I’ve been thinking alot about samples of late as I prepare a post for KCRW’s Top 5 blog on “Most Iconic Hip-Hop Samples.” If you’re gonna put together a list of important samples, you figure it would have to include at least one track from James Brown. But which one should it be? In my mind there are two JB related tracks that stand above the many songs of his that have been sampled, “The Funky Drummer” and “Think (About It)” from Lyn Collins.
Both of these tracks feature absolutely monster breaks, both have been sampled countless times, but pound for pound which of these two James Brown related cuts is the more iconic, the more important sample in Hip-Hop history?
Just in case you need to be reminded…first up is Lyn Collins “Think.” Such a classic song, from start to finish, but the breaks at 1:22 & 2:15 in the video below make it an all-timer.
Probably THE #1 song people think of when they think of the break from “Think” has to be Rob Base & DJ E.Z.Rock “It Takes Two”
Here is one of my favorite tracks that uses a different break within the same song, Slick Rick’s “I Shouldn’t Have Done It”
On the other hand we have James Brown’s “Funky Drummer,” quite possibly the most sampled song of all-time. So many different samples, from all those grunts from JB, the “1-2-3-4 Get It” call just before the drums hit (at about 5:20 in the vid below), and then there are those drums, courtesy Clyde Stubblefield…
In terms of a song that samples “Funky Drummer,” this one might be the only one to rival “It Takes Two” in universal appeal.
This track, Eric B. & Rakim’s “Lyrics of Fury,” is probably my favorite use of those massively funky drums.
I could go on and on with this for days…question is what do YOU think? Which is the more important and more iconic sample???