Five On It: May 2009's Essentials

Here it is, this month's Five On It: the most necessary breaks of the past month distilled for maximum usability / listenability. This month had some burning hot cuts and also had some big tracks from our James Brown week. Check out what we've got for you.

UGK's 'Hard to Swallow' review was full of classic breaks, two of which we'll highlight this month. Bill Withers' 'Still Bill' is a classic album and no cut is more useful for slo-mo tracks than the hit 'Use Me'. Also, other 'Superfly album cuts have been previously featured as Five On It picks, but this month highlights the single 'Freddie's Dead' for its usefulness to producers. James Brown week featured a look at James Brown's 1974 album 'Hell' and featured the big cut 'My Thang', which may not be the first break one would pick from J.B.'s archive, but is a heavy one. Also featured during our look at James Brown was Myra Barnes' 'Message from the Soul Sisters' when we looked at the numerous songs that sampled that break. Finally, during our look at Ice Cube's 'AmeriKKKa's Most Wanted', we mentioned Funkadelic's heavy 'Standing on the Verge of Getting It On' from the album of the same title. It's no secret that P-Funk samples make up a large part of West Coast hip-hop history, and this song is no exception.

The Lowdown:
Bill Withers 'Use Me'
from 'Still Bill' (1972)(MP3/Import CD)
Curtis Mayfield 'Freddie's Dead'
from 'Superfly' (1972) (MP3/CD)
James Brown 'My Thang'
from 'Hell' (1974) (MP3/CD)
Myra Barnes 'Message from the Soul Sisters'
from 'Message from the Soul Sisters' 7" (1970) (MP3 not available/CD not available)
Funkadelic 'Standing on the Verge of Getting It On'
from 'Standing on the Verge of Getting It On' (1974) (MP3/CD)

Bonus Cuts:
Bill Withers' 'Use Me' intro drums have always been a popular sampling source, but that shouldn't take away from the impact of the song itself, which was covered many times by great artists. Esther Phillips delivered a version of 'Use Me' as did Isaac Hayes who played a live version of 'Use Me' at the Sahara Tahoe. In 1981, Grace Jones had a spooky version of 'Use Me' as only Grace Jones could. The original was recently sampled by Kanye West for Nas' track 'Still Dreaming'.

The Breaks: Myra Barnes 'Message from the Soul Sisters'

For our last post during James Brown Week, I thought we'd take a look at one of the many hits produced by James Brown for other artists. Today's post will cover Myra Barnes' hit single 'Message from the Soul Sisters' from 1970. Myra Barnes, who also performed under the name Vicki Anderson, joined the James Brown Revue in 1965 and would later be replaced by another legendary James Brown produced female singer: Marva Whitney. 'Message from the Soul Sisters' is among one of her best known tracks and is a go-to sample source for some of hip hop's finest producers.

DJ Premier and Guru sampled Barnes for the title track to their 1989 debut album 'No More Mr. Nice Guy'. A year later, Dr. Dre and Lay Law sampled the song for Above the Law's 'Freedom of Speech' and the Geto Boys sampled the song for their track 'City Under Seige'. Perhaps the track most known for sampling 'Message from the Soul Sisters' is the album cut 'Vamos a Rapair' produced by Large Professor and Pete Rock for Main Source's modern day classic debut album 'Breaking Atoms'. Rashad Smith used the sample again in 1995 for LL Cool J's track 'God Bless' from the album 'Mr. Smith.

In addition to being a part of the James Brown Revue, Myra Barnes was quite literally family: she married Bobby Byrd, a long time Brown collaborator. Music was also apparently apart of Byrd and Barnes' DNA as their daughter Jhelisa scored a few 90s hits in the UK.

