Rewind: Jay-Z 'American Gangster' (Part 2)

Welcome to part 2 of our look at the samples used in the making of 'American Gangster'.

Dirty south extraordinaire DJ Toomp lends his production skills for Jay-Z's 'Say Hello', using samples of Tom Brock's 'The Love We Share is the Greatest of Them All' from 1974's 'I Love You More and More'. Chicago's No I.D. (producer for Common and ghost producer for Jermaine Dupri) works alongside Jermaine Dupri on the beat for Jay-Z's 'Success', which samples an rare funk track called 'Funky Thing' (Part 1) by Larry Ellis and the Black Hammer. Dupri and No I.D. sample the Dramatics' 'Fell for You' from 1972's 'A Dramatic Experience' for the 'American Gangster' album track 'Fallin''. The album's first and most successful single (which, still, failed to break the through the top 50 on the Billboard singles chart) is the Neptunes produced 'Blue Magic', which samples En Vogue's 1990 hit single 'Hold On'. Just Blaze closes the album with the album's title track, sampling 'Short Eyes' by Curtis Mayfield from the soundtrack to the movie 'Short Eyes'.

'American Gangster' was highly acclaimed upon its release, especially compared to Jay-Z's shrugworthy return from retirement album 'Kingdom Come'. If internet rumors are to be believed, Jay-Z will drop another album before year's end titled 'Blueprint 3', which will undoubtedly be reviewed once it is out.

The Lowdown:
Jay-Z 'Say Hello', 'Success', 'Fallin'', 'Blue Magic', and 'American Gangster'
from 'American Gangster' (2007) (MP3/CD)
Tom Brock 'The Love We Share is the Greatest of Them All'
from 'I Love You More and More' (1974) (MP3 not available/Import CD)
Larry Ellis and the Black Hammer 'Funky Thing' (Part 1)
The Dramatics 'Fell for You'
from 'A Dramatic Experience' (1972) (MP3/CD)
En Vogue 'Hold On'
from 'Born to Sing' (1990) (MP3 not available/CD)
Curtis Mayfield 'Short Eyes'
from 'Short Eyes' (1977) (MP3/CD not available)