Producer Profile: Dr. Dre (Part 2, 1990)

Following the breakthrough success of N.W.A.'s 'Straight Outta Compton' album and production work for Eazy-E and Michel'le, Dr. Dre was hot property in 1990. This post will look at Dr. Dre's production credits from 1990 and the songs he sampled for those works.

'Livin' Like Hustlers' by Above the Law was previously covered here and here, but it bears mentioning again due to the density of Dr. Dre's sample work of the period. On 'Murder Rap', Dre samples a number of notable breaks like Eddie Bo's fantastic NoLa single 'Hook and Sling', James Brown's 'Funky Drummer', the squonky 'Ironside' by Quincy Jones, and Stanley Turrentine's famous 'Sister Sanctified'.

Following N.W.A.'s bombastic debut, Dre produced the stop gap EP '100 Miles and Runnin'', which featured some of N.W.A.'s beat cuts. On '100 Miles and Runnin'', Dre samples Funkadelic's 'Get Off Your Ass and Jam', Herbie Hancock's 'Hang Up Your Hang Ups', and James Brown's 'Give it Up or Turnit Loose' in addition to choice samples from 'Nowhere to Run' by Martha Reeves and the Vandellas, 'Run N-----' by the Last Poets, and Vincent Price's contribution to 'Thriller' by Michael Jackson. On the EP's cut 'Real N----z', Dre samples Kool and the Gang's 'Give it Up' and Cheryl Lynn's proto-disco smash single 'Got to Be Real'.

Check back for more information on Dr. Dre's career, which tends to appear on this blog regularly.

The Lowdown:
Above the Law 'Murder Rap'
from 'Livin' Like Hustlers' (1990) (MP3/CD)
Eddie Bo 'Hook and Sling'
from 'Hook and Sling' 7" (1968) (MP3 not available/CD not available)
James Brown 'Funky Drummer'
from 'Funky Drummer' 7" (1970) (MP3 not available/CD not available)
Quincy Jones 'Ironside'
from 'Smackwater Jack' (1971) (MP3/CD)
Stanley Turrentine 'Sister Sanctified'
from 'Cherry' (1972) (MP3 not available/Import CD)
N.W.A. '100 Miles and Runnin'' and 'Real N----z'
from '100 Miles and Runnin'' (1990) (MP3 not available/CD not available)
Funkadelic 'Get Off Your Ass and Jam'
from 'Let's Take it to the Stage' (1975) (MP3/CD)
Herbie Hancock 'Hang Up Your Hang Ups'
from 'Man-Child' (1975) (MP3/CD)
James Brown 'Give it Up or Turnit Loose'
from 'In the Jungle Groove' (1986) (MP3/CD)
Martha Reeves and the Vandellas 'Nowhere to Run'
from 'Dance Party' (1965) (MP3 not available/Import CD)
The Last Poets 'Run, N-----'
from 'The Last Poets' (1970) (MP3 not available/CD)
Michael Jackson 'Thriller'
from 'Thriller' (1983) (MP3/CD)
Kool and the Gang 'Give it Up'
from 'Kool and the Gang' (1969) (MP3 not available/CD not available)
Cheryl Lynn 'Got to Be Real'
from 'Cheryl Lynn' (1978) (MP3/CD not available)

Related Posts:
Producer Profile: Dr. Dre (Part 1, 1988-1989)
Rewind: Above the Law 'Livin' Like Hustlers (Part 1)
Rewind: Above the Law 'Livin' Like Hustlers (Part 2)
Rewind: N.W.A. 'Straight Outta Compton (Part 1)
Rewind: N.W.A. 'Straight Outta Compton (Part 2)
Rewind: N.W.A. 'Straight Outta Compton (Part 3)
Street Sounds: Dr. Dre

The Breaks: Myra Barnes 'Message from the Soul Sisters'

For our last post during James Brown Week, I thought we'd take a look at one of the many hits produced by James Brown for other artists. Today's post will cover Myra Barnes' hit single 'Message from the Soul Sisters' from 1970. Myra Barnes, who also performed under the name Vicki Anderson, joined the James Brown Revue in 1965 and would later be replaced by another legendary James Brown produced female singer: Marva Whitney. 'Message from the Soul Sisters' is among one of her best known tracks and is a go-to sample source for some of hip hop's finest producers.

DJ Premier and Guru sampled Barnes for the title track to their 1989 debut album 'No More Mr. Nice Guy'. A year later, Dr. Dre and Lay Law sampled the song for Above the Law's 'Freedom of Speech' and the Geto Boys sampled the song for their track 'City Under Seige'. Perhaps the track most known for sampling 'Message from the Soul Sisters' is the album cut 'Vamos a Rapair' produced by Large Professor and Pete Rock for Main Source's modern day classic debut album 'Breaking Atoms'. Rashad Smith used the sample again in 1995 for LL Cool J's track 'God Bless' from the album 'Mr. Smith.

