Since emerging in the mid-’90s with fun-crushing progressive heroes Company Flow, El-P has held a unique spot amongst hip-hop’s most revered sonic architects. In his classic beat building for Co Flow, Cannibal Ox, or his own acclaimed solo projects, he’s continually creatively challenged hip-hop’s sonic status quo, pushing the boundaries of the art-form’s musical and emotional intensity. Yet he’s also managed to maintain a spiritual allegiance to hip-hop tradition as only someone wholly committed to the craft can. El’s definitive musical juxtapositions continue this May with two highly anticipated back to back releases: a collab with ATL word warrior Killer Mike, R.A.P. Music, that’s already spawned superb singles like “Big Beast,” and the dolo endeavor, Cancer 4 Cure, whose title suggests all kinds of caustic goodness. With a reunited Co Flow taking it to the stage this month at Coachella, what better time to hit up El Producto for a list of his favorite sample flips.
PEEP EL-P’S 10 FAVORITE SAMPLE FLIPS… AFTER THE JUMP…
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DJ Format has long been revered as one of the UK underground’s finest hip-hop producers and turntable technicians, in a career that’s spanned acclaimed mixtapes, remixes, and his own super-def and deftly constructed cut-and-paste productions. While “Golden Era” hip-hop may be an obvious inspiration for his works, in recent years with his great Moog synth-fueled Simonsound project – co-helmed by friend, Simon James – Format has proven equally adept at translating his b-boy-centric fast rap tracks to sound library-esque live instrumentation. Both styles are strongly represented on Format’s fine new LP, Statement of Intent (Project Blue Book/Slice-Of-Spice). And with Statement‘s “Spaceship Earth” featuring Edan, and “Terror” featuring Mr. Lif two of our favorites for 2012 thus far, we thought it only right to press this wily Brighton beat vet for a list of his favorite sample flips.
PEEP DJ FORMAT’S 10 FAVORITE SAMPLE FLIPS… AFTER THE JUMP…
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Before Bad Boy Records boasted a team of beatmaking boardsmen known as The Hitmen, there was Easy Mo Bee. A one-man hit squad, it was Mo Bee’s productions for Craig Mack and, most famously, fellow Brooklynite The Notorious B.I.G. (a whopping half dozen key tracks off the classic Ready to Die) that laid the foundation for Diddy and company’s dominant run through the ‘90s. Both with Bad Boy and for others, Mo perfected a uniquely versatile sound: catchy enough to court radio, yet never short on grit – the result of a keen talent for chopping and flipping largely unidentified samples that still confound trainspotters to this day.
If tracks like Mack’s megasmash “Flava In Ya Ear,” the Lost Boyz’s “Jeeps, Lex Coups, Bimaz & Benz,” or any number of his collabs with 2Pac rep his resume lovely, so too do earlier efforts for Big Daddy Kane, and a pre-Wu-Tang GZA. We caught up with the pride of Brooklyn’s Lafayette Gardens Houses recently to discuss his favorite sample flips (all of which, ahem, happen to be by the same producer). And though he may remain stingy with sample secrets, Mo Bee is never less than generous with stories and insights.
READ EASY MO BEE’S 10 FAVORITE SAMPLE FLIPS AFTER THE JUMP…
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DJ Rashad and DJ Spinn are vital figureheads of Chicago juke/footwork – a genre sometimes affectionately referred to as the bastard offspring descendant of the Windy City’s historic house music tradition. Long a local Chi phenomenon, juke’s supremely spastic amalgamation of booty house and ghetto tech rhythms has enjoyed quite the global influence in recent years, especially in that land of progressive party people, the United Kingdom. Folks out there might vouch for juke’s stylistic parallels with old school hardcore jungle. However, being an organically urban, resourceful as hell DJ/dancer/battle driven culture, juke can’t help but remind us a little of this thing that started out way back when up in the Bronx (where the people are fresh). Former dancers turned producing and DJ partners, Rashad and Spinn readily acknowledge hip-hop’s influence on their music. (Says Rashad: “Hip hop was part of my life. It’s something I love and still love to this day – especially the older hip-hop. We definitely fans… Why not put it in our music?”) We asked these Midwestern renegades of funk for a list of their favorite sample flips, and how these picks in turn morphed into juke/footwork creations of their own.
