Rewind: Pete Rock and C.L. Smooth 'The Main Ingredient' (Part 2)

Welcome to our second look at 'The Main Ingredient', Pete Rock and C.L. Smooth's sophomore album.

What is a hip-hop classic without a James Brown beat? Pete Rock samples James Brown's 'Escape-ism' (as well as Ramsey Lewis' 'Sun Goddess' from Pete Rock and C.L. Smooth's track 'Escapism'. On 'Escape''s outro, Rock samples the Pointer Sisters' killer take on 'Yes We Can Can', originally a Lee Dorsey cut written by Allen Toussaint. On 'The Main Ingredient''s title track, Pete Rock samples 'Psychadelic Shack' by Albino Gorilla, 'Submission' by Tyrone Washington, and Les McCann's 'Harlem Buck Dance Strut' from his 1973 album 'Layers'. 'All the Places' samples two more J.B. cuts: 'Mind Power' and 'Take Some - Leave Some', both from James Brown's 1974 album 'The Payback', as well as the title track from Donald Byrd's 1975 album 'Places and Spaces' produced by Fonce and Larry Mizell. On 'Tell Me', Pete Rock samples the drums from the Detroit Emeralds' breakbeat cut 'You're Getting a Little Too Smart', J.B.'s 'Funky President (People It's Bad)' and 'Don't Tell It', and Stan Getz's 'Keep Dreamin'' from 1977's 'Another World'. During the outro, Pete Rock plays a bit of 'On the Hill' by Oliver Sain. 'Take You There' features samples from Joe Farrell's 'Upon This Rock', the Black Heat cut 'Zimba Ku' from 'Keep on Runnin', and 'Risin' to the Top' from Ken Burke's 'Changes'. Pete Rock samples one of rock's major breakbeats on the outro: Mountain's live version of 'Long Red' from 1972's full length 'Mountain Live'.

Check back for the final part of our look at Pete Rock and C.L. Smooth's 'The Main Ingredient'.

The Lowdown:
Pete Rock and C.L. Smooth 'Escapism', 'The Main Ingredient', 'All the Places', 'Tell Me', and 'Take You There'
from 'The Main Ingredient' (1994) (MP3/CD)
James Brown 'Escape-ism'
from 'Hot Pants' (1971) (MP3/CD not available)
Ramsey Lewis 'Sun Goddess'
from 'Sun Goddess' (1974) (MP3/CD)
The Pointer Sisters 'Yes We Can Can'
from 'The Pointer Sisters' (1972) (MP3/CD)
Albino Gorilla 'Psychadelic Shack'
from 'Detroit 1984' (1970) (MP3 not available/CD not available)
Tyrone Washington 'Submission'
'Roots' (1971) (MP3 not available/CD not available)
Les McCann 'Harlem Buck Dance Strut'
from 'Layers' (1973) (MP3/CD)
James Brown 'Mind Power' (edit) and 'Take Some - Leave Some'
from 'The Payback' (1974) (MP3/CD)
Donald Byrd 'Places and Spaces'
from 'Places and Spaces' (1976) (MP3/CD)
The Detroit Emeralds 'You're Getting a Little Too Smart'
from 'Detroit Emeralds' (1973) (MP3 not available/CD not available)
James Brown 'Funky President (People It's Bad)'
from 'Reality' (1975) (MP3 not available/CD not available)
James Brown 'Don't Tell It'
from 'Bodyheat' (1976) (MP3 not available/CD not available)
Stan Getz 'Keep Dreamin''
from 'Another World' (1977) (MP3 not available/CD not available)
Oliver Sain 'On the Hill'
from 'The Main Man' (1972) (MP3 not available/CD not available)
Joe Farrell 'Upon This Rock'
from 'Upon This Rock' (1974) (MP3 not available/CD not available)
Black Heat 'Zimba Ku'
from 'Keep on Runnin'' (1975) (MP3/CD)
Keni Burke 'Risin' to the Top'
from 'Changes' (1982) (MP3/Import CD)
Mountain 'Long Red'
from 'Mountain Live' (1972) (MP3 not available/CD)

Related Posts:
Producer Profile: Pete Rock (Part 1, 1991-1993)
Producer Profile: Pete Rock (Part 2, 1994)

Producer Profile: 9th Wonder (Part 2, 2004-2005)

Following his commercial breakthrough by having a beat placed on Jay-Z's 'The Black Album', 9th Wonder followed with a single for Destiny's Child's final album 'Destiny Fulfilled'. 'Girl' nearly broke the top 20 in the United States and did better overseas. 9th Wonder samples the Dramatics' album track 'Ocean of Thoughts and Dreams' from their late 70s album 'Shake it Well'.

