Favourite Samples Part 1

For a long time now I have been wanting to do a post on my favourite hip hop samples ever. I always love a bit of crate-digging and love to hear samples that other people have dug up.


A lot of these lists you wil see on the web focus on classic breaks, and thats all good and well, but no-one really wants to hear me banging on the importance and influence of Lynne Collins' Think break, Orange Krush's Action or the Amen. So this list is of the more melodic nature. Hopefully you will enjoy listening to these pieces of music as much as I do...



1. Wendy Rene - After Laughter Comes Tears
A beautiful soul tune from the ever reliable Stax camp that formed the basis for Wu Tangs 90's classic Tearz




2. Honey Cone - Innocent Untill Proven Guilty
Not normally a fan of Kanye's work, but his use of this track for Common's Testify from his album Be. Worth listening to some of the other tunes from this all girl soul group




3. Quincy Jones - Summer in the City
We can't really ignore Quincy's contribution to samplers everywhere, but this one is just too classic, sampled so many times, but most notably the intro sampled for hip hop classic Passin me By (Pharcyde)




4. Enoch Light - Hi Jack
It took me a long, long time to track this vinyl down, but after much hunting i managed to get hold of it from the US, listen close or you will miss the sample, but if you don't, you will recognise it in an instant.. Beatnuts Watch Out Now




5. Arthur Verocai - Na Boca Do Sol
Possibly my favourite sampled artist, this south American jazz artists finest piece of work.. (sampled by MF Doom and 9th Wonder). No clean video on youtube for this one, but you can head to his Myspace and listen there

Na Bca do Sol by Arthur Verocai


6. Irene Reid - Didn't We
Classic female soul interlude, done with real class. Taken from her The World Needs What I Need. The whole album was sampled heavily in Kanye's early work (if you check some of his early mixtapes)





7. The Moments - To You With Love
Absolute classic soul cut, that needs nothing doing, but Dilla managed it.. Last Donut of the Night (from Donuts) - had to include Dilla's version as well..








8.  Ann Peebles - Trouble,  Heartaches and Sadness
Another big soul tune (again worth checking here other work here) used for GZA's ShadowBoxing




9. The Mohawks - Champ
Had to include this one on the list on account of it being the basis of one of my favourite hip hop tunes ever.. KRS One - Step in to a world (the live version was also sampled by Prodigy for "Charly" incidentally)





10. Incredible Bongo Band - In A Gadda Da Vidda
Not the tune you expected huh? real nice vibe to this track, which was pretty much just lifted straight for Nas' recent "Hip Hop Is Dead"



hope you all enjoyed them! I will probably do another installment soon..