Street Smartz - Metal Thangz (Remix) (1997) sampled Deniece Williams - I Believe In Miracles (1982)

Artist:  Street Smartz
Song:  Metal Thangz (Remix)
Year:  1997
Album:  Tru Criminal Records EP

More Street Smartz!  This blog is becoming a shrine to F.T.  I still recite parts of these verses while walking down the street 14 years later.  These are classic lyrics that still hold up today.  F.T. kills it.

Artist:  Rob-O
Song:  World Premier
Year:  2006
Album:  Rhyme Pro

I believe Rob-O created this song well before 2006, but I heard it first on this album.  Rhyme Pro is a compilation of some of Rob-O's older material which I recognize from the late 1990's.  Some good Pete Rock production appears elsewhere on this album.

Artist:  Deniece Williams
Song:  I Believe In Miracles
Year:  1982
Album:  Niecy

There is quite a gap between the lyrics of Deniece Williams and those of F.T.  The Street Smartz sample is a two-bar loop starting at 0:08.  Occasionally, the two-bar loop at 0:17 can be heard.  Rob-O used four-bar loops in his song.  The verse loops start with two bars from 0:08, then one bar from 0:05 repeats twice.  The chorus loop starts with two bars from 0:17 and is followed by a mix of two samples: the one bar from 0:05 and the one bar from 0:22 repeat twice.

Heltah Skeltah - Prowl (1996) sampled Lalo Schifrin - Danube Incident (1967)

Artist:  Heltah Skeltah
Song:  Prowl
Year:  1996
Album:  Nocturnal

In the summer of 1996, I thought that the Boot Camp Clik was at the top of the Hiphop hierarchy, especially since they had Da Beatminerz making great music for the past 4 years.  Heltah Skeltah were my favourite Emcee's in the crew.  Rock (Da Rockness Monstah) had the voice and Ruck (Sean Price) had the lyrics.  This song also has an appearance from Louieville Sluggah.

Artist:  CRU
Song:  Straight From L.I.P.
Year:  1997
Album:  Da Dirty 30

I think that this is one of the best album covers in Hiphop because it is a careful arrangement of photos to produce the letters CRU.

Artist:  Portishead
Song:  Sour Times
Year:  1994
Album:  Dummy

This is where I first heard the sample back in 1994.  This post was birthed recently when I was at the bar with my buddies and this came on.  It took me a second to remember where the sample was from.  They did a great job of taking the samples and seamlessly integrating them into their additional instrumentation.

Artist:  Lalo Schifrin
Song:  Danube Incident
Year:  1967
Album:  More Mission: Impossible

This song also appears on rereleases such as Music From Mission: Impossible Anthology and Mission: Impossible ... And More!  Heltah Skeltah kept it simple by looping the 4-bar sample at 0:00 and keeping it slow.  CRU and Portishead both sped up that sample and used the sample at 1:33 for an intro.  Portishead also switched between the 2 samples at various points in their song.