The Lowdown:
Myra Barnes 'Message from the Soul Sisters'
from 'Message from the Soul Sisters' 7" (1970) (MP3 not available/CD not available)
Gang Starr 'No More Mr. Nice Guy'
from 'No More Mr. Nice Guy' (1989) (MP3/CD)
Above the Law 'Freedom of Speech'
from 'Livin' Like Hustlers' (1990) (MP3/CD)
Geto Boys 'City Under Siege'
from 'The Geto Boys' (1990) (MP3/CD)
Main Source 'Vamos a Rapair'
from 'Breaking Atoms' (1991) (MP3/CD)
LL Cool J 'God Bless'
from 'Mr. Smith' (1995) (MP3/CD)

Related Posts:
Rewind: Above the Law 'Livin' Like Hustlers' (Part 1)
Rewind: Above the Law 'Livin' Like Hustlers' (Part 2)
Rewind: Main Source 'Breaking Atoms' (Part 1)
Rewind: Main Source 'Breaking Atoms' (Part 2)

Rewind: Above the Law 'Livin' Like Hustlers' (Part 2)

Welcome to part 2 of a two part look at Above the Law's 1990 album 'Livin' Like Hustlers' produced by Dr. Dre.

The mighty Isaac Hayes and his breakthrough album 'Hot Buttered Soul' appears on this blog again as Above the Law samples 'Hyperbolicsyllabicsesquedalymistic' for the track 'Just Kickin' Lyrics'. 'Ballin'' samples Cameo's 1977 track 'Why Have I Lost You?' from their sophomore album 'We All Know Who We Are'. Finally, another James Brown produced track shows up in the sample credits, this time its 'Message from the Soul Sisters' Myra Barnes (aka Vicki Anderson) used on Above the Law's 'Freedom of Speech'.

Above the Law continued to produce albums through the 90s, including the 1992 platinum album 'Black Mafia Life'. By 1992, producer Dr. Dre had left Ruthless and produced his breakthrough single for the movie 'Deep Cover', leading to his debut album 'The Chronic' (which will no doubt be covered in a future post on this blog).

The Lowdown:
Above the Law 'Just Kickin' Lyrics', 'Ballin'', and 'Freedom of Speech'
from 'Livin' Like Hustlers' (1989) (MP3/CD)
Isaac Hayes 'Hyperbolicsyllabicsesquedalymistic'
'Hot Buttered Soul' (1968) (MP3/CD)
Cameo 'Why Have I Lost You?'
from 'We All Know Who We Are' (1977) (MP3/CD not available)
Myra Barnes 'Message from the Soul Sisters'

Rewind: Main Source 'Breaking Atoms' (Part 2)

Main Source's 'Peace is Not the Word to Play' was the fourth single released from the album 'Breaking Atoms', and though it failed to chart, it is still a strong cut (which goes without saying for this album). 'Peace' picks a sample from Miles Davis' 'Right Off' from another classic album, 1970's 'A Tribute to Jack Johnson'. Additional sample sources include MFSB's 'T.L.C. Tender Loving Care' and beats from 'Britches' by the immortal Meters from their heavily sampled album 'Struttin''. 'Vamos a Rapiar', co produced by Pete Rock, plucks a sample from the James Brown produced Myra Barnes cut 'Message from the Soul Sisters'.

One of the most famous posse cuts in hip-hop history is the Large Professor produced 'Live at the Barbeque', which introduces the world to Nasty Nas (later, of course, Nas) and Akinyele (whose career didn't amount to much more than songs about putting things in peoples' mouths... their motherf---ing mouths). The driving beat of 'Live at the Barbeque' is from Bob James' 'Nautilus', the only reason you need to pick up that copy of 'One' from a garage sale.

Unfortunately, 'Breaking Atoms' would be the only album released with it's classic line-up (their second album, 'F--- What You Think', was delayed and finally released in 1994 after the group's second line up had broken up and just before the Wild Pitch label went under). Large Professor would go on to contribute to Nas' debut album 'Illmatic' and would run into his own label problems when his second solo album, 'The LP', was shelved in 1996 (to this day, the album has never officially been released).

The Lowdown:
Main Source 'Peace is Not the Word to Play', 'Vamos a Rapiar', and 'Live at the Barbeque'
from 'Breaking Atoms' (1990) (MP3/CD)
Miles Davis 'Right Off'
from 'A Tribute to Jack Johnson' (1970) (MP3/CD)
MFSB 'T.L.C. Tender Loving Care'
from 'Universal Love' (1975) (MP3 unavailable/CD unavailable)
The Meters 'Britches'
from 'Struttin'' (1970) (MP3/CD)
Myra Barnes 'A Message from the Soul Sisters'
Bob James 'Nautilus'
from 'One' (1974) (MP3/CD)