PEEP DJ RASHAD AND DJ SPINN’S 10 FAVORITE SAMPLE FLIPS… AFTER THE JUMP…
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Given his newfound status as a celebrated author (and resident egotripland contributing curmudgeon), perhaps it’s easy to forget J-Zone’s history as a skilled producer in his own right. The miracle-working maestro of dollar bin sample fare, Zone’s dense leftfield funk has accompanied raps by everyone from Akinyele to R.A. the Rugged Man, E-40 to Andy Samberg’s Lonely Island. But it’s his own recordings that provide the best platform for his distinctively off-the-wall aesthetic. While J’s 2001 opus Pimps Don’t Pay Taxes remains a classic of the broke baller ethos, don’t snooze on the other projects deeper within his oeuvre – like his exceedingly clever ’06 Hendrix tribute EP, Experienced! Like much of his other work their comic impulses belie a musical intricacy and sophistication that show J to be an ace student of the craft of beat-making. Oh, and let the record also show: contrary to popular rumor this funk fiend hasn’t fully retired from making tracks, he’s just chillin’ in the rap nursing home. Between bingo matches and bedpan changes we hit him up for a list of his favorite sample flips.
PEEP J-ZONE’S 10 FAVORITE SAMPLE FLIPS (AND TWO HONORABLE MENTIONS)… AFTER THE JUMP…
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Many of us may claim kinship with the music of the late, great J Dilla, a/k/a Jay Dee, but far fewer can claim to have been down with the man himself. Waajeed is one of those special few. A high school pal of Jay Dee’s back in Detroit, and an early member of Slum Village (back when the crew was rolling under the name Ssenepod, i.e. “dopeness” spelled backwards), Jeedo got his start in production when he bought Dilla’s old MPC and taught himself the art of beat-making. His tracks have since graced the efforts of Slum, Invincible, Tiombe Lockhart, and his own band with Saadiq, Platinum Pied Pipers (whose 2005 debut Triple P remains one of the great nu-soul/hip-hop efforts of the aughts). Waajeed’s latest endeavors include his Electric Street Orchestra project – still incubating and featuring collabs with what sounds like a who’s who of underground music luminaries across genres – as well as a documentary film on the life of J Dilla. His newly relaunched site, bling47.com, is the web manifestation of his Bling 47 creative organization (which has included a label and management team), and features an excellent ongoing video series entitled “Bling 47 Breaks” dedicated to sample spotting within the Dilla ouevre. On this, what would have been J Dilla’s 38th birthday, who better to present a special commemorative list of his 10 favorite Dilla sample flips than his friend and colleague, Waajeed. J Dilla, RIP.
PEEP WAAJEED’S 10 FAVORITE J DILLA SAMPLE FLIPS… AFTER THE JUMP…
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By David Ma
“I’m not the best motherfucker, but I’m better than a lot of n*ggas,” the grand imperial Lord Finesse once famously, succinctly remarked on record. While one would expect such swift hubris would apply to the Funky Man’s acumen for punchline-heavy braggadocio verses, it actually resounds three-fold. For Finesse is that true rarity amongst hip-hoppers: a revered and celebrated emcee who also boasts equally prodigious talents as a DJ and producer.
Despite classic rap efforts to his credit like 1990’s Funky Technician, it’s been Finesse’s fine work behind the console that’s kept him most active between extended breaks on the mic. Often characterized by dark, reverb-soaked horns, forgotten jazz riffs, propulsive drums, and those signature sleigh bells, his productions have naturally punctuated the efforts of his brethren in the D.I.T.C. (Diggin’ In the Crates) collective – Show & AG, Fat Joe, O.C., and his protégé, the late, great Big L. But he’s also helmed the beats for “Suicidal Thoughts,” off The Notorious B.I.G.’s Ready To Die, and “The Message” from Dr. Dre’s 2001 album. Both are classic Finesse in terms of sound and feel; both round out their respective albums with emotionally resonant tracks that show their architect’s musical range.
