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Between his two landmark albums 'What's Going On' and 'Let's Get it On', Marvin Gaye produced and released one of his generally forgotten albums: 1972's mostly instrumental soundtrack album 'Trouble Man' released on this date. Those who did not forget about this album have been hip-hop beat makers using the fertile instrumental landscapes in Gaye during his production prime. This post will cover 'Trouble Man''s standout tracks and the people who sampled them.
One of my favorite tracks from this album and one of Gaye's best productions in my opinion is 'T Plays it Cool', a necessity for downtempo sets. The beat was nicked by a pre-House of Pain Everlast on the track 'Pass It On' from his not-so-aptly-titled forgotten album 'Forever Everlasting'. A year later, DJ Premier would use the same loop for Gang Starr's much more widely received 'Take a Rest' from the excellent 1991 album 'Step in the Arena'.
'Trouble Man''s lone single is the title track 'Trouble Man', which breached the top 10 in 1972. 25 years later, the song would be sampled for Rocafella R&B protégés Christión, who are perhaps best remembered for their inclusion on 'Streets is Watching'. The single for their debut album 'Ghetto Cyrano' was the Gaye sampling 'Full of Smoke' whose production is credited to Dame Dash, Jay-Z, and Biggs Burke. Ghost producers stand up! I'm surprised that this song hasn't been sampled more, aspiring beat makers should give it a go. Gaye's album track 'T Stands for Trouble' is one of the sources used by the Bomb Squad for their stunning beat for Ice Cube's 'Who's the Mack?'. 'T Stands for Trouble' would get a second rinse on Brand Nubian's 'The Meaning of the 5%' from their highly militant 1993 follow up album 'In God We Trust'.
In future posts on this blog, we will undoubtedly look at other albums from Marvin, however this gem should not be overlooked as prime source material.
The Lowdown:
Marvin Gaye 'T Plays it Cool', 'Trouble Man', and 'T Stands for Trouble'
from 'Trouble Man' (1972) (MP3/CD)
Everlast 'Pass it On'
'Forever Everlasting' (1990) (MP3/CD not available)
Gang Starr 'Take a Rest'
from 'Step in the Arena' (1991) (MP3/CD)
Christión 'Full of Smoke'
from 'Ghetto Cyrano' (1997) (MP3/CD)
Ice Cube 'Who's the Mack?'
from 'AmeriKKKa's Most Wanted' (1990) (MP3/CD)
Clean Edit: 'Who's The Mack?'
Brand Nubian 'The Meaning of the 5%'
from 'In God We Trust' (1993) (MP3/CD)
2 comments:
he music he made from the classic social/political album, “What’s Going On” to his last album, before his untimely death, “Sexual Healing”, in my opinion, was his best in a long (but yet, still too short) illustrious career.
I love soul samples used on Hip-Hop records and anytime rap artists sample Marvin Gaye, the greatest soul singer of all time, you know that I’m all ears!!
I had never heard a sample of “Come Live With Me Angel” on a Hip-Hop record until 2003 when G-Unit released “Wanna Get To Know You” featuring R&B singer, Joe (if you know of a Hip-Hop record which used the sample before G-Unit did, let me know).
Turaf
http://www.beatbuggy.com/user/turaw/
I can't say I know of anyone that sampled 'Come Live with Me Angel' before that Joe/G-Unit joint. Someone else needs to get on that one, it's one of my personal favorite Marvin tracks too.
Thanks for the comment - there'll be more on Marvin to come in the future for sure.
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