Jake One’s 10 Favorite Sample Flips.

Coming straight outta the Pacific Northwest repping Seattle, Washington, esteemed producer Jake One is a true hip-hop rarity: one of the few beatsmiths who can claim contributions to albums by mainstream megastars like 50 Cent and Snoop, yet still enjoys no shortage of props from purists. (Those unfamiliar with dude’s super sonic talents may wanna peep his various collabs with Freeway, or his own acclaimed White Van Music LP from a couple years back.) Recently, we caught up with the new dad between production sessions and stroller cruises (can White Mini Van Music be far behind?) to ask him what his ten favorite sample flips are. Much like his own diverse output his picks run the gamut.

READ & HEAR JAKE’S LIST AFTER THE JUMP…

1. Jay-Z – “Never Change” (Roc-A-Fella, 2001)

Producer: Kanye West

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Sample Source: David Ruffin – “Common Man” (Motown, 1973)

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JAKE ONE: Coming from the record collecting/D.I.T.C./we-must-have-the-rarest-records-era, when you think about sampling David Ruffin it’s like [unimpressed], oh yeah, David Ruffin that’s cool. But then you heard the Jay-Z song, and it’s just the shit. I think I had the David Ruffin record at the time this came out. It’s not the craziest chop, but what Kanye did was exactly what needed to be done with that record. That’s kind of what he does in general. He’s not gonna wow you with technique, but he’s got the perfect feel for how to put the shit together. It’s definitely not a loop because I don’t think there’s any one part that just plays all the way through. He might use two bars at one point, and then he takes another one bar later in the song, and then he puts the little vocal sample in there every once in a while. I don’t know, to me that shit is fuckin’ great. Some people just have a knack for it. I think he’s underrated in that aspect. When you’re dope you can make something really filthy out of like three sounds. He’s one of those guys. He’ll just literally have a drum loop he chopped up and a sample and that’s the beat.

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2. Madvillain “Fancy Clown” (Stones Throw, 2004)

Producer: Madlib

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Sample Source: Z.Z. Hill “That Ain’t the Way You Make Love” (United Artists, 1975)

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JAKE ONE: Man, this Madvillain record was one of those I had the original sample for and I even made a beat out of it, but it just wasn’t nowhere near as good. [laughs] You know, as a producer when somebody uses a sample you already touched you just automatically hate on it off the top for no reason. We all do that. But this shit – I don’t know, it just was so dope to me I just had to give it up. I felt like, okay, you slaughtered me with this one. Madlib has this knack for doing the super grungy, lo-fi, sloppy shit. That beat sounds all fucked up. But that shit is great to me. When I used the sample I was trying to make it way cleaner and glossier. I probably did that in the early 2000s at some point. I might have even had that dumb-ass triangle sweep sound that the Triton had. I was trying to make it sound like it might have been on The Blueprint. It was cool. But it was not dope like that shit.

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3. Kurupt “We Can Freak It” (Antra, 1998)

Producer: Battlecat

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Sample Source: Ray Parker Jr. & Raydio – “It’s Your Night” (Arista, 1981)

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JAKE ONE: It’s actually an interpolation Battlecat did. It’s one of those songs that’s always been a big song West Coast wise, it’s kinda like a classic. I always liked the song and when I randomly stumbled upon the Raydio thing I was kinda like, wow, that was really clever how he did that shit. Battlecat’s one of the best dudes ever at replaying shit and maintaining his own sound. It’s like he’s doing a cover version of it but it sounds like his shit no matter what he’s re-doing. He totally maintains the integrity and feel of that kind of music. And that shit is a lot harder than people think it is – to do replays and put your own spin on it and make it yours. He’s definitely one of my favorite producers. This is something that people will listen to and be like [dismissively], oh, that’s a keyboard beat. But it’s rooted in hip-hop and samples. Fuckin’ filthy.

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4. Above the Law – “Livin’ Like Hustlers” (Ruthless, 1990)

Producer: Dr. Dre

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Sample Sources: Quincy Jones – “Hicky Burr” (A&M, 1971); James Brown – “Hot (I Need to be Loved Loved Loved Loved)” (Polydor, 1975)

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JAKE ONE: This has the feel of the N.W.A era/D.O.C.-era Dre. And it’s just one of these sample collages that’s just fuckin’ the shit. That’s one thing that’s totally been lost in the 2000s: the idea that you can put ten records together and make it something different – probably just because to clear that record would cost so much money to do it that way. But I think it’s way harder than people realize. He’s got the Quincy Jones thing, which is the main part. Then on the chorus part, which is my favorite part, he puts in James Brown, and all this random shit. There’s “Big Beat” in there. And there’s a vocal sample too. It’s just filthy, man. And it just flows so dope back into the other part. It’s like a flawless blend. Back then they didn’t have time stretchin’ or none of that shit. So he’s somehow getting all these things in key. Just basically just doing it 4-track style on the turntables. The Public Enemy approach, but he brought his own thing to that style.

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5. WC & the MAAD Circle – “You Don’t Work, U Don’t Eat” (Priority, 1991)

Producers: Chilly Chill, Sir Jinx, Crazy Toones

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Sample Sources: Parliament – “Theme From the Black Hole” (Casablanca, 1979); Zapp – “More Bounce to the Ounce” (Warner Bros., 1980)

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JAKE ONE: It’s a Parliament song, it’s “More Bounce,” it’s “God Make Me Funky” – there’s about ten records in this one. It’s another one of those songs where it’s just the way it’s put together. When I was listening to songs like this as a kid I didn’t understand anything about samples or breaks or anything about how they were doing this. I just remember just thinking that beat was so dope. I like the whole album but this one in particular. The records from this era have a little bit of everything. They might have a main loop that drives the song, but there’s always other parts that came into it and went out. It’s always dope how they used to do that. Like on this song when MC Eiht comes in they just start scratching in random samples he’s already rapped over. That’s not happening now. [laughs]

I did some stuff like that on my album and I got sued. Over dumb shit. Not over even anything that was important. Little dumb shit like that I put in there I got in trouble for. That shit kills you. I got sued for like four different things. And it’s all the Internet. You have these websites – whosampled and the-breaks. And people are just into the music, so they’re hyped about finding samples. But all these artists have a Google alert which is leading them to the treasure chest. That’s all people are doing when you do that on line. At least misspell the name or some shit.

1. • DJ Spinna’s 10 Favorite Sample Flips.