With his recent mixtapes, Art Of Diggin’ Vol. 1 and Art of Diggin’ Vol. 2, “The Underboss” continues to display his knack for picking the right records to utilize. And though it’s been 17 years since his last LP of new raps, 2012 promises a resurgence of Finesse through a slew of both original and archival material via Slice-Of-Spice Records. Sounds like the perfect time then, to consult the Funky Technician for his all-time favorite (rather funky) sample flips.
PEEP LORD FINESSE’S FAVORITE SAMPLE FLIPS… AFTER THE JUMP…
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A-Trak is one of the most accomplished DJs on the planet – a gentleman who won the 1997 DMC World Championships at the tender age of 15, performed extensively with the Skratch Piklz, was hand-picked by Kanye West to be his tour DJ, and now regularly headlines festivals in countries we’ve only experienced via repeats of Anthony Bourdain’s No Reservations. He’s also the co-founder (along with Nick Catchdubs) of Fool’s Gold, the record label that’s formalized his commitment to club music in all its varied forms – from everyone’s favorite frighteningly unhinged rapper, Danny Brown, to Trizzy’s own “Dirty South Dance Remixes” and productions for the likes of Kid Sister, and Duck Sauce, his partnership with Armand Van Helden (peep the Biz doll’s cameo in their “Barbra Streisand” video). But personally we just enjoy the fact that the guy provided zigga-ziggas on recordings by our favorite ’90s Montreal indie rap act, Obscure Disorder, and once recorded a song for Stones Throw named after a character from The Simpsons. It was based solely on those credentials that we felt compelled to ask him for a list of his favorite sample flips.
PEEP A-TRAK’S 10 FAV’S…AFTER THE JUMP…
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Large Professor is, quite simply, one of the most important hip-hop producers to ever touch the SP-1200. Mentored by the late, great “golden era” studio wizard Paul C, already having worked with Rakim and Kool G Rap while still a teenager, this master craftsman’s most beloved music all but defines New York’s classic purist aesthetic. His signature sound would evolve two-fold through the ’90s. On the one hand, Extra P was amongst the first rap maestros (along with brethren in beats, Pete Rock) to harness the frantic collage style associated with the Bomb Squad and Prince Paul in a more soulfully straightforward context – creating the intricately arranged ghetto symphonies of Main Source’s superb 1991 debut, Breaking Atoms. On the other, P’s ability to manipulate a single workhorse sample – as exemplified by Nas’ “Halftime” and “It Ain’t Hard to Tell,” A Tribe Called Quest’s “Keep It Rollin’,” and acclaimed remixes for Gang Starr, Slick Rick, Common, and others – exhibited his genius for simplicity. The aughts would see more notable additions to his production discography (Nas’ “You’re Da Man”; Roc Marciano’s UN’s “What They Want”). But what may be most impressive about Large Pro after all these years is his dedication to his trade. As is evidenced by the following varied list of his favorite sample flips, LP is never too professorial to himself study the art of making tracks.
LARGE PROFESSOR’S 10 FAVORITE SAMPLE FLIPS… AFTER THE JUMP…
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People tend to throw around the term “slept on” a little too freely in hip-hop. But in the case of producer K-Def it’s entirely fitting. The Passaic, New Jersey product – who came up under the tutelage of Marley Marl working the boards at the super-producer’s House of Hits studio in the early ’90s – boasts a discography healthy with both hits and soulfully crafted cult favorites for the likes of Lords of the Underground, Tragedy, World Renown, and Ghostface Killah. And in the ominously orchestrated string stabs of “Real Live Shit,” by Real Live – his own group with rhyme partner Larry-O – K may lay claim to one of the definitive crime rhyme tracks of the ’90s. Remarkably, his most recent output may actually include some of his best work yet. An excellent, previously unreleased LL Cool J tune rescued from his archives resides comfortably alongside his finest vintage material. An impressive ongoing series of sonically potent instrumentals for Redefinition Records – including the sublime “Supa Heath” – culminates in an EP, Night Shift, dropping this month. Thus, in an effort to help prevent the current K-Def creative renaissance from drifting undeservedly into the “slept on” lane, we felt it only right to ask the man for a list of his favorite sample flips.
HEAR K-DEF’S FAVORITE FLIPS & PEEP HIS COMMENTS… AFTER THE JUMP…
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