Capone -N- Noreaga - Driver's Seat (1997) sampled Willie Hutch - Do The Thing That's Best For You (1974)

Artist:  Capone -N- Noreaga
Song:  Driver's Seat
Year:  1997
Album:  The War Report

C.N.N. Network, Channel 10.  What!  What!  This is my favourite song from Capone -N- Noreaga, it triggered me to buy the album the next day.  It has always seemed odd to me that Busta Rhymes jumps on the song at the end to bark.  It would have been nice to have a verse from Busta.  On a side note, I think that Akinyele makes a brief appearance in this song's video.

Artist:  Willie Hutch
Song:  Do The Thing That's Best For You
Year:  1974
Album:  The Mark Of The Beast

I listened to this song many times and didn't make the connection to Capone -N- Noreaga. One day, I listened to the song and finally heard it.  Funny how the brain works.  This Willie Hutch album isn't as good as "Foxy Brown" or "The Mack", but it's the next best thing.  The samples used by Capone -N- Noreaga break down like this:  In the intro to the song, the sample is just a vocal and piano sample from the 0:20 mark played repeatedly.  The main sample is a bass and vocal sample for 2 bars.  The first bar (plus a little bit into the second bar) is at 0:19.  The remainder of the second bar is made up of the sample at 0:21 played twice.

Pete Rock - Markd4Death (2003) sampled Norman Connors - Butterfly Dreams (1973)

Artist:  Pete Rock
Song:  Markd4Death
Year:  2003
Album:  Hip Hop Underground Soul Classics

This one is a bit confusing.  Pete Rock was not able to release the InI "Center Of Attention" album or the Deda "The Original Baby Pa" album back in 1995/1996 when I was looking forward to both projects.  Fortunately, my friend RGH acquired a cassette of the InI album and that satisfied me for years before this album finally gave me the Deda record.  Both albums are classics if you like Pete Rock.  The strange thing is that this song is on the Deda album but he doesn't appear on it, instead it seems to be a song by a group called Ex Cons.

Artist:  Norman Connors
Song:  Butterfly Dreams
Year:  1973
Album:  Dark Of Light

This is a great jazz album and very different from his later work.  The Pete Rock song put in some labour.  The intro is a small sample that occurs at 0:12 for a half bar, repeated 4 times at increasing pitches.  During the main part of the song, this same sample serves as the final half bar of the two-bar loop.  The first bar and a half comes from the sample starting at 0:06.