Don’t Get Sentimental

The song “Blueprint²” is featured on Jay-Z’s 2002 album “The Blueprint²: The Gift & The Curse.” The beat on this song initially caught my attention because it’s very epic sounding and very familiar, although I couldn’t figure out where I knew it from.

Later, after doing some reading on the Jay-Z vs. Nas feud I realized that this song was chock full of punches towards Nas. Then after some further reading on “The Blueprint²: The Gift & The Curse” I found that the sample came from “The Ecstasy of Gold” by Ennio Morricone, from the score to “The Good, the Bad and the Ugly.”

The way I became familiar with “The Ecstasy of Gold” is not through “The Good, the Bad and the Ugly” because I have never seen it sadly enough, but because it is one of the songs on Metallica’s “S&M” album which was recorded live with the San Francisco Symphony. Apparently Metallica has been using it as their intro music for their concerts since 1983. I had no idea. Apparently the Ramones also used the song for the same purpose.

Ennio Morricone as you may or may not know is a very well known Italian Academy Award-winning composer who has done film soundtracks and scores for tons and tons of movies.

The use of this classic and epic piece as a sample in a hip-hop song is simply brilliant. The producer on the Jay-Z track is Charlemagne, who I have never heard of before, unless he is the historical figure Charlemagne King of the Franks. And I don’t think he is. Below is a studio version of “The Ecstasy of Gold” in youtube video form, the song “Blueprint²” by Jay-Z, and the live Metallica S&M version of “The Ecstasy of Gold”.

Jay-Z - Blueprint²

Metallica - The Ecstasy of Gold

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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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I really should cut the “Morning” part out of the title. I mean really, what was I thinking. Me doing something productive before noon on a Saturday? Rookie mistake. It has a nice ring to it though, so I’m keeping it. How’s that for internal debate.

Anyways, this week’s featured song is “Hey Ma,” one track in a long line of corny rap songs about sex, or as Juelz Santana so eloquently puts it in the song, laying “the pipe.” To be completely honest, I really don’t get down with Cam’ron, Juelz Santana, Jim Jones, and all that DipSet stuff. If you do and you have some suggestions for me I’m more than happy to hear them, but I just haven’t been able to really get into it yet.

I’ll admit they do put out catchy stuff, some of it with some nice beats that really bump, and some that use some great samples from some great classic songs. “Hey Ma” belongs in the latter category, and the song has really grown on me over time, mostly because of the beat.

“Hey Ma” was released as the second single on Cam’ron’s “Come Home with Me” album, and features then up-and-coming rapper, Juelz Santana. Santana has since established a successful solo career of his own. The sample to “Hey Ma” comes from the 1977 hit single “Easy” by the Commodores.

“Easy” was written by Lionel Richie, singer and saxophonist in the Commodores. I had no idea he was in the band honestly. I thought he had always been a solo guy, but I guess not. The Commodores also wrote classics such as “Brick House” and “Three Times a Lady.” Believe me, I’m as surprised as you are. The Commodores wrote a lot of cool shit.

Back to the matter at hand, “Easy” is more of a ballad, in direct contrast with the Commodores funk influenced songs. It’s really a beautiful and chill song to listen to, and a classic in its own right. So as you can see, we went from “Hey Ma,” to some classic songs by the Commodores that I didn’t even know they sang. That’s pretty exciting.

Below are “Hey Ma” by Cam’ron and Juelz Santana, and “Easy” by the Commodores.

Cam’ron featuring Juelz Santana - Hey Ma

Commodores - Easy

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As you’ve seen throughout my feature, samples from existing musical compositions are often taken and reworked into a new song or beat. This is not always the case however, as any type of sound can be sampled, and serve as the basis for a song, or even an entire album.

Movies and music have an important relationship with each other, as music plays a crucial role in creating memorable scenes and providing ambiance in films, and movies influence music with themes and ideas, and often provide inspiration for songs.

It is no secret that the Wu-Tang Clan is heavily influenced by Kung fu, martial arts, and samurai films, even taking their name from the classic “Shaolin and Wu Tang.” The influence of these films on their style can be heard in numerous dialogue samples scattered throughout their group and solo albums, and has persisted throughout their careers.

"Liquid Swords"

GZA a.k.a. The Genius, one of the founding members of the Wu-Tang Clan, released his second solo album “Liquid Swords” in 1995. The album instantly became a hip-hop classic, and drew heavily on dialogue samples from the classic samurai film “Shogun Assassin.” The samples serve as a leitmotif for the album, with the dialogue playing an important role in creating a cohesive feel between songs. Truly a genius way to create and album, it helped solidify its place in hip-hop history.

“Shogun Assassin” is a classic in its own right, having influenced Tarantino’s “Kill Bill.” The movie is even featured in “Kill Bill Volume 2″ towards the end where the main character and her daughter watch part of it. I’ve watched “Shogun Assassin” several times now, and it’s definitely worth a watch.

