The Breaks: Lee Dorsey 'Get Out of My Life Woman' (Part 1)

Last month, Lee Dorsey's essential open drum intro for 'Get Out of My Life Woman' was inducted to our Five On It collection of necessary breaks for hip-hop producers and DJs. I would've liked to expand on why this drum break is so necessary, but it could not have been done in just one part of one post. In total, I have four posts slated to explain 'Get Out of My Life Woman' - the first two dropping this month will look at songs who sampled the Lee Dorsey version and two posts next month will explore the songs that sampled covers of Lee Dorsey's original. Beat scientists will know there are a lot of excellent covers to talk about. Let's get into it!

'Get Out of My Life Woman' may be most famously sampled in 1989 by Biz Markie for his gigantic crossover hit and enduring single 'Just a Friend' from his album 'The Biz Never Sleeps'. Produced by the Biz and Cool V, 'Just a Friend' is a multi-generational party standard. A year later, DJ Slip and the Unknown DJ sampled the 'Get Out of My Life Woman' break for Compton's Most Wanted's 'This is Compton' from 'It's a Compton Thang!' which predates Dr. Dre's Compton-centric 'The Chronic' by one year. In 1991, Prince Paul and De La Soul sampled the drums on 'Fanatic of the B Word' from their sophomore album 'De La Soul is Dead'. In 1992, Common's debut album 'Can I Borrow a Dollar?' contained the Immenslope produced single 'Breaker 1/9' while the title track to Lord Finesse's 'Return of the Funky Man' had Showbiz (of Show and AG fame), both sampling Lee Dorsey. In 1993, both 'Hits from the Bong' by Cypress Hill, produced by DJ Muggs, and the short interlude 'Zearocks' from the Leaders of the New School's 'T.I.M.E.' album also used samples of 'Get Out of My Life Woman'.

Check back for the second part of our look at songs sampling one of Lee Dorsey's finest moments.

The Lowdown:
Lee Dorsey 'Get Out of My Life Woman'
from 'The New Lee Dorsey' (1966) (MP3 not available/CD not available)
Biz Markie 'Just a Friend'
from 'The Biz Never Sleeps' (1989) (MP3 not available/Import CD)
Compton's Most Wanted 'This is Compton'
from 'It's a Compton Thang!' (1990) (MP3/CD not available)
De La Soul 'Fanatic of the B Word'
from 'De La Soul is Dead' (1991) (MP3 not available/CD)
Common 'Breaker 1/9'
from 'Can I Borrow a Dollar?' (1992) (MP3/CD)
Lord Finesse 'Return of the Funky Man'
from 'Return of the Funky Man' (1992) (MP3/CD not available)
Cypress Hill 'Hits from the Bong'
from 'Black Sunday' (1993) (MP3/CD)
Clean Edits: 'Hits from the Bong'
Leaders of the New School 'Zearocks'
from 'T.I.M.E.' (1993) (MP3/CD)

Related Posts:
Five On It: July 2009's Essentials ('Get Out My Life Woman' on Five On It)
Rewind: Cypress Hill 'Black Sunday' (Part 1)
Rewind: Cypress Hill 'Black Sunday' (Part 2)

Producer Profile: David Axelrod (Part 4, 1972-1977)

Through the 70s, David Axelrod continued to record a series of albums and continued producing albums for Cannoball Adderley until his untimely death in 1975. This fourth look at Axelrod's career will cover his work with Adderley in the final part of his life, his work with Funk Inc., his solo work, and - as always - the artists who have sampled the songs from this era.

Cannonball Adderley's albums from 1972 are crate digger fantasies: the difficult to track down 'Soul of the Bible' and 'Soul Zodiac' yielded producers with ample samplable music. Biz Markie used a sample from Adderley's 'Soul of the Bible' track 'Make Your Own Temple' for his 'Groovin'' from 1993's 'All Samples Cleared'. RZA sampled Adderley's 'Aries' from 'Soul Zodiac' for Genius/GZA's epic 'Gold' from the previously reviewed hip-hop classic 'Liquid Swords'.

