Two years ago, Long Island emcee/producer extraordinaire Roc Marciano dropped his classic debut LP, Marcberg. One of the many gems from the record was the emotive "Thug's Prayer" (watch Dallas Penn's video tribute). The track looped a segment off an obscure 1969 LP by the psychedelic rock band the C.A. Quintet. I'd love to know how/when/where/why Roc Marci found this record. (At the moment of this posting, an original copy is selling for $1,800 on Discogs.) I featured said C.A. Quintet track ("Trip Thru Hell (Part I)") on my Samples of the Year 2010 compilation. (2012 edition coming soon...)
Two years later, Roc's still at it, this time re-flipping "Trip Thru Hell (Part I)" for the sequel, "Thug's Prayer 2", off his latest LP, Reloaded. He really butchered that track this time - in a good way - cutting up various segments from the record and having them play seamlessly. In addition to all this, he also served up "I Shot the King", a Reloaded bonus track which samples a C.A. Quintet track by the same title, off the same 1969 album (Trip Thru Hell). The continued usage of this ill crate discovery intrigues me, particularly since no other hip hop producer - as far as I know - has toyed around with this record at all. I love seeing/hearing a producer go back to the same well, getting the very most out of these abundant resources, and managing to continue cranking out quality music. If it ain't broke... don't fix it keep going!
#SOTY2012
