Source Material: James Brown 'Hell' (Part 1)

Welcome to our first installment of James Brown week. As the godfather of soul and the undisputed champion of mentions on this blog (this post will be his 30th mention in 146 posts, meaning he is mentioned in more than 1 in 5 posts), I thought we should celebrate his birthday, May 3rd, annually with James Brown week which will look at some of his lesser known breaks and releases. Today is the first look at a two part arc covering James Brown's 1974 double album 'Hell' and the producers who sampled it.

One of 'Hell''s standout tracks is the break laden 'Coldblooded' which is a prime slice of JB mid-70s funk. In 1990, DJ Premier sampled 'Coldblooded' for Lord Finesse and DJ Mike Smooth's 'Baby, You Nasty' from the album 'Funky Technician'. Easy Mo Bee used the same break in 1994 for the Notorious B.I.G.'s classic album cut 'Gimme the Loot' from his debut album 'Ready to Die'.

Another heavily sampled track from 'Hell' is James Brown's 'My Thang'. The song was sampled by DJ Jazzy Jeff and the Fresh Prince for 1988's 'Brand New Funk' and a year later for Heavy D and the Boyz' cut 'We Got Our Own Thang' produced by Teddy Riley. In 1992, EPMD used the sample for their cut 'Gold Digger' and in 1993, it was sampled again by K-Def for the Lord of the Underground's single 'Funky Child' from the album 'Here Come the Lords'. Premier sampled 'My Thang' in 1996 for Jeru the Damaja's 'The Frustrated N----' and in 1997, J Dilla (as Jay Dee) sampled the song for Slum Village's 'I Don't Know' from their debut album 'Fan-Tas-Tic Vol. 1'.

Check back to this blog for more 'Hell' breaks.

The Lowdown:
James Brown 'Coldblooded' and 'My Thang'
from 'Hell' (1974) (MP3/CD)
Lord Finesse and DJ Mike Smooth 'Baby, You Nasty'
from 'Funky Technician' (1990) (MP3/CD)
The Notorious B.I.G. 'Gimme the Loot'
from 'Ready To Die' (1994) (MP3/CD)
Clean Edit: 'Gimme the Loot'
DJ Jazzy Jeff and the Fresh Prince 'Brand New Funk'
from 'He's the DJ, I'm the Rapper' (1988) (MP3 not available/CD)
Heavy D and the Boyz 'We Got Our Own Thang'
from 'Big Tyme' (1989) (MP3/CD)
EPMD 'Gold Digger'
from 'Business As Usual' (1992) (MP3/CD)
The Lords of the Underground 'Funky Child'
from 'Here Come the Lords' (1993) (MP3/CD)
Jeru the Damaja 'The Frustrated N----'
from 'Wrath of the Math' (1996) (MP3/CD)
Slum Village 'I Don't Know'
from 'Fan-Tas-Tic Vol. 1' (1997) (MP3/CD not available)

Bonus Cut:
'Brand New Funk' by DJ Jazzy Jeff and the Fresh Prince got a makeover in 2007 by DJ Jazzy Jeff for 'Brand New Funk 2k7'.

Related Posts:
Source Material: James Brown 'Black Casear' (Part 1)
Source Material: James Brown 'Black Casear' (Part 2)
Producer Profile: DJ Premier (Part 3, 1994)

Producer Profile: DJ Premier (part 2, 1991-1993)

Following his work on the debut Gang Starr album and the Wild Pitch label, DJ Premier continued to produce some excellent beats through the early years of the 90s. This post will cover some of his highlights from 1991-1993.

Gang Starr will undoubtedly be covered in more detail in the future, but one of Primo's classic productions from 1991 cannot go unmentioned. 'Lovesick' from Gang Starr's album 'Step in the Arena' features fantastic use of the Delfonics' soul anthem 'Trying to Make a Fool of Me' in addition to the Young Holt Unlimited's 'Ain't There Something Money Cant Buy'. In 1992, Primo produced 'Here Comes the Heavster' from Heavy D and the Boyz' album 'Blue Funk'. The track digs deep in the jazz crates for Charles Mingus' 1956 cut 'A Foggy Day' from 'Pithecanthropus Erectus'. Premier produced 6 tracks from 1993's 'Return of the Boom Bap' by KRS-One. On 'Outta Here', Premier samples drums from James Brown's excellent 'Funky President (People It's Bad)'.

Be on the look out for part 3 of our look at DJ Premier, whose productions in 1994 include to of hip-hop's most widely revered albums: 'Illmatic' and 'Ready to Die'.

The Lowdown:
Gang Starr 'Lovesick'
from 'Step in the Arena' (1991) (MP3/CD)
The Delfonics 'Trying to Make a Fool of Me'
from 'The Delfonics' (1969) (MP3/CD)
Young Holt Unlimited 'Ain't There Something Money Cant Buy'
from 'Soulful Strut' (1968) (MP3 not available/CD not available)
Heavy D and the Boyz 'Here Comes the Heavster'
from 'Blue Funk' (1992) (MP3 not available/CD not available)
Charles Mingus 'A Foggy Day'
from 'Pithecanthropus Erectus' (1956) (MP3/CD)
KRS-One 'Outta Here'
from 'Return of the Boom Bap' (1993) (MP3/CD)
James Brown 'Funky President (People It's Bad)'
from 'Reality' (1975) (MP3 not available/CD not available)

Producer Profile: Pete Rock (Part 2, 1994)

Following the success of singles for Heavy D and the Boyz and his own project with C.L. Smooth, Pete Rock continued lacing the rap world with classics in 1994. One of hip-hop's most revered albums is Nas' debut 'Illmatic'. Pete Rock supplied the beat for one of the album's most memorable singles: 'The World is Yours'. Though it was not the album's biggest single and failed to break the Billboard 100, it is an East Coast rap necessity. The track pulls loops from the Ahmad Jamal Trio's 'I Love Music' from their heavily sampled 1970 album 'Awakening' as well as some vocal snippets from T La Rock's 1984 hip-hop single 'It's Yours' (notably the first production credit for Rick Rubin).