Following three jazz-funk albums in the early 70s overseen by Rudy Van Gelder, Funk Inc. turned to David Axelrod to produce their fourth album titled 'Superfunk' (which has recently been re-released by the fantastic BGP label, link below). 'Superfunk' is a source for Eric B. and Rakim's 'Keep 'Em Eager to Listen' which samples Funk Inc.'s cover of 'Message from the Meters'. Brand Nubian samples 'Goodbye, So Long' from 'Superfunk' for their single 'Hold On' from the 1994 album 'Everything is Everything'. Funk Inc. recorded one more album in 1974 with David Axelrod, the currently unavailable 'Priced to Sell', whose 'God Only Knows' was sampled by Black Sheep on their 'A Wolf in Sheep's Clothing' track 'La Menage' with Q-Tip. Q-Tip, Phife Dawg, Busta Rhymes, and Redman all appear on A Tribe Called Quest's 'Steppin' It Up' produced by Jay Dee which samples another Axelrod produced track: Cannonball Adderley's 'Leo: Rosebud' from his 1974 album 'Love, Sex and the Zodiac'.

David Axelrod's out of print 1977 album 'Strange Ladies' is also a highly coveted piece of vinyl that's been sampled by hip-hop's finest. Lauryn Hill's 'Every Ghetto, Every City' from her 1998 album 'The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill' samples Axelrod's 'Tony Poem'. Two years later, Inspectah Deck sampled 'Terri's Tune' for Ghostface Killah's 'Stay True' from 'Supreme Clientele'.

Axelrod recorded three more albums following 'Strange Ladies' as his acclaim quietly grew in hip-hop production circles leading to a high profile release on Mo' Wax Records in 2001 and rediscovery of his work by a new audience. Look for further posts about Axelrod, his production work, and his sample credits on this blog.

The Lowdown:
Cannonball Adderley 'Make Your Own Temple'
from 'Soul of the Bible' (1972) (MP3 not available/CD not available)
Biz Markie 'Groovin''
from 'All Samples Cleared' (1993) (MP3/CD not available)
Cannonball Adderley 'Aries'
from 'Soul Zodiac' (1972) (MP3 not available/Import CD)
Genius/GZA 'Gold'
from 'Liquid Swords' (1995) (MP3/CD)
Funk Inc. 'Message from the Meters' and 'Goodbye, So Long'
from 'Superfunk' (1973) (MP3 not available/Import CD)
Eric B. and Rakim 'Keep 'em Eager to Listen'
from 'Let the Rhythm Hit 'Em' (1990) (MP3/CD)
Brand Nubian 'Hold On'
from 'Everything is Everything' (1994) (MP3/CD not available)
Clean Edit: 'Hold On'
Funk Inc. 'God Only Knows'
from 'Priced to Sell' (1974) (MP3 not available/CD not available)
Black Sheep 'La Menage'
from 'A Wolf in Sheep's Clothing' (1994) (MP3/CD)
Cannonball Adderley 'Leo: Rosebud'
from 'Love, Sex and the Zodiac' (1974) (MP3 not available/CD not available)
A Tribe Called Quest 'Steppin' it Up'
from 'The Love Movement' (1998) (MP3/CD)
David Axelrod 'Tony Poem' and 'Terri's Tune'
from 'Strange Ladies' (1977) (MP3 not available/CD not available)
Lauryn Hill 'Every Ghetto, Every City'
from 'The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill' (1998) (MP3/CD)
Ghostface Killah 'Stay True'
from 'Supreme Clientele' (2000) (MP3/CD)

Bonus Beats:
Funk Inc.'s 'Message from the Meters' is, of course, a cover of 'Message from the Meters' by the Meters. The original Meters version is also a sampleworthy piece of 70s funk like much of the Meters discography: it was sampled by Matt Dike of the Dust Brothers and Michael Ross for Tone Loc's 'Loc'in on the Shaw' from 1989.

Related Posts:
Rewind: Genius/GZA 'Liquid Swords' (Part 1)
Rewind: Genius/GZA 'Liquid Swords' (Part 2)
Rewind: Ghostface Killah 'Supreme Clientele' (Part 1)
Rewind: Ghostface Killah 'Supreme Clientele' (Part 2)
Rewind: Ghostface Killah 'Supreme Clientele' (Part 3)

Source Material: James Brown 'Hell' (Part 2)

Welcome back to James Brown Week and our second look at James Brown's 1974 album 'Hell' and the producers and artists who sampled it.

One of James' earlier hits was suped up for the excellent 'I Can't Stand It '76', which was sampled by Lord Finesse on his own album 'Return of the Funky Man' for the track 'Funk on the Fast Tip'. James' single 'Papa Don't Take No Mess' spawned a series of sampled tracks through out hip hop's history. Kool Moe Dee sampled it in 1986 on 'I'm a Player', but Eric B. and Rakim had a much bigger his in 1987 using the same sample for their classic 'Move the Crowd' from the album 'Paid in Full'. In 1988, Marley Marl sampled 'Papa Don't Take No Mess' for Biz Markie's single 'Vapors' from the album 'Goin' Off' and 7A3 sampled the song for their track 'Mad Mad World' from the soundtrack to the movie 'Colors'. Finally in 1993, Puff Daddy and Tony Dofat sampled the same song for Mary J. Blige's 'You Don't Have to Worry', a single with Craig Mack that hovered in the upper reaches of the Billboard 100.

