg, and of course Jay-Z.


Jay-Z - "Can I Live?"




(4) Isaac Hayes - "Ike's Mood" [DOWNLOAD]

From the same album, comes "Ike's Mood" which was an instrumental track and a part of medley on the B-Side of "...To Be Continued." The song has multiple changes, and each intricate part has been used for classic song after classic song. It's the most sampled Issac song, flipped at least 20+ times from LL Cool J to Mary J. Blige, but most recognized as Biz Markie's "Make The Music." The loop Biz used starts at 1:45.

Ah, one-two, ah, one-two

Biz Markie - "Make The Music"




(5) Isaac Hayes - "Hung Up on My Baby" [DOWNLOAD]

In 1974, Hayes appeared in the blaxploitation flick, Three Tough Guys, and also recorded the soundtrack which was titled, Tough Guys. The soundtrack featured a song called, "Hung up on My Baby" which might be Hayes' most widely recognized hip-hop sample. The second you hear it, you know exactly where it's from...it drops in at 0:29 seconds.

Classic.

Geto Boys - "My Mind Is Playing Tricks On Me"

The intro from the song is also used in an obscure, but well known Cali song by Second II None...

Second II None - "If You Want It"




(6) Isaac Hayes - "A Few More Kisses To Go" [DOWNLOAD]

By 1979, the music landscape had changed. Soul music was starting to take a backseat to disco. Hayes adapted, and returned to the Top 40 with Don't Let Go and its disco-styled title track that became a hit single (U.S. #18), and also featured the classic "A Few More Kisses To Go" which was later turned into a one of my favorite Redman songs of all time.

I walk around town with the black tech nine by the waistline...

Redman - "Tonite's Da Night"

These Are the Breaks.

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


THIS WEEK: Liquid Liquid.

This week we're taking a look at one of the freshest and most notable bass samples in hip-hop. The samples comes from an obscure New York post-punk band called Liquid Liquid. Although their catalogue is small and records were printed at a very low quantity., their impact in the clubs has been huge. Their music was essentially groove based, influenced by the many different sources, funk, dub reggae of the 1970s, and primarily punk in its do it yourself garage approach. In 1983, they released a track called "Cavern" that would be the inspiration for one of the most classic of classic hip hop songs. In fact, "Cavern" is so dope, I've actually heard it played in hip-hop and dance clubs, and I actually prefer it to it's sampled hip-hop counterpart.

LISTEN: Liquid Liquid - "Cavern"

Instantaneously, the sample is recognizable as Grandmaster Flash's "White Lines." Instead of stealing the loop from the actual record, the Sugar Hill house band replayed groove for their version.


Grandmaster Flash & The Furious Five Ft. Melle Mel - White Lines (Don't Don't Do It)

Mobb Deep went on sample it for their bassline in" Quiet Storm," but they slowed it waaaaaay down. To this day, this song is sicker than your average.


Mobb Deep - "Quiet Storm"

The Reeeeeeeal.

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"

These Are The Breaks.

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


Since the 4th of July was last week, and some idiots are still lighting off fireworks in my neighborhood I thought this week's entry of These Are the Breaks should be firecracker-related. Confused yet? Don't worry...these things tend to work themselves out.

Mass Production was a Virginia-based funk band in the late 70's and early 80's, and one one of the largest of its time - in size, not stature. The group included 10 band members. Although, they are somewhat obscure, they had one hit record, titled "Fire Cracker" (see the connection?) which hit number four on the R&B charts in the late summer of 1979.

LISTEN: Mass Production - "Firecracker"

The song would later be sampled and flipped into one of the raunchiest and more controversial rap songs ever.


The song, 2 Live Crew's "Me So Horny" also borrowed its hook from a Stanley Kubrik's classic movie, Full Metal Jacket, in a scene where a Vietnamese hooker propositions 2 American soldiers. Me love you long time.

These Are The Breaks.

So I wanted to start a new category of posts here on the Bloggy Smalls. If you didn't know, allow me to reintroduce myself (c) Jigga...I'm a huge beat head. i study the history of hip-hop. I dig through dusty records. I love the original samples that we flipped to make some of the illest beats in the music history. So i wanted to dedicate a post every week to let you in on some of the original samples that have left a huge impact on hip hop history. Because you'll never know where you're going unless you know where you're from.

And since I'm from the West, that's where we're going to start. One of the most prolific and legendary producers in westcoast hip hop history is the good Doctor. Dre has laid classic track after classic track,and set the soundscape for L.A. based Hip-Hop. Many people are unaware that Dr. Dre actually samples -- but rather that he produces his tracks from scratch. This is not true. Dre has sampled hundreds of times, he is just so good at replaying the original sample on his keyboard and/or layering it with other synth and drums sounds that it sounds original. Here is one of those sneaky samples he snuck in there, and gave to Pac just as he was out on bail, fresh outta jail...

Joe Cocker - Woman to Woman


2Pac - California Love

(I forgot Chris Tucker was in this video, haha. What happened to that guy?)