Here's one I've been wanting to put together for a looooong, long time. For years, I was frustrated that the sample for "Shook Ones Pt. II" - arguably the album (and group)'s greatest track - was a mystery. But that all changed when Bronco from The-Breaks made one of the two greatest sample-sleuthing discoveries in recent years. (The other epic find was for Raekwon's "Ice Cream", made by YouTube user patriquino.) Havoc is a damn genius (and fool!) for this one...
That Herbie Hancock track notwithstanding, there are some other great flips on this record. Grant Green's "Maybe Tomorrow", which has been sampled, most recently, for Kendrick Lamar's "Sing About Me, I'm Dying of Thirst" off good kid, m.A.A.d city, is picked apart so delicately here, you'd barely notice hearing it on "The Start of Your Ending (41st Side)", The Infamous' opening track. It's all about those subtle keys! Here's another one: Al Green's "I Wish You Were Here". Again, the implementation is so subtle, but it's there. Havoc wasn't just looping records; he was really getting creative with it. Read more about Havoc's production on "Eye for a Eye (Your Beef Is Mines)" here. The full Complex interview is here. Shouts to Noah Callahan-Bever, Toshitaka Kondo, and Insanul Ahmed.
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| WTF, Mister Cee!? |
The brilliance keeps on coming: Miles Davis' "Lonely Fire", the sirens on Quincy Jones' "Kitty With the Bent Frame", Herbie Hancock's "Jessica" (yeah, I've gotta mention it again!), The Headhunters' "I Remember I Made You Cry" (which really demonstrated Q-Tip's contribution on "Drink Away the Pain (Situations)"), the sinister intro portion off Les McCann's "Benjamin"... maaaaaan, I could keep going. This is just another one of those times in which hunting down samples from an album makes you appreciate the record that much more! As always, click the album cover up top to download the sample set, or peep the Audiomack player below. Enjoy... and turn it up!!
