Archive for the 'Sampled' Category

Kid Charlemagne
Steely Dan
The Royal Scam, 1976

I watched the Grammys this year after skipping them since whatever year the head of RIAA ended the show saying something to the effect of “please stop downloading music – you don’t want the music to stop, do you?” That was a real “wow” moment for me. I always knew the record executives wanted to save their a$$es and their nice apartments/houses but that was the first time that I considered that they actually believed that music would “stop” if they went out of business.

So few artists ever get a dime from major record companies (literally less than 10%) that it’s preposterous to think that all artists would say, “if I’m not going to get royalty checks then I’m going to just stop making music.” Most artists that don’t have multiple platinum albums make all of their money off of touring and merchandise as it is. No doubt that having an album out on a major label is great press and would help with those things but it’s definitely not required. No big surprise: record companies are now desperately attempting to make touring and merchandise part of their contracts.

What does all this have to do with this MP3? Not much other than it’s a song that was sampled on Kanye West’s grammy-award winning “Graduation” album. Kanye used this on “Champion” which is one of the songs that I liked from that album. I’m sitting here trying write something about how hearing the sample makes the Kanye track disappointing but I can’t front, I still like how he used it (even though he says things as stupid as, “I shop so much I could speak Italian.”)

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What Am I Waiting For
The O’Jays
Survival, 1975

“O’Jays power ballads” would definitely make my list of the good things in life. I wouldn’t actually call them “power ballads” (because of the 80′s rock connotation) but they definitely have more zest than what I think of as a “ballad.”

Wait…first things first, being from outside of Cleveland I need to point out that the O’Jays are from outside of Cleveland (Canton) and not Philadelphia as a lot of people think. Their best work (far and away) was with Gamble & Huff for Philadelphia International Records (P.I.R.) but just like Ohio license plates claim “birthplace of aviation” (the Orville Wright was born in Dayton), we also claim The O’Jays. The started out recording for King Records out of Cincinnati in 1961 and renamed themselves after Cleveland radio DJ Eddie O’Jay in 1963 after he gave them early support. Just wanted to give you the heads up so you don’t get your feelings hurt if you are ever talking about the O’Jays to any black person over 40 from Cleveland (and many younger). Eddie-Levert-pride is not a game.

They went on to record for Apollo, Imperial, Bell and Neptune before 1971. Neptune Records is where they met Gamble & Huff (G&H worked with Neptune pre-P.I.R.) and then they signed the O’Jays to P.I.R., which they created after Neptune folded.

In compiling the list below (my favorite O’Jays ballads) I realized that Bunny Sigler had his hand in most of the songs which I didn’t realize.

Back Stabbers
Listen To The Clock On The Wall (written by Gamble & Huff)
Who Am I (co-written and co-produced by Bunny Sigler)

Ship Ahoy
You Got Your Hooks In Me (written by Bunny Sigler)
Don’t Call Me Brother (written by Gamble & Sigler)

Message In The Music
I Swear, I Love No One But You (written & produced by Bunny Sigler)

So Full of Love
Help Somebody Please (written & produced by Eddie Levert and others)

If you like “What Am I Waiting For” be sure to check for those songs too. Most of this stuff is out on CD.

This song was sampled (poorly) by Nashiem Myrick on Jay-Z’s “You Must Love Me” on In My Lifetime, Vol. 1 and with a little more subtlety by the somewhat recently deceased Disco D on 50 Cent’s “Ski Mask Way.”

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Little Ghetto Boy
Donny Hathaway
Live, 1972

This is #1 on my list of albums I can’t believe haven’t been reissued on CD in the US. I’m sure someone can come up with something to trump this but this one is particularly noteworthy as the album is outstanding and everything else that he’s done (except for a live album from 1980) have already been reissued – including, as of this year the soundtrack to Come Back Charleston Blue, which is a Blaxploitation movie soundtrack that he did with Quincy Jones as music supervisor. I only heard it briefly once at someone’s house but from what I remember it’s mostly instrumental and not that moving, or at least not typical D.H. soul. It is however the first place that “Little Ghetto Boy” first appeared so we have it to thank for that.

I remember when I bought this album 6 or 7 years ago; talking to people about it then, it seemed like it must only be a matter of time before Atlantic would put it out on CD. That “matter of time” was longer than I thought (and getting longer every day) but the good news is that the import is now available on amazon for “only” $16, which actually isn’t that bad. Dusty Groove also has a reissue of the LP for the standard $9 price. Dusty Groove has the CD (out of stock) listed as a UK import at $19.

