Connecting the dots - sampling the past

One of the things I like about hip-hop is the samples that are taken from older music.  I'm not sure where it all started, perhaps at the beginning of hip-hop, but I'm certain it's used often.  One early stand-out track for me is Kanye West's Gold Digger.  That being said, it was Jamie Foxx that sung Ray Charles' lines from "I got a woman" rather than using a true sample.

From the local seen, Torontonian Shad had a lot of airplay success from "Rose Garden"- I love the sample of the original 1967 version by The Three Degrees.



A go-to album for me that does a wonderful job of sampling older classics with fresher electronic sound is  Nina Simone's Remixed and Reimagined.  Her voice has such a beautiful range and mood.

For hip-hop and electronica, the samples seem to come mostly from old soul, jazz and R&B.  Quite different to the Chris Sheppard's dance mega-mixes of The Cult in the 80's.

But what set this off was the recent Drake Rihanna single "Take Care".  I knew I knew the simple piano sample, but thought it was from a Nina Simone track.  But a few Google searches later took me to the original source: Gil Scott-Heron.  I'd downloaded the wonderful Jamie XX remix of Scott-Heron's "I'll Take Care of You" about a year ago.

I love connecting the dots.

Originally posted on in Tune in.