Five On It: December 2008's Essentials

Welcome to the final Five On It of the year, a review of the hottest sample sources covered during December.

In our review of Notorious B.I.G.'s 'Life After Death, Herb Alpert's 'Rise' was mentioned as the source for 'Hypnotize''s bassline. Luckily, 12" copies of 'Rise' are fairly easy to find, but if your using Serato - hit the download for the full length album cut and set those cue points for the break. Also mentioned in our review of 'Life After Death' is the trippy 'Space Talk' by Asha Puthli. Though not the most used sample in our review of Marvin Gaye's 'Trouble Man', it's my personal favorite: Marvin's laid back instrumental 'T Plays it Cool'. 'T' is waiting for a proper a flip, anyone up to the challenge?

On our review of Dr. Dre's immortal 'The Chronic', we covered Leon Haywood's 'I Wanna Do Something Freaky To You', the basis of 'Nuthin' But a G Thang'. The extra long intro to 'Freaky' is perfect for teasing the dancefloor before dropping 'G Thang'. Finally, also from the 'Chronic' review is the opening breakbeat from Led Zeppelin's 'When the Levee Breaks'. Gigantic drums that have been used a lot more than you may think (see below).

The Lowdown:
Herb Alpert 'Rise'
from 'Rise' (1979) (MP3/CD)
Asha Puthli 'Space Talk'
from 'The Devil is Loose' (1978) (MP3/CD not available)
Marvin Gaye 'T Plays it Cool'
from 'Trouble Man' (1972) (MP3/CD)
Leon Haywood 'I Wanna Do Something Freaky to You'
from 'Come and Get Yourself Some' (1979) (MP3 not available/CD not available)
Led Zeppelin 'When the Levee Breaks'
from 'Led Zeppelin IV' (1971) (MP3/CD)

BONUS CUTS:
'When the Levee Breaks' is a popular drum sample for hip-hop on both sides of the Atlantic, but it has also showed up in some odd places in pop history. In 1987, Depeche Mode used 'Levee' for the drums on their single 'Never Let Me Down' to great effect. In 1992, Sophie B. Hawkins used the 'Levee' break on the adult contemporary hit 'Damn I Wish I was Your Lover' (soccer moms stand up). A year later, the break was used on Enigma's biggest U.S. hit fueling interest in 'Pure Moods' compilations for years on 'Return to Innocence'. I can only wonder how much Led Zeppelin has made on just the opening few seconds of one of their lesser known album tracks!

Rewind: Notorious B.I.G. 'Life After Death' (Part 3)

Welcome to part 3 of our three-part look at the Notorious B.I.G.'s album 'Life After Death'.

Puff Daddy, Steven Jordan, and the Hitmen sample the late Delfonics single 'Hey! Love' from their fourth album 'Tell Me This is a Dream' for Biggie's album track 'Playa Hater'. The same production team sampled Liquid Liquid's NYC breakbeat anthem 'Cavern' (previously covered in depth on this blog) for the hit single 'Nasty Boy', complete with one of hip-hop's nastiest intros. Biggie's 'The World is Filled...' with Too Short and Carl Thomas features the use of one of my favorite, unusual breaks: Asha Puthli's 'Space Talk' (not so easy to find, so I'm surprised you can download it from Amazon) from her 1978 album 'The Devil is Loose'. The track's production is credited to D-Dot and Puff Daddy. The Wu's RZA makes a late album production appearance on the track 'Long Kiss Goodnight' and samples Wu-stand by Al Green's excellent 'Green is Blues'-era cover of 'The Letter'.

Released only a few weeks after the Notorious B.I.G.'s murder, the double album debuted at #1 on the Billboard charts and amassed a string of hits. Some verses from Biggie would appear later that year on Puff Daddy's solo outing 'No Way Out' and in the decade proceeding Biggie's death, no less than two terrible cash-in projects were released with unearthed verses and guest vocalists (1999's 'Born Again' and 2005's 'Duets: The Final Chapter'... lets hope it's the final chapter). Despite additional albums produced after his death, the Notorious B.I.G.'s legacy is complete with his two studio albums - two of hip-hop's most endearing works.

The Lowdown:
The Notorious B.I.G. 'Playa Hater', 'Nasty Boy', 'The World is Filled...', and 'Long Kiss Goodnight'
from 'Life After Death' (1997) (MP3/CD)
The Delfonics 'Hey! Love'
from 'Tell Me This is a Dream' (1971) (MP3 not available/CD)
Liquid Liquid 'Cavern'
from 'Optimo' (1982) (MP3 not available/CD not available)
Asha Puthli 'Space Talk'
from 'The Devil is Loose' (1978) (MP3/CD not available)
Al Green 'The Letter'
from 'Green is Blues' (1972) (MP3/CD)