Tuesday, May 22, 2007

Souled On Samples: Special Edition



This edition of Souled On Samples features original songs from the 25 greatest hip-hop albums of all time (based entirely upon Jeff and Joey's recent survey results):

1) Illmatic---Nas

"We're In Love"---Reuben Wilson (Sampled on "Memory Lane")

2) Enter The Wu-Tang: 36 Chambers---Wu-Tang Clan

"As Long As I've Got You"---The Charmels (Sampled on "C.R.E.A.M.")

3) Ready To Die---Notorious B.I.G.

"Walk On By"---Isaac Hayes (Sampled on "Warning")

4) Only Built 4 Cuban Linx---Raekwon

"Wang Dang Doodle"---Koko Taylor (Sampled on "Incarcerated Scarfaces")

5) The Chronic---Dr. Dre

"Brother's Gonna Work It Out"---Willie Hutch (Sampled on "Rat-tat-tat-tat")

6) It Takes A Nation Of Millions To Hold Us Back---Public Enemy

"It's My Thing (Pt.1)"---Marva Whitney (Sampled on "Bring The Noise")

7) Midnight Marauders---A Tribe Called Quest

"Damn Right I'm Somebody"---Fred Wesley and The JB's (Sampled on "Oh My God")

8) The Low End Theory---A Tribe Called Quest

"Wicky Wacky"---Fatback Band (Sampled on "Show Business")

9) Paid In Full---Eric B & Rakim

"NT"---Kool & The Gang (Sampled on "Move The Crowd")

10) The Infamous---Mobb Deep

"Benjamin"---Les McCann (Sampled on "Right Back At You")

11) Aquemini---Outkast

"(Theme From)Midnight Express"---Giorgio Moroder (Sampled on "Return Of The 'G'")

12) Liquid Swords---GZA

"In The Rain"---The Dramatics (Sampled on "Cold World")

13) Straight Outta Compton---NWA

"Rock Creek Park"---The Blackbyrds (Sampled on "Quiet On The Set")

14) Supreme Clientele---Ghostface Killah

"I Hate I Walked Away"---Syl Johnson (Sampled on "We Made It")

15) Reasonable Doubt---Jay-Z

"A Garden Of Peace"---Lonnie Liston Smith (Sampled on "Dead Presidents II")

16) Criminal Minded---Boogie Down Productions

"Different Strokes"---Syl Johnson (Sampled on "Criminal Minded")

17) Doggystyle---Snoop Doggy Dogg

"I Get Lifted"---George McCrae (Sampled on "Gin And Juice")

18) The Score---The Fugees

"Ready Or Not Here I Come (Can't Hide From Love)"---The Delfonics (Sampled on "Ready Or Not")

19) Raising Hell---Run-DMC

"Rocket In The Pocket"---Cerrone (Drums sampled on "Hit It Run" and "Raising Hell")

20) 3 Feet High and Rising---De La Soul

"God Made Me Funky"---The Headhunters (Sampled on "Take It Off")

21) Life After Death---Notorious B.I.G.

"I'm Glad You're Mine"---Al Green (Sampled on "I Got A Story To Tell")

22) ATLiens---Outkast

"Focus III"---Focus (Sampled on "Wheels Of Steel")

23) Resurrection---Common

"Cross Country"---Archie Whitewater (Sampled on "Chapter 13")

24) Black Star---Black Star

"The Fox"---Don Randi (Sampled on "Respiration")

25) The Blueprint---Jay-Z

"Sounds Like A Love Song"---Bobby Glenn (Sampled on "Song Cry")

Word From Your Moms:

"There are more love songs than anything else. If songs could make you do something, we'd all love one another." ---Frank Zappa

21 comments:

vik said...

scholar - you KILLED it with this post.

great work my dude.

it's gonna take multiple visits to get through this one...
PEACE

Bob said...

dope

DL said...

Scholar,

Thanks for that Lonnie Liston Smith. Been wanting that ever since I posted up that Ski video with him talking about Dead Presidents. Beautiful song.

Nice post mate, take it easy.

Dan

Anonymous said...

Man, reading these sample posts has been like discovering the holy grail. Maybe more like finding out that someone else has discovered the holy grail, but is willing to share it with you. Many thanks

Jim Hendry said...

Hot shit indeed. ESPECIALLY the Delfonics.

Anonymous said...

WOW! I really appreciate that you went out of your way to include those hard to find gems like from Song Cry and Dead Presidents 2. Thanks!

Jay Robinson said...

What he said. Scholar, you make hip-hop shows like mine well rounded. Thank you.

Hip-Hop Anonymous on KTUH.org

Passion of the Weiss said...

great work scholar, this is awesome.

Anonymous said...

Yes bruv, fine selection indeed!

Anonymous said...

impressive!!!
The post sheds new light to the hip hop bangers as well, because when somebody hears the sample sources, he can understand the level of difficulty to craft a hip-hop song. Anyway, I go by the Rakim rule: Even if it's jazz or the quiet storm/I want it beat up converted into hip hop form.
Thanks for the enlightment!

Lily Kane said...

