When hip-hop began, samples were all that DJs and producers had to construct instrumental tracks with. They'd dig through crates of vinyl trying to find isolated drum breaks, melodies or vocals that they could repurpose for use in hip-hop music. Today, sampling has become less common, but a choice sample can still push a track from lukewarm to hot faster than you can say "uh-huh honey".
After Mac Miller released his lengthy, sample-heavy tape Faces earlier this year, we gave him his own special edition of "Samples Of The Week," and now, we've opted to do the same for J. Cole and his 2014 Forest Hills Drive album, which uses many more samples than most full-lengths that have dropped this year.
'03 Adolescence
An early highlight from the album, "'03 Adolescence" features one of the best samples on the album, a loop of a an obscure Brazilian track by Sonia Rosa. The twinkling keys, strings and harp propel the track, and to boot, Cole also interpolates Notorious B.I.G.'s "I grew up a fuckin' screw-up" line from his and 2Pac's posthumous track "Runnin' (Dying To Live)."
Fire Squad
As they did on "'03 Adolescence," J. Cole and his team ventured to the Southern Hemisphere to track down the main sample for "Fire Squad." This time it's the Chilean psych-rock group Aguaturbia who supply the backbone, with a guitar lick from their "Heartbreaker" providing a melody over a classic drum break, namely that from Manzel's "Midnight Theme."
Apparently
Lastly, we have "Apparently," the album's first single. It's built on top of a staggering piano loop from Filippo Trecca's "La Morte Dell'ermina" and a drum loop from Ralph Vargas and Carlos Bess' "CB#5." Props to J. Cole for managing to cram in (and clear) a bunch of samples on his album while still managing to make it sound modern. The beats on 2014 Forest Hills Drive are a big step-up from those on his past projects.