Side A of this album was recorded live at the Troubadour in Hollywood and Side B (including this song) was recorded live at the Bitter End in NYC which is on Bleecker near Laguardia. I was going to say that despite The Bitter End’s good musical reputation over the years, that it seemed sad Donny would be playing such a tiny place after putting out Everything Is Everything but…I just read that Curtis Mayfield classic Live album was recorded there the year before so…what do I know? (not much apparently…)

I will say that whoever wrote the Bitter End website is given to a certain level of hyperbole, claiming the owner has “play[ed] host to every important entertainer in the last thirty or more years.” I’m still waiting on that “Prince Live at the Bitter End” album to come out…

The darker intro to the song has served as good source material for Dr. Dre and The RZA (and others, I’m sure) but don’t sleep on the redemptive ending!

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I’ll Stay
Funkadelic
Standing On The Verge of Getting It On, 1974

And the prize for best album title ever goes to…(drum roll)…Standing On The Verge of Getting It On! My entry point for lesser known Funkadelic music was the Music For Your Mother Compilation (which I recommend if you don’t already have a somewhat in depth knowledge of their music) which I picked up at the recommendation of Bryan Adams. I remember being a little shocked at how out-there and original song titles like “If You Don’t Like The Effects, Don’t Produce the Cause,” “Biological Speculation” and “Jimmy’s Got A Little Bit of Bitch in Him” were. The range of the music was equally as surprising and varied, from gospel to soul-folk to electric-psychedelic craziness.

This song didn’t make the compilation, but my brother was nice enough to put me onto it and then give me the record on semi-permanent loan. Aside from being a masterpiece of hypnotic night-timey-ness, this song also belongs to the annals of samples because it’s the bulk of De La Soul’s “Millie Pulled A Pistol On Santa.” Millie’s “If you will suck my soul, I will lick your funky emotions” intro is also from Funkadelic’s “Mommy, What’s A Funkadelic?”

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Kool Is Back (full 8:14 version)
Funk, Inc.
Funk, Inc., 1971

Most of my musical come-ups from my Europe trip were digital (like the 5 hours DJ Scribe and I spent ripping CDs from the Program Manager of Estonia’s National Public Radio Youth station – thanks Heidy & Bert!) but this one was analog.

This song is somewhat widely known through it’s being sampled many times on everything from the opening drums to “Owner of a Lonely Heart” to Sting and Puffy’s (misguided?) 1997 collaboration “Roxanne ’97″ and it’s inclusion on the Ultimate Breaks and Beats compilations. But this is definitely better than just a sample novelty (my weakness for organ notwithstanding).

“Kool Is Back” has also been music-blogged but I’m pretty sure that I’ve still never heard the full 8:14 version until just now. I’m not naming any names but I’m pretty sure someone tried to pass off the 3:07 minute Ultimate Breaks and Beats version (that fades out in the beginning of the sax solo of all places) as the album version on their blog. That’s not cool man!

Dusty Groove has a reissue LP for a seemingly unheard of $19.99. The average price of a reissue is usually $8.99; it says it’s from the UK…well, at least it makes me feel better about paying 75 swedish kroner (~$11.50) for what appears to be an original German pressing.

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Summer In The City
Quincy Jones
You’ve Got It Bad Girl, 1973

Summer In The City
Oscar Brown, Jr.
Oscar Brown, Jr. Goes To Washington, 1965

One of my main motivations for posting this Quincy Jones song was to ask if anyone knew who sampled the section from :53-1:02 but of course, I figured it out in the course of writing the post – and I’m really patting myself on the back because it wasn’t on my semi-trusty resource the-breaks.com. This is one of those songs that plays like a dream sequence for me – one of those dreams where I walk down a New York City street and turn a corner and I’m in Cleveland but it doesn’t seem strange. The Pharcyde sampled the intro on “She Keeps Passin’ Me By” which was immediately recognizable even in this much mellower format, then the song moves off into unfamiliar territory but just as I start to forget about the first sample, the section (:53-1:02) that Massive Attack sampled on “Exchange” comes in like an old friend who’s name I can’t remember. It goes as fast as it came and we continue until 1:55 where the Roots borrowed a bit for the chorus of “Clones.” That one took a minute to place as well because I don’t think of the Roots as a sampling group even though I’m pretty sure they’ve used samples on every album. Then Valerie Simpson’s vocals come in somewhat unexpectedly at 2:27 although, I guess they are right on time, as she starts in the middle of the second verse of the original (Lovin’ Spoonful) lyrics. I know that other people have also sampled this song but these three were definitely the most recognizable for me.

