Don’t Get Sentimental

Yes. It’s true. We are constantly breathing life back into the lungs of this blog. But hey, what are you gonna do. See Figure 1 below.

Figure 1: Story of My Life

This week’s edition of Saturday Morning Samples is on “Buck 50″ by the great Ghostface Killah, which I have been listening to religiously for the past several weeks. I had a few Ghostface albums that I picked up back in the day, but I was missing the critically acclaimed “Supreme Clientele” album.  I decided I needed it, and the rest is history.

Supreme Clientele Album Cover

Although there are a ton of standout tracks on the album, “Buck 50″ immediately caught my attention. Ghost is joined on the track by Method Man, Redman, and Cappadonna. They’re all stellar MC’s it’s a fact, but what really got my attention was the soul based beat that goes from a pretty hard hitting verse to a really nice soul hook for the chorus. Good shit.

I immediately went to look for the sample/samples that could be making up this beat. I was pretty convinced that the different parts of the song had been pulled from various sources, being that they were so different. Turns out I was wrong. It’s pretty amazing how you can chop up one song and scrap it for it’s different parts and come up with a nice full beat from one song.

The sample used in “Buck 50″ comes from “Hard Times,” a song by soul legend Baby Huey. After hearing “Hard Times” a few times via internet, I went and purchased Baby Huey’s one and only album “The Baby Huey Story: The Living Legend.”  Again, another great purchase by yours truly.

The Baby Huey Story: The Living Legend Album Cover

Baby Huey has a pretty interesting story, that’s worth reading about. The singer tragically died of a heart attack at the age of 26, but his influence on hip-hop music was an important and lasting one.

So that’s it from me. I still owe you guys another Saturday Morning Samples for skipping last weekend. I have an idea in mind for that one, so it should be coming up later in the week. Below you can find “Buck 50″ and “Hard Times.” Enjoy. And if you like them, I suggest getting both albums. They’re pretty great.

Ghostface Killah - Buck 50

Baby Huey - Hard Times

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Check this old fly shit out.

Ghostface - Mighty Healthy

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Yeah, yeah, I realize it’s Thursday. Think of this as a “Breakfast for Dinner” a.k.a. “Brinner”  type thing (see video below). I missed my weekly posting this past Saturday due to the fact that I am at my permanent home address in Houston, TX, where Hurricane Ike did his fair share of huffing and puffing last week. I didn’t get power back at my house until recently, so I am now making up for last Saturday’s post.

“New World” is a track off of Nas’ 1999 album “Nastradamus,” which is famous for being Nas’ least successful album in terms of ratings, but managed to go Platinum regardless. That’s when you know your name carries a lot of weight.

“New World” obviously samples Toto’s 1982 hit “Africa,” a song familiar to most of us as a corny yet lovable 80’s song.  “Africa” has also had it’s share of discrepancies in approval, having reached number one on the Billboard Hot 100 chart in 1983 but also being voted for having the sixth worst lyric ever in a BBC poll for the line “The wild dogs cry out in the night, As they grow restless longing for some solitary company, I know that I must do what’s right, Sure as Kilimanjaro rises like Olympus above the Serengeti.” Word.

Toto featuring Gandalf

I’ve also included a remix of Ghostface’s “Good Times” that uses “Africa” as its backing beat, and has been aptly renamed “Good Times in Africa.” The remix is done by Omega One, famous for his production work for Aesop Rock on the songs “Coma” and ” Skip Town.”

Nas - New World

Toto - Africa

Omega One - Good Times in Africa

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