Post Updated on August 10th, 2010
Greatest hip hop album of all time? Many people would say so. Definitely a must-own album (I'm proud to say I've got this baby on vinyl). The East Coast's Golden Child of the mid-90's, Nas dazzled us all with his pen-and-pad proficiency. But that's minimal when we talk about samples and sample sets. The work that guys like Premo, Pete Rock, LP, L.E.S. and Q-Tip put in on this record set it apart from most. It oozes with soul and refined beat-craftsmanship. The prevalent genre on this set is jazz, and rightfully so: Nas' pops is a jazz musician and -- understandably so -- must have affected his musical preferences and beat choices for his debut record. Original tracks by The Gap Band, Joe Chambers and The Heath Brothers stand out, most definitely; but all in all, this set is just a great playlist to kick back and vibe to. A BIG thank you to John Q of Lyrics to Go for the collaboration on this one! To many more in the future! Cheers...
Just in case you missed it:
ReplyDeletehttp://www.ohword.com/blog/926/deconstructing-illmatic
Peace,
Dan
Yup, this is the article that pushed John and I to come up with the FULL set. Although, John put in 99% of the work in on this one, so I can't take too much credit.
ReplyDeleteWow, great minds DO think alike! Is it Nas day up in here?
ReplyDeleteIvan,
ReplyDeleteIt's great to see all of them together like this with the vocal samples used for choruses etc: good work.
I was originally wrong about the 'Mixed Up Cup' break for 'One Love', as is The Breaks. The drums actually come from a Parliament track called 'Come In Out The Rain'. If you're as geekily obsessed with this shit as I am, check it out here:
http://fromdabricks.com/beats/comeinouttherain.mp3
Kevin - never 'met' you before and then all this crossing paths in a day! There you go...
Peace,
Dan
Good call. I'm gonna update the set!
ReplyDeleteGotta ask if you have hard times with all the different producers. For example, is DJ Premier/Large Professor the toughest producers to digg into their beats? Think it's amazing to use 7 samples in one song!
ReplyDeleteGastro: The Dust Brothers and The Bomb Squad are probably the hardest to cover.
ReplyDeleteThe Dust Brothers produced for The Beastie Boys, and on a track called 'B-Boy Bouillabaisse' (which was reworked on Jay-Z 'Hello Brooklyn 2.0), they used OVER 20 SAMPLES.
This is the one I've been waiting for! Props to John and yourself. Although every edition of Diggin' In The Crates has been a wonderful music learning experience. I've been having a hell of a time making playlists with the hip hop tracks and the sampled tracks interweaved in chronological order. Thank you so much!
ReplyDeleteSpeaking of the Dust Brothers' work on the legendary Paul's Boutique: over at Beastiemania.com in the Song Spotlight section, they meticulously document the insane amounts of sample sources used for PB. It is indeed staggering to see that anywhere from 5 to 20 samples were used for almost every track! (with some Beatles samples in the mix...insane in today's commercial sampling landscape, with the exception of Wu-Tang's The Heart Gently Weeps).
Ivan, if you ever get around to including this seminal Beasties release in your epic Diggin' In The Crates feature, my many hats off to you in advance (I shudder to think how many discs that would actually take). Anyways, keep up the fantastic work! And thanks again.
I know I write for the site, but can I say how amazing the sample sets you've been putting up?
ReplyDeleteDamn man, no sleep 'til Brooklyn or at least until we compile a complete "Paul's Boutique" sample set.
Hmm....Maybe we'll push for a 10-disc set or something... LOL!
ReplyDelete'ppreciate all the love y'all!
omg what a classic. great work guys
ReplyDeleteGreat post , Thank you
ReplyDeleteGuys the link doesn't work anymore. Any chance of fixing this?
ReplyDeleteCould some please re-up this? It would be greatly appreciated.
ReplyDeletei'm with ^^^ i came back over exclusively for these only to be like **FUUUUUUUUUUUCCCCCCCCKKKKKKKKKKKK. NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO.** you get it. we need these bad.
ReplyDeleteI would really appreciate a link to this, too. Pleeease!
ReplyDeletePlease give us a re-up , pack sounds too sick. Thanks in advance :)
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