In addition to being a part of the James Brown Revue, Myra Barnes was quite literally family: she married Bobby Byrd, a long time Brown collaborator. Music was also apparently apart of Byrd and Barnes' DNA as their daughter Jhelisa scored a few 90s hits in the UK.

The Lowdown:
Myra Barnes 'Message from the Soul Sisters'
from 'Message from the Soul Sisters' 7" (1970) (MP3 not available/CD not available)
Gang Starr 'No More Mr. Nice Guy'
from 'No More Mr. Nice Guy' (1989) (MP3/CD)
Above the Law 'Freedom of Speech'
from 'Livin' Like Hustlers' (1990) (MP3/CD)
Geto Boys 'City Under Siege'
from 'The Geto Boys' (1990) (MP3/CD)
Main Source 'Vamos a Rapair'
from 'Breaking Atoms' (1991) (MP3/CD)
LL Cool J 'God Bless'
from 'Mr. Smith' (1995) (MP3/CD)

Related Posts:
Rewind: Above the Law 'Livin' Like Hustlers' (Part 1)
Rewind: Above the Law 'Livin' Like Hustlers' (Part 2)
Rewind: Main Source 'Breaking Atoms' (Part 1)
Rewind: Main Source 'Breaking Atoms' (Part 2)

Rewind: Above the Law 'Livin' Like Hustlers' (Part 2)

Welcome to part 2 of a two part look at Above the Law's 1990 album 'Livin' Like Hustlers' produced by Dr. Dre.

The mighty Isaac Hayes and his breakthrough album 'Hot Buttered Soul' appears on this blog again as Above the Law samples 'Hyperbolicsyllabicsesquedalymistic' for the track 'Just Kickin' Lyrics'. 'Ballin'' samples Cameo's 1977 track 'Why Have I Lost You?' from their sophomore album 'We All Know Who We Are'. Finally, another James Brown produced track shows up in the sample credits, this time its 'Message from the Soul Sisters' Myra Barnes (aka Vicki Anderson) used on Above the Law's 'Freedom of Speech'.

Above the Law continued to produce albums through the 90s, including the 1992 platinum album 'Black Mafia Life'. By 1992, producer Dr. Dre had left Ruthless and produced his breakthrough single for the movie 'Deep Cover', leading to his debut album 'The Chronic' (which will no doubt be covered in a future post on this blog).

The Lowdown:
Above the Law 'Just Kickin' Lyrics', 'Ballin'', and 'Freedom of Speech'
from 'Livin' Like Hustlers' (1989) (MP3/CD)
Isaac Hayes 'Hyperbolicsyllabicsesquedalymistic'
'Hot Buttered Soul' (1968) (MP3/CD)
Cameo 'Why Have I Lost You?'
from 'We All Know Who We Are' (1977) (MP3/CD not available)
Myra Barnes 'Message from the Soul Sisters'

Rewind: Above the Law 'Livin' Like Hustlers' (Part 1)

One of Dr. Dre's best post-'Straight Outta Compton' / pre-'The Chronic' production works is the debut album by future Death Row labelmates Above the Law. 1990's 'Livin' Like Hustlers' is the lone album produced by Dre; despite their link to Death Row, Dr. Dre would not return to the boards for their future albums. This two post arc will cover the samples used in one of the West Coast's most overlooked albums.

'Untouchable' is underpinned by the familiar James Brown 'Funky Drummer' break, but also uses samples from Young Holt Unlimited's cover of 'Light My Fire' by the Doors and Quincy Jones' 'Ironside' (most known for its recent use in 'Kill Bill'). The title track to 'Livin' like Hustlers' also samples further from Quincy Jones' 'Smackwater Jack' album, knicking bits of 'Hikky Burr'. It also features another JB sample, the track 'Hot (I Need to Be Loved Loved Loved Loved)' from his 1976 album 'Hot!'.

Above the Law's 'Menace to Society' goes to town with its use of B.T. Express samples, sourcing no less than three tracks from the Express' 1974 hit LP 'Do It ('Til You're Satisfied)'. Dre uses 'This House is Smokin'', 'Once You Get It', and 'Do You Like It' for the backing of 'Menace'.

Check back for part 2 of our look at 'Livin' Like Hustlers'.

The Lowdown:
Above the Law 'Untouchable', 'Livin' Like Hustlers', and 'Menace to Society'
from 'Livin' Like Hustlers' (1989) (MP3/CD)
James Brown 'Funky Drummer'
Young Holt Unlimited 'Light My Fire'
from 'Just a Melody' (1969) (MP3 not available/CD not available)
Quincy Jones 'Ironside' and 'Hikky Burr'
from 'Smackwater Jack' (1970) (MP3/Import CD)
James Brown 'Hot (I Need to Be Loved Loved Loved Loved)'
from 'Hot!' (1976) (MP3 not available/CD not available)
B.T. Express 'This House is Smokin'', 'Once You Get It', and 'Do You Like It'
from 'Do It ('Til You're Satisfied)' (1974) (MP3/CD)