Meyhem Lauren - Top Of The World (2012) sampled Serge Gainsbourg and Jane Birkin - Jane B. (1969)

Artist:  Meyhem Lauren
Song:  Top Of The World
Year:  2012
Album:  Respect The Fly Shit

DJ Premier does a top 25 albums list each year, so I thought that I would share the 25 best albums I listened to in 2012.

Top 25 Albums of 2012

25 - Freddie Gibbs and Madlib - Shame EP
24 - Game - Jesus Piece
23 - Kanye West (Good Music) - Cruel Summer
22 - Roc Marciano - Reloaded
21 - Big Boi - Vicious Lies and Dangerous Rumors
20 - Apollo Brown & Guilty Simpson - Dice Game
19 - 4th Pyramid - The Pyramid Scheme
18 - 9th Wonder - Tutankhamen
17 - Rapper Big Pooh - Fat Boy Fresh Volume Two Est. 1980
16 - 9th Wonder & Buckshot - The Solution
15 - Tona - Reform School
14 - The Alchemist - Russian Roulette
13 - Oh No - Ohnomite
12 - Sean Price - Mic Tyson
11 - Apollo Brown & O.C. - Trophies

Top 10 Albums of 2012

10 - Nas - Life Is Good
9 - Action Bronson & The Alchemist - Rare Chandeliers
8 - Domo Genesis - No Idols
7 - Masta Ace & MF Doom - MA Doom: Son of Yvonne
6 - Wu Block - Wu Block
5 - Action Bronson - Blue Chips
4 - Slum Village - The Dirty Slums
3 - Lil Fame & Termanology - Fizzyology
2 - Kendrick Lamar - good kid, m.A.A.d city
1 - Meyhem Lauren - Respect The Fly Shit

Meyhem Lauren, Action Bronson and The Alchemist were on top of the world in 2012.




Artist:  Serge Gainsbourg and Jane Birkin
Song:  Jane B.
Year:  1969
Album:  Jane Birkin - Serge Gainsbourg

Whether it's Serge Gainsbourg, Michel Legrand or Franck Pourcel, France has produced a lot of great music.  This tune was also sampled by DJ Revolution for "The Backbone" (featuring Toronto's own Kardinal Offishall and Choclair).

Meyhem Lauren used the 4 bars between 0:00 and 0:13, alternating between looping 1 bar, 2 bars or all 4 bars.

Canibus - How We Roll (1998) sampled MFSB - Something For Nothing (1973)

Artist:  Canibus
Song:  How We Roll
Year:  1998
Album:  Can-I-Bus

In 1997 and 1998, Canibus was on top of the game.  He was the most sought after guest lyricist on songs.  This is my favourite track off his first album because of the lyrics, the well constructed beat and Panama P.I. makes an appearance!

Artist:  Tracey Lee
Song:  Keep Your Hands High
Year:  1997
Album:  Many Facez

This song is notable for several reasons:  First of all, the beat was well made.  Secondly, Tracey Lee is connected with The Reepz (one of my favourite obscure crews).  Finally, The Notorious B.I.G. makes an appearance here.

Artist:  Jay-Z
Song:  What More Can I Say
Year:  2003
Album:  The Black Album

This is my favourite track off The Black Album because of the beat.

Artist:  AG (Andre The Giant. A.G.)
Song:  Muddslide
Year:  1999
Album:  The Dirty Version

Andre the Giant only used the sample as a way to change things up, but I like when A.G. rhymes on strings and bass.

Artist:  MFSB
Song:  Something For Nothing
Year:  1973
Album:  MFSB

Something FROM Nothing is how I think of Hip Hop.  Something FOR Nothing could also describe Hip Hop.  MFSB stands for Mother Father Sister Brother.  Long before any of these songs, someone from Toronto looped up this song and rhymed over the sample for what seemed like 10 minutes.  Don't know who, but Toronto brought this to me first.

 

The first Canibus sample are the two notes that start at 0:30.  These appear at the beginning of each bar.  The next sample is an impressive chopping job using notes from 0:30 to 0:32 to create a two-bar loop that appears throughout the song.  With the changing speeds, this is a great production.

 

Tracey Lee's intro and occasional change is the sample from 0:27 broken up to cover the timespan of 2 bars.  During the verse, there is a two-bar loop made up of the sample from 0:30 repeated several times over the course of 6 beats.  The final 2 beats are either from 0:29 or 0:38, both are used at different points.  Both this and Canibus are great examples of using very little sample to create great songs.

 

Jay-Z used a more loop-based approach.  The song starts with the 2-bar loop from 0:27.  The next sample used is the two-bar loop from 0:39.  The first chorus uses the two-bar loop from 1:50 with some horn samples.

 

A.G. used the sample from 0:27 sparsely in his song.