Back by popular demand, here is my sample platter for October 2020: a delicious spread of samples used in hip-hop and beyond!
- Amen Brother by The Winstons: The “Amen” break is one of the most heavily sampled drum breaks in the history of sampling, and not just in hip-hop. It appears frequently in drum and bass mixes as well.
- Footsteps in the Dark, Pts. 1 & 2 by The Isley Brothers: With a career spanning more than five decades, the Isley Brothers are no strangers to sampling. “Footsteps in the Dark” is perhaps their most popular sample, with Ice Cube flipping it on “It Was a Good Day” and Thundercat with “Them Changes”.
- Bound by The Ponderosa Twins Plus One: Kanye has a knack for finding loops, making minimal changes to them, and still making a great beat. This is exactly what he did with “Bound 2”, which samples “Bound”.
- Prison Song by Carlton Williams: A sample of this song reached the masses thanks to Metro Boomin, who flipped it for Future’s 2017 Mask Off.
- Mystic Brew by Ronnie Foster: This song was first sampled by A Tribe Called Quest on their track “Electric Relaxation”. In 2013, J. Cole sampled it in “Forbidden Fruit”, and then he reversed that track to create the beat for “Neighbors”.
- Outstanding by The Gap Band: An interpolation of this classic appeared on Tyler, the Creator’s 2017 album Flower Boy via the song “911”.
- Use Me by Bill Withers: Like the Amen break, the drum break on this song has been sampled dozens of times, by the likes of Kendrick, Logic, Nas, and Drake.
- As Long As I’ve Got You by The Charmels: The opening piano riff of this song is instantly recognizable if you’ve heard “C.R.E.A.M” by The Wu-Tang Clan, which loops it on repeat.
– DJ Mango