Artist: Rapper Big Pooh Song: FootPrints Year: 2013 Album: Fat Boy Fresh Vol. 3.5 - Happy Birthday, Thomas
I was listening to Fat Boy Fresh Vol. 3 from the day it came out last summer and then was really pleased that Vol. 3.5 came out with a few more tracks, such as this one. Classic album! I hope Pooh puts out a box set of all the Fat Boy Fresh series in 20 years.
Artist: Tracey Lee Song: Big Will Year: 1996 Album: Many Facez
It's too bad that Tracey Lee and The Reepz didn't put out more material, but I'll settle for what they gave me. This song actually didn't sample Minnie Riperton, but was inspired by her.
Artist: Minnie Riperton Song: Completeness Year: 1971 Album: Come To My Garden
I wanted to sample this song ages ago so it makes sense that someone would eventually make use of it.
Rapper Big Pooh sampled 7 bars starting at 0:19 for the intro. The rest of the song samples the two-bar loop from 0:00.
Tracey Lee was inspired to not sample but play the 4 bars starting from 0:00 and also threw in some singing similar to what is heard at 3:13. A great way to get around a sample clearance.
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.
