I was on the treadmill today, as I often am, and a song came on my playlist. I love this song, it's still one of the best songs ever recorded. However, it's a sample! The best part, everyone knows the sampled song and pretty much loves it, and yet everyone loves the song featuring the sample! This all led me to today's list: the ten best songs to feature a well-known sample, but when you hear the original song, you instinctively think of the newer song regardless. I know, that sounds like a handful. So to demonstrate, let me get into my honourable mentions and maybe then you'll get the hang of it.
Honourable Mentions:
13) Frayser Boy, "Glock In My Draws". I know. You have no idea who Frayser Boy is, and you probably wish I'd stop mentioning him. But fuck you. He's my favourite. DJ Paul and Juicy J laid down the beat for this gem, using a sample they've used before. If you know Robert Stack, you envision him wearing a trenchcoat, standing in a dark street, that's remarkably foggy and eerie. That's right, the super-producers utilised the theme from Unsolved Mysteries! Triple 6 made their money off the gloom and doom sound, so the sample makes a ton of sense. Plus, Frayser Boy kilt that shit.
12) Sugar Hill Gang, "Rappers Delight". The "first" hip-hop track made excellent use of a disco hit, "Good Times" from Chic. I love both songs, but even now, if I hear Chic, I start rapping Sugar Hill.
11) NWA, "Express Yourself". Charles Wright and the Watts 103rd Street Rhythm Band made a hell of a track with Express Yourself. However, NWA took that and made it a fucking legendary classic. I dare you to listen to the original and not hear NWA. Dare you. No, go try it. See what I mean?
So now that you get the idea, let's go ahead and get through these 10 best songs to feature a well known sample, yet when you hear the original song you think of the newer song. (That's a mouthful.)
10) Wiz Khalifa, "The Kid Frankie". I'm an 80s baby but I was also an 80s kid, so fortunately, I listened to a lot of music growing up, thanks mom and dad. Loose Ends, a UK rhythm and blues group, hit the charts in 1985 with their hit "Hanging on a String (Contemplation)" and I've always loved that song. Fast forward 25 years, and Kush and OJ would take this great song and totally turn it into an even better track. That's right, before Wiz traded in respect for fame, he made "The Kid Frankie" and straight scorched it. Both songs are great, but "The Kid Frankie" has far surpassed the original. Too bad he went on to make Rolling Papers.
9) Kanye West, "Through the Wire". Chaka Khan is a diva, and we all can agree on that. She has many a good to great song in her long catalogue, but it's 1984's "Through the Fire", from her album "I Feel For You" that is necessary for this list. The year is 2003, and Kanye West goes from producer to artist with his breakout single, "Through the Wire" which relies heavily on the sped-up chorus from Chaka Khan. The story of surviving a car accident, a shattered jaw, and eating through a straw made West a household name and soon thereafter, he'd be even bigger than Jesus. And he owes it all to Chaka Khan, but let's be real, "Through the Wire" is totally better than "Through the Fire".
8) Coolio, "Fantastic Voyage". Same beat, same title, same hook basically. Before Coolio would do a similar effort with "Gangsta's Paradise", he was riding along on a Fantastic Voyage with Lakeside. Now, Lakeside has a hella funky ass hit with the original, but let's be honest, Coolio and producer Brian Dobbs made a smash with the hip-hop version. It's just infectious and makes you wanna party, or maybe eat some steak with your beans and rice. Hopefully you won't have to fear any drive-bys while your kids play outside.
7) Ice Cube, "It Was a Good Day". Ironic how a song about a good day would be based on a sample of "Footsteps in the Dark", isn't it? No one would ever think hearing footsteps in the dark could be a good thing, but when DJ Pooh took the Isley Brothers' soulful classic and looped it for Cube to spit about the Lakers beating the Supersonics (yeah, no Oklahoma City Thunder yet, kiddies), they made a masterpiece treasured by hip-hop and rap fans everywhere. If your mama cooked breakfast with no hog or you were breakin' cats with the sevens and elevens, and hell you didn't have to use your AK, this is the song for you. And if you're over 40, fine, go back and romance your better half with the original but to my generation, this will always be Ice Cube.
