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)

Rewind: Kanye West 'College Dropout' (Part 1)

After a year full of production credits for other artists, many covered in previous posts on this blog, Kanye West released his own album in 2004. The album, with little initial fanfare, became a critically acclaimed debut which would launch West's celebrity into the stratosphere. This two part post will cover the samples used on his album 'The College Dropout' from 2004.

The opening track 'We Don't Care' is indicative of West's early sped-up soul sample sound with a sample from the Jimmy Castor Bunch's 'I Just Wanna Stop'. The track also features early appearances from future pop stars John Legend and Keyshia Cole. The original beat for the future single 'All Falls Down' featured a sample of Lauryn Hill's 'Mystery of Iniquity' from her album 'MTV Unplugged No. 2.0'; but after Hill decided she didn't want to permit the use of the sample, the hook was resung by Syleena Johnson for the album cut (the early version can be heard on the mixtapes predating the release of the album and don't sound quite as good as the final album version).

One of my favorite beats on 'The College Dropout' is the beat for 'Spaceship' that uses an excellent loop from Marvin Gaye's 'Distant Lover' from his album 'Let's Get It On'. What a fantastic flip of the track! Kanye and Jay-Z 's 'Never Let Me Down' rides over a sample of Blackjack's 'Maybe It's the Power of Love' featuring vocals from Michael Bolton (yes, that Michael Bolton... THAT Michael Bolton) from the 1980 album 'Worlds Apart'. One of the album's biggest singles was 'Slow Jamz', a track for Twista that also appears on his album. The track loops up Luther Vandross' 'A House is Not a Home' from his album 'Never Too Much'.

Check back for our second look at 'The College Dropout'.

The Lowdown:
Kanye West 'We Don't Care', 'All Falls Down', 'Spaceship', 'Never Let Me Down', and 'Slow Jamz'
from 'The College Dropout' (2004) (MP3/CD)
Clean Edit: 'We Don't Care', 'All Falls Down', 'Spaceship', 'Never Let Me Down', and 'Slow Jamz'
The Jimmy Castor Bunch 'I Just Wanna Stop'
from 'The Jimmy Castor Bunch' (1979) (MP3 not available/CD not available)
Lauryn Hill 'Mystery of Iniquity'
from 'MTV Unplugged No. 2.0' (2002) (MP3/CD)
Marvin Gaye 'Distant Lover'
from 'Let's Get It On' (1973) (MP3/CD)
Blackjack 'Maybe It's the Power of Love'
from 'Worlds Apart' (1980) (MP3 not available/CD not available)
Luther Vandross 'A House is Not a Home'
from 'Never Too Much' (1980) (MP3/CD)

Bonus Cut:
Sorry, no download for the Jimmy Castor Bunch's cover of 'I Just Wanna Stop', but you can nab the original Gino Vannelli of 'I Just Wanna Stop'. More Castor Bunch in the future, without a doubt.

Related Posts:
Producer Profile: Kanye West (Part 3, 2003)
Producer Profile: Kanye West (Part 4, 2003)
Producer Profile: Kanye West (Part 5, 2003)

Rewind: Nas 'It Was Written' (Part 2)

Continued from out last post, this is the second half of my examination of Nas' 'It Was Written'.

The Firm's first official appearance landed on 'It Was Written''s mid-album track 'Affirmative Action'. Although the ill-fated team-up of Nas, AZ, Cormega, and Foxy Brown was one of hip-hop's most talent squandering fiascos, the beat jacked from Otis Redding's 'Hard to Handle' courtesy of the Trackmasters and Dave Atkinson is a killer. 'Life's a B----' producer L.E.S. joins the Trackmasters for 'Black Girl Lost', which plunders 'Starlight' by Stephanie Mills. L.E.S. also produced 'Suspect', using a sample from Chuck Mangione's 'El Gato Triste' from his album 'Land of Make Believe'.

The shining star on 'It Was Written' appears at the very end. Nas and Lauryn Hill scored a major hit with 'If I Ruled the World (Imagine That)', produced by the Trackmasters and Rashad Smith. Lauryn's chorus takes cues from 'If I Ruled the World' by Kurtis Blow and 'Walk Right Up to the Sun' by the Delfonics. The best is jacked from Whodini's electro single 'Friends'. When all of these sources came together, 'If I Ruled the World' sounded both dated and brand new. The track still stands the test of time as one of Nas' finest mainstream moments.

The Lowdown:

Nas 'Affirmative Action', 'Black Girl Lost', 'Suspect', and 'If I Ruled the World (Imagine That)'
from 'It Was Written' (1996) (MP3/CD)
Clean Edits: 'Affirmative Action', 'Black Girl Lost', 'Suspect', and 'If I Ruled the World (Imagine That)'
Otis Redding 'Hard to Handle'
from 'The Immortal Otis Redding' (1968) (MP3/CD)
Stephanie Mills 'Starlight'
from 'Whatcha Gonna Do With My Lovin'' (1979)(MP3 unavailable/CD unavailable)
Chuck Mangione 'El Gato Triste'
from 'Land of Make Believe' (1973) (MP3/CD)
Kurtis Blow 'If I Ruled the World'
from 'America' (1985) (MP3 unavailable/CD unavailable)
The Delfonics 'Walk Right Up to the Sun'
from 'Tell Me This is a Dream' (1971) (MP3 unavailable/CD unavailable)
Whodini 'Friends'
from 'Escape' (1984) (MP3 unavailable/CD unavailable)