'Hell' may not be as sought after as other albums from the era, but its a burner with an unlikely latin flavor. 1974 was a banner year, like any other, for James also released his legendary album 'The Payback' (another double album) during the same year.

The Lowdown:
James Brown 'I Can't Stand It '76' and 'Papa Don't Take No Mess'
from 'Hell' (1974) (MP3/CD)
Lord Finesse 'Funk on the Fast Tip'
from 'Return of the Funky Man' (1992) (MP3/CD not available)
Kool Moe Dee 'I'm a Player'
from 'How Ya Like Me Now' (1986) (MP3/CD)
Eric B. and Rakim 'Move the Crowd'
from 'Paid in Full' (1987) (MP3/CD)
Biz Markie 'Vapors'
from 'Goin' Off' (1988) (MP3/CD)
7A3 'Mad Mad World'
from 'Colors Soundtrack' (1988) (MP3/CD not available)
Mary J. Blige 'You Don't Have to Worry'
from 'What's the 411? Remix' (1993) (MP3/CD)

Rewind: Wu-tang Clan 'Enter the Wu-Tang' (Part 2)

Welcome to part 2 of our look at 'Enter the Wu-Tang (36 Chambers)'.

'Wu-Tang Clan Ain't Nuthing ta F--- Wit' may not be an A-side single, but its one of Wu-Tang's most endearing and well known tracks. The track, produced by the RZA and Method Man, samples the break from Lafayette Afro Rock Band's 'Hihache', the opening break from the Honey Drippers' 'Impeach the President', and elements of Biz Markie's 'Nobody Beats the Biz'. The biggest single from 'Enter the Wu-Tang', maybe the biggest single of the Wu's career, is 'C.R.E.A.M.'. This classic uses a sample of the Stax single 'As Long as I've Got You' by the Charmels, written by Isaac Hayes and David Porter. Don't sleep on that download link, this track has never been easy to come by!



Method Man takes on a track solo for 'Method Man' which samples 'Sport' by Lightnin' Rod (featuring instrumentation by an early Earth, Wind and Fire), 'Sundown' by Gordon Lightfoot, and re-interpolates Hall and Oates' 'Method of Modern Love' from 1984's 'Big Bam Boom'. The Wu's first single, originally released independently but redone for the album, was 'protect Ya Neck' which contains samples of Lowell Fulsom's 'Tramp' and Albert King's 'Cold Feet'. Finally, 'Tearz' samples another Stax 7": Wendy Rene's 'After Laughter (Comes Tears)'.

Wu-Tang Clan, following the release of their debut, became a legacy with more albums as a group and dozens of solo releases from the Wu members. Look for more Wu-Tang Clan associated posts in the future of this blog.

The Lowdown:
Wu-Tang Clan 'Wu-Tang Clan Ain't Nuthing ta F--- Wit', 'C.R.E.A.M.', 'Method Man', 'Protect Ya Neck', and 'Tearz'
from 'Enter the Wu-Tang (36 Chambers)' (1993) (MP3/CD)
Lafayette Afro Rock Band 'Hihache'
from 'Soul Makossa' (1972) (MP3/CD not available)
The Honey Drippers 'Impeach the President'
from 'Impeach the President' 7" (1973) (MP3 not available/CD not available)
Biz Markie 'Nobody Beats the Biz'
from 'Goin' Off' (1988) (MP3/CD)
The Charmels 'As Long As I've Got You'
from 'As Long As I've Got You' 7" (1967) (MP3 not available/CD not available)
Lightnin' Rod 'Sport'
from 'Hustler's Convention' (1973) (MP3 not available/CD)
Gordon Lightfoot 'Sundown'
from 'Sundown' (1974) (MP3 not available/CD)
Hall and Oates 'Method of Modern Love'
from 'Big Bam Boom' (1984) (MP3/CD)
Lowell Fulsom 'Tramp'
from 'Tramp' (1967) (MP3 not available/Import CD)
Albert King 'Cold Feet'
from 'King of the Blues Guitar' (1969) (MP3/CD)
Wendy Rene 'After Laughter (Comes Tears)'
from 'After Laughter (Comes Tears)' 7" (1964) (MP3 not available/CD not available)

Bonus Cuts:
Wu-Tang Clan 'C.R.E.A.M.' (Acapella)