T-5) Eric B. and Rakim, "Paid in Full"; Junior MAFIA feat. Notorious BIG, "Get Money [RMX]". Two great songs, same great sample. When Dennis Edwards and Siedah Garrett laid down the vocals to 1984's "Don't Look Any Further", they had a great song. I heard it many times as a wee lad and still love it to this day. It's a really strong song on its own, but three years later, Eric B. and Rakim straight murked the beat with hot vocals and master mixing and scratching. Paid in Full as an album is in my top 10, and the title track, I contend is one of the best in hip-hop and rap history. 1996, DJ Enuff takes the track, keeps it a little more true to its original form, and let's Biggie and his proteges go ahead and wreck the shit with tales of blowing money on ballerrific shit, and BIG's chorus is so memorable. Both sampled tracks totally outshine the original. I also could have added 2Pac's "Hit 'Em Up" to this list too, but I don't think it's as strong of a cut if not for all the insults and disses.
4) Ma$e, "Feel So Good". Ready, reader? Party people, in the place to be, it's about that time to...AHH! That's right, by the time you hear the initial horns for Kool and the Gang's "Hollywood Swingin", you're probably already thinking about that first line screamed out by Puffy and ready to rock shiny suits. And I can't blame you. The 70s dance hit from Kool is awesome, but Ma$e and D-Dot totally turned the track on its head with this effort. In fact, the sample of "Hollywood Swingin'" is so heavy, most people ignore or don't even know that the Miami Sound Machine's "Bad Boy" is also sampled!
3) Trick Daddy Dollars, "Take It to 'da House". This isn't my south Florida bias nor is it my unconditional love for all things T-double-D, but goddamn, this song is still hot. I can come to your house right now, go to your stereo, play this song, and you'll be ready to put on your boogie shoes! KC and the Sunshine Band's disco hit, "Boogie Shoes" is good and very well known, but when given to the Righteous Funk Boogie, those horns become massive and even more catchy. I'm callin' my people all across the world, this song goes out to all you boys and girls. Go play it right now, dammit. For all the talk of Ross, Pitbull, whatever, the city still belongs to Trick Daddy.
2) Notorious B.I.G., "Big Poppa". Aw yeah. This is a bad motherfucker here. A smooth sample from the Isley Brothers' "Between the Sheets" and good vocals from an overweight tenor about all of his bitches and hoes just goes together like dick and pussy. When I thought of this list, this was the second song I thought of and you can see why it's so high on the list. The original song is so well-known, and it's quite good, but that said, put Biggie Smalls on top of it and you get the song that really launched Big into a new stratosphere. It's a great song, it is, but there's one song it can't touch...
1) MC Hammer, "U Can't Touch This". I found out what sampling was because of this track. The best song to ever come out of the Bay Area from the best and biggest artist to come out of the Bay Area. All rappers have to pay respect to Hammer. All entertainers, all dancers, everyone has to pay respect to Hammer and the mega-superstardom he attained when releasing 1990's biggest hit single. And, oh nothing, he also produced the track. Rick James' "Superfreak" is a fucking FANTASTIC song, probably the most well known out of all these sampled songs. People across all kinds of demographics know "Superfreak" and can sing a little bit of it, and probably like it. And yet that doesn't even begin to touch the tip of the iceberg of the amount of people who know, love, and can sing a bit of "U Can't Touch This". Go ahead, fake on Hammer. Say that shit is wack today, or that he's a punchline nowadays. Fuck you. This is still one of the best songs in rap and hip-hop, it's hella entertaining, it's incredibly hype, and you know damn well if "Superfreak" came on in your car, you'd think it was Hammer first and get a little upset. Bow down to the greatest song in rap and hip-hop to feature a well-known sample and totally surpass it. MC Hammer, you bitches. Here, I'll even post the link so you can watch this motherfucker put on a show!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=otCpCn0l4Wo
There ya go. Merry Christmas, happy Hanukkah, happy Kwanzaa, happy Saturnalia, happy Winter Solstice, whatever else.
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