Scholar you're a beast!!!!!!
I am really loving the sample series.
btw- can you email me? I'm curious about why you (and others) hate yousendit... I'm certainly willing to reconsider. thanks buddy

Travis said...

Amazing, simply amazing. I'm in absolute awe.

Great idea.

DJ durutti said...

ditto ditto ditto . . .

what everyone said.

all this praise is more than deserved.

keep on keepin' on with these amazing sample instigations / revelations / celebrations !

(and the occasional link festivals)

--best --matt

DJ durutti said...

p.s.

post your list!


please ;)

Scholar said...

Thanks vik. You know the respect means a lot coming from you.

Raftermanis---Gratitude.

Dan---I came across "A Garden Of Peace" quite by accident a few summers ago. I went to this horrible outdoor flea market to dig for some albums. Just when I thought that there wasn't much to offer outside of Barry Manilow and Frank Sinatra, I came across a LLS LP (Dreams Of Tomorrow) for only 60 cents. The guy I bought it from evidently thought it was a crappy record, but from what I observed, his opinion didn't matter much. Brought it home to my turntable, and needless to say, I was pleasantly surprised.

Adam---Glad you're diggin' the sample posts. It's especially worthwhile to share this knowledge with my loyal readers---including you, of course.

JT---I love that Delfonics song myself. I consider them to be one of the greatest soul groups of all time. Harmonies just don't get any nicer than what these guys were laying down.

Anon 1---You're welcome. Despite the fact that Kingdom Come was a pretty major disappointment, I'll probably be a Hov fan for life. It's an illness. I've collected more original songs from his albums than just about any other artist I can think of, so those actually came pretty easily for me.

Jay---I'm honored. I see you're holding things down for hip-hop in Hawaii. Thanks for coming through.

Jeff---The real thanks goes to you and Joey for giving those of us who love hip-hop something to philosophize about for the past several weeks. If it hadn't been for you two, we wouldn't have had much to discuss---except maybe the overall shittiness of that "Amusement Park" joint by 50 Cent. Thanks for the inspiration.

Anon 2---Gratitude for the feedback.

Anon 3---I'm actually hoping that the sample posts generate some appreciation on both sides of the musical fence. I hope that jazz/funk/soul fans will come to recognize the fact that a lot of DJs and producers are working hard to keep much of this classic material alive and well. On the other hand, I hope that my readers who favor hip-hop will appreciate the artists/records who've laid the foundation for many of their favorite beats. In fact, bringing fans of all these genres together is one of the main reasons why I bother to blog in the first place. Peace...and thanks for stopping by.

Lils---I know we've already written back and forth about this, but one final thought. I'll still be an avid reader, even if you decide not to can yousendit. My respect is unconditional.

Trav---You're one of the main reasons why I have to stay on my grind. Every time I blink, you have some new brilliant idea for WYDU. Seriously.

Matt---There's never a time when you drop by that it doesn't cheer me up, man.

Lately, I've been really contemplating various collaborative efforts with some of my favorite bloggers. You've been on the list since day one, so expect something in your inbox one of these days.

I guess you're right---maybe I should get around to posting my list. I'm sure if I were to write my favorites down again, at least a few things would change. I'm moody about music, so listmaking is hell for me. I can't remember my exact selections at this moment, but I think I may have included BInary Star, and forgotten about Run-DMC. See what I mean?

Boody said...

Wonderful selections scholar, i just put up a missy elliott sample wednesday.

Scholar said...

Haldan---Besides Jeff and Joey, I count you as an inspiration for this series as well. Sample Wednesday has to be my favorite blogger series of all time.

I'll be right over to check out that Missy post, too. I'm looking forward to seeing whether or not "Double Dutch Bus" made the list. I just watched a crazy-ass youtube video of Frankie Smith the other day...put me in the mood to hear that song.

Hope you're well, buddy. Peace.

The OneTwo said...

Nice selections.. but just one correction, The song you have sampled by the Charmels originally appears in a Thelonious Monk record... I don't have the record with me so I can't give you the name, but the piano is definitely Monk..

Scholar said...

onetwo---I'm not sure what you mean. That Charmels song was released on Stax/Volt as a 7". You can peep their discography here:

http://staxrecords.free.fr/charmels.htm

Also, here is a link about the sample on "C.R.E.A.M.":
http://www.answers.com/topic/c-r-e-a-m-cash-rules-everything-around-me

You can also reference it on thebreaks.com

You might be thinking of the intro on "Shame On A Nigga"---now that's Thelonious Monk. It comes from the track "Black & Tan Fantasy", which is actually a Duke Ellington cover.

DJ durutti said...

yo scholar:

I think I know what you mean about (sometimes several days, sometimes several hours) mood swing music listening focus / obsession. Which makes coming up w/ a "definitive" list a bitch. I just went through that contributing to a best jazz albums of the '90s series @ avant jazz blog Destination: Out. (of course i forgot a few things).

Oh, and hit me up anytime (even if not for many months) with any collaboration ideas. it would be an honor, man.

p.s. your reply to anon 3, above, is right on.

Scholar said...

Matt---Things is crazy hectic for the next few weeks, but after that we can definitely kick some ideas.