The eerie synth soundtrack featured in “Shogun Assassin” also adds to the theme of “Liquid Swords,” allowing for very unique production work throughout the album. The following clip is one of the more memorable scenes in the movie, and also provides the opening to the legendary track “4th Chamber.”

The album opener to “Liquid Swords” which shares its name with the album title, features a sample from the opening monologue to the film, which contains the memorable line, “people said his brain was infected by devils.”

This line also made it’s way into Cage’s “Agent Orange,” which prominently features a sample from another classic movie. “Agent Orange” samples the title music from “A Clockwork Orange,” which is cleverly named “Title Music from A Clockwork Orange.” Cage also opens the song with his take on the opening monologue from “A Clockwork Orange” which can be seen below.

Below I have featured “4th Chamber” by the GZA featuring Ghostface, Killah Priest, and RZA, a remake of “4th Chamber” by Jin featuring Chan and LS, “Liquid Swords” by GZA, “Agent Orange” by Cage, and “Title Music from A Clockwork Orange” by Wendy Carlos. Also, check out the sweet fight scene from Shogun Assassin at the bottom. If you haven’t seen “Shogun Assassin” or “A Clockwork Orange” I highly recommended them. And all of these songs below are sick. Enjoy.

GZA - 4th Chamber

Jin - 4th Chamber

GZA - Liquid Swords

Cage - Agent Orange

Wendy Carlos - Title Music from A Clockwork Orange

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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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So here it is. The long awaited return of the greatest/only feature on this blog. I have at least one loyal fan, who has expressed his feelings about my posting (or lack thereof) through IMs demanding that I post, looks of displeasure with my lack of work, or pretty much directly saying “Come onnnnnn,” although I feel that’s more of a Dave-ism but I may be mistaken. Feel free to debate the origins of “Come onnnn” in the comments section. Anyways, this post goes out to Greg, and by his request, here is “Big Poppa,” his favorite song of all time.

“Big Poppa,” is clearly one of the standout tracks on Biggie’s 1994 debut album, “Ready to Die,” and has one of the nicest/smoothest sounding beats you’ll ever hear, with lyrics and flow to match. I remember first hearing the song in 6th grade or so, and trying to learn all the lyrics to the song back when “Say What?” was still being aired on MTV.

“Big Poppa” was Biggie’s first Top 10 hit, with production credited to Sean “Puffy” Combs. Although “Puffy” (Puff Daddy, P. Diddy, Diddy, etc.) leaves something to be desired in terms of complex production, he sure knows how to pick a nice sample. And once Biggie was done rapping over the track, nobody could fuck with it (for lack of better phrasing).

The sample to “Big Poppa” comes from The Isley Brothers track, “Between the Sheets,” which has been heavily sampled by other artists, most recently on the Jay-Z song “Ignorant Shit.” The song “Between the Sheets” was an important track for The Isley Brothers, as the track helped the group bounce back in popularity, reaching number three on the Billboard Top R&B Singles chart in 1983.

So here they are, “Big Poppa,” and ” Between the Sheets,” side by side so you can listen to where the sample used in the Biggie classic came from. And now I pose the eternal question to you, loyal fans of Don’t Get Sentimental, “How you livin’ Biggie Smalls?”

The Notorious B.I.G. - Big Poppa

The Isley Brothers - Between the Sheets

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An instant classic upon its release, “Juicy” was the debut single from Ready to Die, Biggie’s debut solo album. It introduced the world to one of the greatest rappers of all time. Granted everyone says that about him, but if you take into consideration the way he writes, his flow, his content, and his style, it’s hard to deny that he is in fact the greatest.

Part of the success of “Juicy” is rooted in the fact that it tells Biggie’s life story up until that point. It discusses his struggle growing up and throughout his life, and then reflects back on that struggle from the point of view of having made it. The song also gives insight into his early influences in terms of hip-hop, a clear nod to his predecessors, and something you don’t see enough of nowadays.

The sample that makes up the beat to “Juicy” was taken directly from Mtume’s 1983 song, “Juicy Fruit.” This is perhaps the funk/soul group’s most well known song, having reached number one on the R&B chart when it was released.

The beat to “Juicy” has been a point of contention for quite some time. Although the version we all know was produced by Sean “Puffy” Combs, producer Pete Rock claims that he created the original beat, and that Puffy heard it while at Rock’s house, and went home and reproduced the beat on his own. Pete Rock was paid to do a remix of “Juicy,” which can be heard below. The remix uses the same sample from Mtume’s “Juicy Fruit.”

Although Pete Rock is no longer upset about the situation, he still wishes to be acknowledged as the original producer of “Juicy.” You can hear “Juicy” and “Juicy Fruit,” below.