During the same year, Murs and 9th Wonder joint venture 'Murs 3:16: The 9th Edition' was released on Definitive Jux. We'll cover the album in depth in a future post, but for this post we'll cover the A and B side of the lead single 'Bad Man!'. 'Bad Man!''s reggae steez is plucked from the Mighty Diamond's 1986 track 'Illiteracy' from their album 'Reggae Street'. The B-side track '3:16' samples Black Heat's 'Street of Tears' from their self titled album from 1972.

2005 saw the release of Little Brother's ill-fated big label debut with the album 'The Minstrel Show' on Atlantic Records. An example of the excellent production on the album is the track 'Hiding Places' which samples Bobby Womack's 'Jealous Love'. Though praised on its release, it sold poorly and led to rifts within Little Brother. Their following album would contain only one track produced by 9th Wonder and by 2007 would split with Little Brother entirely.

The Lowdown:
Destiny's Child 'Girl'
from 'Destiny Fulfilled' (2004) (MP3/CD)
The Dramatics 'Ocean of Thoughts and Dreams'
from 'Shake It Well' (1977) (MP3 not available/CD not available)
Murs 'Bad Man!' and '3:16'
from 'Murs 3:16: The 9th Edition' (2004) (MP3/CD)
The Mighty Diamonds 'Illiteracy'
from 'Reggae Street' (1986) (MP3/CD)
Black Heat 'Street of Tears'
from 'Black Heat' (1972) (MP3/CD not available)
Little Brother 'Hiding Place'
from 'The Minstrel Show' (2005) (MP3/CD)
Clean Edit:'Hiding Place'
Bobby Womack 'Jealous Love'
from 'I Don't Know What the World is Coming To' (1975) (MP3/CD)

Rewind: Notorious B.I.G. 'Ready to Die' (Part 1)

One of hip-hop's indisputable classics is the debut album 'Ready to Die' by the Notorious B.I.G., released on September 13th in 1994. After being signed by Sean Combs, the Notorious B.I.G. appeared in cameo spots on several Uptown Records singles including ones by Heavy D and the Boyz and Mary J. Blige. Just months before the release of 'Ready to Die', B.I.G. appeared on the 'Flava in Ya Ear' remix by Craig Mack, an essential East Coast party starter. In this three part post, this blog will cover the hits and sample sources of 'Ready to Die'.

'Things Done Changed', the first track following the album intro, features two samples from the Main Ingredient's 1974 album 'Euphrates River': 'Summer Breeze' and 'California My Way' (the Main Ingredient notably features vocals from Cuba Gooding Sr.). The Easy Mo Bee produced 'Gimme the Loot' utilizes samples from James Brown's 'Hell'-era funk monster 'Coldblooded. The excellent 'Machine Gun Funk' samples Black Heat's 'Something Extra' as well as 'Up for the Down Stroke' by Fred Wesley and the Horny Horns. In an example of classics begetting classics, 'Warning' is laced with the gigantic breaks of Isaac Hayes' psych-soul cover of 'Walk on By'. 'Walk on By' will be covered in depth in a future post on this blog.

Check back for part 2 of our look at 'Ready to Die'.

The Lowdown:
The Notorious B.I.G. 'Things Done Changed', 'Gimme the Loot', 'Machine Gun Funk', and 'Warning'
from 'Ready to Die' (1994) (MP3/CD)
Clean Edits: 'Things Done Changed', 'Gimme the Loot', 'Machine Gun Funk', and 'Warning'
The Main Ingredient 'California My Way' and 'Summer Breeze'
from 'Euphrated River' (1974) (MP3 not available/ Import CD)
James Brown 'Coldblooded'
from 'Hell' (1974) (MP3/CD)
Black Heat 'Something Extra'
from 'Keep on Runnin'' (1975) (MP3/CD not available)
Fred Wesley and the Horny Horns 'Up for the Down Stroke'
from 'A Blow for Me, a Toot for You' (1977) (MP3/Import CD)
Isaac Hayes 'Walk on By' (Radio Edit)
from 'Hot Buttered Soul' (1968) (MP3/CD)