This Oscar Brown, Jr. song was a song that I was thinking about posting for a while but put off because I didn’t have much to say about it. I still don’t, other than it’s great and it’s not a cover of the Lovin’ Spoonful, it actually came out a year before.

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King Heroin
James Brown
There It Is, 1972

This is another James Brown nugget that I forgot about until I heard D’Nell‘s 1st Magic album recently (“Different Day” samples it). This is “James Brown does anti-drug spoken word” and it is hilarious. The whole song is about a, um…”vivid” dream that he had. The dream is far enough out there that you might have cause to wonder the dream was “influenced” itself.

Obviously the delivery is half the humor but I’ll list a few choice lyrics so you can get an idea.

Ladies and Gentleman…Fellow Americans…Lady Americans…this James Brown.
I want to talk to you about one of most deadly killers in the country today.
I had a dream the other night and I was sitting in my living room
Just doze off to sleep so I start to dreaming.
I dream I walked in a place and I saw a real strange weird object standing up talking to the people and I found it was heroin, that deadly drug that go in your vein, he said:
I came to this country without a passport
Ever since then I’ve been hunted and sought
My little white grains are nothing but waste, soft and deadly and bitter to taste
But I’m a world of power and all know it’s true
Use me once and you’ll know it too
I can make a mere school boy forget his books
I can make a world famous beauty neglect her looks
I can make a good man forsake his wife
Send a greedy man to prison, for the rest of his life
I can make a man forsake his country and flag
Make a girl sell her body for a $5 bag

I’m financed in china, ran in japan
I’m respected in turkey and I’m legal in Sian (spelling?)
I take my addicts and make them steal, borrow, beg
Then they search for a vein in their arm or their leg
So be you Italian, Jewish, Black or Mex
I can make the virile of men forget their sex

Can anyone else think of songs that sample this? I heard another one this week but forgot it already.

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Sing a Happy Song
War
Youngblood Original Motion Picture Soundtrack, 1978

bio | discography

Can anyone tell me where to get an alarm clock that plays cds or mp3s? I’m serious; I think waking up to this song, instead of the torturous/grating electronic noise that I do now, would do a lot for my quality of life. This song has an ultra sunshiney vibe and the lyrics start: “wake up in the morning with a tune in your heart, grooving to the music is the only way to start.”

This is also another post in the annals of samples. This one is recognizable as “Feels So Good” from Brand Nubian’s 1990 classic, One For All.

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A Little Bit of Love
Brenda Russell
Brenda Russell, 1979

bio | discography

I’ve been meaning to post this song for so long that I had to check to see if I had already posted it. This is another jewel gleaned from a late night with Monk One at Black Betty but this one is much more hopeful and summery.

Brenda Russell is best known for her smooth-jazz-meets-80s hit “Piano in the Dark” (1988). Sadly, as is so often the case, “Piano” was the format-driven material that followed after the unique, more textured material (like this song) went largely ignored.

This is definitely one of those tracks that I would have loved to be in the room during the recording session. The Doublerock Baptist Junior Choir are singing backup from 2:35 to the end and I love the image I get of them filing into the studio off of the church bus after rehearsing this secular song at the church.

Don’t miss 1998′s biggest sample in the intro.

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Lovely Is Today
Eddie Harris
Plug Me In, 1968

This is early electronic music…son! Kraftwerk be damned! And by early, I mean early – back when Atlantic had the funky blue and green labels. “Eddie Harris and His Electric Saxophone” must have been risque for 1968, there’s even the nervous sounding marketing sentence on the back: “The wide public acceptance of the previous album demonstrates that an electronically aided instrument, when placed with a talent such as Eddie Harris, can find a proper niche in today’s ever evolving music.”

Truth be told, it’s hard to really tell the difference between this “electronically amplified” tenor sax and a normal one, other than that his tone is a little unruly. Bill Cerri, our genteel liner note writer, says that without Eddie’s skills, the amplified sax would sound like a kazoo. They probably could have come up with a more descriptive term for it then, as “electronically amplified” sounds like he’s just playing into a mic.

This song actually has the “live horns in a room” sound that I search for on old records. Obviously all of the backing horns are live but its still ironic that they are basically apologizing for it’s avant garde sound and 38 years later, the difference is hardly discernible.

As you might guess this track was sampled (on Gang Starr’s “2 Deep”) a long time ago.

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