The Notorious B.I.G. - Juicy

Mtume - Juicy Fruit

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“Through the Wire” is the song that introduced the world to Kanye West, and had a significant impact on me, and my interest in hip-hop/samples. I remember the first time I heard the song, and watching the video for it, and listening to it over and over. The sped up vocal melody that can be heard throughout the song blew my mind. It was the first time I had heard anything like that, at least in the sense that it was used so boldly as the chorus/hook.

I remember the first thing I thought when I heard the song was “how did he do that?” Yeah, I had heard of sampling before, and had heard producers take bits and pieces of songs and make beats from them, but to take a vocal sample and make the pitch so high, and make it sound so good was awesome.

Prior to the release of his first album, “The College Dropout,” Kanye was in a nearly fatal car accident, which resulted in his hospitalization, and his jaw being wired shut. Two weeks after the accident, Kanye recorded “Through the Wire,” which discusses his accident and its results, including the fact that he had to now “spit it through the wire, man” as said in the intro to the song. He cleverly sampled Chaka Khan’s “Through the Fire,” and recorded the song with his jaw still wired shut.

Chaka Khan’s 1985 single, “Through the Fire,” at the time of its release, set the record for most consecutive weeks on the Billboard Top 100. The song has a noticeably slower and more relaxed feel in comparison to “Through the Wire.” Chaka Khan also makes an appearance in Kayne’s video for “Through the Wire,” in the form of a poster on Kanye’s wall, clearly paying homage to the singer.

Along with being incredible in the sense of production, the lyrics in the “Through the Wire” are clever, funny, and highly memorable. There are numerous puns, jokes, and references throughout the song. I’ll pick out some highlights for you, and explain them.

The line “somebody order pancakes, I just sip the sizzurp” is a pun on the popular prescription-strength cough syrup regularly mentioned in Southern hip-hop, in songs such as “Sippin’ On Some Syrup,” by Three 6 Mafia. Another pun can be found in the line, “the doctor said I had blood clots, but I ain’t Jamaican man,” which refers to the Jamaican swear word, “blood clot,” which is literally a tampon, but used in the form of “what the blood clot?” among other sayings.

Kanye also makes references to movies, for example in the line, “Unbreakable, what you thought they call me Mr. Glass?,” in reference to the M. Night Shyamalan film “Unbreakable.” There is also a reference to a hip-hop feud in the line, “if you could feel how my face felt, you would know how Mase felt,” referencing an event where Mase dissed Wu-Tang at a concert, and later had a run in with Ghostface and his entourage. The event resulted with Mase’s jaw being broken.

Here’s “Through the Wire,” and “Through the Fire.”

Kanye West - Through the Wire

Chaka Khan - Through the Fire

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As you may or may not know, I have a penchant for identifying samples used in hip-hop/rap songs, and plan using my collection of hip-hop songs and their respective samples to write a feature titled “Saturday Morning Samples.” This is the first of many, and I plan on covering a wide range of artists and producers.

These posts will cover producers that may use as little as one to two samples, a la Sean “Puffy” Combs (producer of some Biggie classics along with his own stuff as Puff Daddy, P. Diddy, etc), or producers like Stoupe the Enemy of Mankind (of Jedi Mind Tricks) who uses fifty plus samples per song. I’ll try to keep it down to a few for the posts.

Let’s cut right to it. “No Diggity” might be familiar to most of you as one of those classic/corny rap songs we all remember from circa middle school era and now hear playing in random places from time to time. What you may not know is that the simple guitar riff, hi-hat hit, and hummed melody all come from “Grandma’s Hands,” a classic Bill Withers song.

Although you may not recognize Bill Withers by name alone, you probably recognize some of his other classic songs such as “Just the Two of Us,” “Lean On Me,” and “Ain’t No Sunshine,” all of which have been sampled in the hip-hop community.

The sample used in “No Diggity” was taken right from the beginning of “Grandma’s Hands,” and was then sped up a bit. I’ve been listening to “Grandma’s Hands” for quite some time now, and it is a great song on its own, and really worth a listen.

To those unfamiliar with the art of sampling, it may seem like downright theft (which is often the corporate/legal point of view), but it has played a major role in hip-hop since its inception (I’ll spare you the history lesson for now), and as you can hear, the samples usually transform into a completely new and different type of song.

Much like hip-hop artists often give respect to their predecessors in their verses, samples allow older songs to be reborn within newer generations. Hip-hop, and sampling, unlike other forms of music, serve as a living history of music in general. That’s pretty much what the aim of this feature is, and I hope I can get at least a few people into older songs through songs they’re already familiar with.

Blackstreet Featuring Dr. Dre & Queen Pen - No Diggity

Bill Withers - Grandma’s Hands

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