Five On It: February 2009's Essentials

Thanks for tuning into our look back at the breaks of the month, this month we'll be covering the hottest samples mentioned during the month of February.

This months bangers starts with Cerrone's 'Rocket in the Pocket' (more on 'Rocket' is below) from this blog's review of 'Special Herbs vol. 1 and 2' by Metal Fingers'. On the first post of our review of 'College Dropout' by Kanye West, we mentioned the dreamy soul single 'Distant Lover' from Marvin Gaye's classic album 'Let's Get it On'. The Larry Mizell produced 'Think Twice' by Donald Byrd was one of the samples used by Dilla on our fifth look of J Dilla's producer profile. Primo, on our look at Premier's production discography used the godfather of soul James Brown's 'Get on the Good Foot'. Finally, one of the samples used on Mos Def's 'Black on Both Sides' is Roy Ayers' solid break 'We Live in Brooklyn, Baby' with Ubiquity.

Keep it locked here, there are tons of great breaks this coming month.

The Lowdown:
Cerrone 'Rocket in the Pocket'
from 'Cerrone IV - The Golden Touch' (1978) (MP3 not available/Import CD)
Marvin Gaye 'Distant Lover'
from 'Let's Get It On' (1973) (MP3/CD)
Donald Byrd 'Think Twice'
from 'Stepping Into Tomorrow' (1974) (MP3/CD)
James Brown 'Get on the Good Foot'
from 'Get on the Good Foot' (1972) (MP3/CD not available)
Roy Ayers Ubiquity 'We Live in Brooklyn, Baby'
from 'He's Coming' (1972) (MP3 not available/CD not available)

Bonus Cuts:
'Rocket in the Pocket' is a classic break used by old school DJs and breakers and was an essential sample used by hip-hop's pioneers. Russell Simmons and Rick Rubin are credited as the producers of 'Raising Hell' and 'Hit It Run' by Run DMC. Dr. Dre and DJ Yella used the break for Eazy-E's 'Radio'. Finally, the King of Chill used the break for MC Lyte's 'Cha Cha Cha'.

Rewind: Metal Fingers 'Special Herbs Vol. 1 and 2' (Part 1)

After KMD and Daniel Dumile's return to music as MF Doom in 1998, Doom started the Special Herbs project as Metal Fingers. 'Special Herbs Vol. 1 and 2' was released in two parts in 2001 and 2002, part 1 released on Female Fun records and parts 1 and 2 released on one disc on High Times Records. This post will cover the tracks and sample sources of 'Special Herbs Vol. 1 and 2'.

Dumile's track 'Saffron' samples 'Hogin' Machine' from Les Baxter's 1969 motorcycle exploitation soundtrack 'Hell's Belles'. 'Hell's Belles' is a highly sought after soundtrack that has been sampled numerous times and has been repressed by a handful of shady companies, be on the lookout for legit copies. 'Zatar' samples Anita Baker's 'Been So Long' from her 1986 album 'Rapture' to some pleasant results. This may cause some comment ruckus, but I'm not a fan of Quincy Jones' 1979 album 'The Dude', but Doom used 'One Hundred Ways' on 'Monosodium Glutamate' very well. Finally, one of the essential early breaks, 'Rocket in the Pocket' by Cerrone is used on Metal Fingers' 'Red #40'.

Check back for our second look at Metal Fingers' 'Special Herbs Vol. 1 and 2' produced by MF Doom.

The Lowdown:
Metal Fingers 'Saffron', 'Zatar', 'Monosodium Glutamate', and 'Red #40'
from 'Special Herbs Vol. 1 and 2' (2002) (MP3/CD)
Les Baxter 'Hogin' Machine'
from 'Hell's Belles' (1969) (MP3 not available/CD not available)
Anita Baker 'Been So Long'
from 'Rapture' (1986) (MP3/CD)
Quincy Jones 'One Hundred Ways'
from 'The Dude' (1979) (MP3/CD)
Cerrone 'Rocket in the Pocket'
from 'Cerrone IV - The Golden Touch' (1978) (MP3 not available/Import CD)

Bonus Cut:
Both Doom and Dilla were tapped for beats by Ghostface Killah for his album 'Fishscale' (full review soon). Ghost used some older beats by both producers, including a few from Doom's 'Special Herbs' series. One of those beats is 'Monosodium Glutamate' which was used as the backing for Ghostface Killah's 'Clipse of Doom'.