Pete Rock's chart success with Heavy D and the Boyz carried over to their fifth album, 1994's 'Nuttin' But Love'. The Pete Rock produced 'Got Me Waiting' was a top 20 single and one of Heavy D and Boyz' biggest hits. The track samples 'Dont' You Know That?' from Luther Vandross' 1980 album 'Never Too Much'. Another Pete Rock track from 'Nuttin' But Love' was released as a single: 'Black Coffee'. 'Coffee' contains elements of Vaughn Mason's roller skate rink jam 'Bounce, Rock, Skate, Roll' and James Brown's funk atom bomb 'The Payback'.

The Lowdown:
Nas 'The World Is Yours'
from 'Illmatic' (1994) (MP3/CD)
Ahmad Jamal Trio 'I Love Music'
from 'Awakening' (1970) (MP3/CD)
T La Rock 'It's Yours'
Heavy D and the Boyz 'Got Me Waiting' and 'Black Coffee'
from 'Nuttin' but Love' (1994) (MP3/CD not available)
Luther Vandross 'Don't You Know That?'
from 'Never Too Much' (1980) (MP3/CD)
Vaughn Mason 'Bounce, Rock, Skate, Roll'
James Brown 'The Payback'
from 'The Payback' (1974) (MP3/CD)

Producer Profile: Pete Rock (Part 1, 1991-1993)

Like many facets of hip-hop, Pete Rock's history is linked to Jamaica. Peter Phillips is the son of a Jamaican father who DJed in the Bronx. At the age of 17, he caught the ears of producer Marley Marl and at 21, he released the 'All Souled Out' EP with C.L. Smooth. 'The Creator' was covered in a previous post (Rewind: Pete Rock and C.L. Smooth 'The Creator'), so for this post I am going to cover another of 'Souled Out''s many standout tracks: 'Good Life'. 'Good Life', like many of the tracks from Pete Rock and C.L. Smooth's catalog, is dense with soul samples from Pete Rock's deep crates. It's mind boggling to me, but it took 20 posts in this blog to mention the Meters. The Meters track 'Same Old Thing' provides one of this track's samples, along with Eddie Kendrick's 'Girl You Need a Change of Mind' and O'Donel Levy's 'I Wanna Be Where You Are'.

Another big break for Pete Rock came courtesy of his cousin, already established rapper Heavy D, who used some of Rock's beats for his 1991 album 'Peaceful Journey'. Pete Rock's production on the Heavy D and the Boyz posse cut 'Don't Curse', which includes guest spots from an all-star cast of emcees including Big Daddy Kane, Grand Puba, Kool G. Rap, Q-Tip, and C.L. Smooth. 'Don't Curse' draws a sample from 'Hip-Hug-Her' by Booker T and the M.G.'s. The track was a charting hit, but was ultimately overshadowed by the album's much bigger hit 'Now That We Found Love'.

In 1993, Pete Rock contributed to Run D.M.C.'s "gangsta" comeback album 'Down with the King', that may not have been all it was cracked up to be, but showcased some incredible production talent (including tracks by the Bomb Squad, Q-Tip, Jermaine Dupri, and others). 'Down with the King' was the first of three singles released from the album and is THE best late career Run D.M.C. track. 'Down with the King' samples 'Where Do I Go?' by James Rado and Company from the soundtrack to 'Hair'. It might seem like 'Hair' would be an odd place to pick up samples, but a contribution from Galt MacDermot turns up the funk quotient considerably. MacDermot will no doubt be covered in a future post on this blog.

Check back for the next installment on Pete Rock's career, including information on his contributions to 'Illmatic' and 'The Main Ingredient' - two of 1994's most important hip-hop releases.

The Lowdown:
Pete Rock and C.L. Smooth 'Good Life'
from 'All Souled Out' (1991) (MP3/CD)
The Meters 'Same Old Thing'
from 'Struttin'' (1969) (MP3/CD)
Eddie Kendricks 'Girl You Need a Change of Mind'
from 'People... Hold On' (1972) (MP3 not available/CD not available)
O'Donel Levy 'I Wanna Be Where You Are'
from 'Dawn of a New Day' (1973) (MP3/CD)
Heavy D and the Boyz 'Don't Curse'
from 'Peaceful Journey' (1991) (MP3/CD not available)
Booker T and the M.G.'s 'Hip-Hug-Her'
from 'Hip-Hug-Her'(1967) (MP3/CD)
Run D.M.C. 'Down with the King'
from 'Down with the King' (1994) (MP3 unavailable/CD unavailable)
James Rado and Company 'Where Do I Go?'
from 'Hair' Soundtrack (1969) (MP3 unavailable/CD)