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".
As we've done before with Mac Miller and J. Cole, Fabolous is getting his own special edition of Samples Of The Week, thanks to his '90s-themed new album The Young OG Project. Flipping some familiar samples, Loso made an LP tailor-made to trigger nostalgia from longtime hip-hop heads, and now we're highlighting our favorite flips.
1
The chilly, Velous-assisted "Gone For The Winter," a sure highlight from The Young OG Project, is aided by a very recognizable sample. DJ Relly Rell, Vinyl and Jahaan Sweet lifted the iconic keyboard lick from Lee Erwin's "Thief Of Baghdad," which was famously sampled DJ Premier on Nas' "Represent." Loso also nods to the track by mimicking Nas' "Straight up shit is real and any other day could be your last in the jungle" line.
2
For Fabolous' "All Good," he sampled Notorious B.I.G.'s "Juicy," but didn't go the same route as many others who just jacked the sample used for the beat. Instead, Loso grabbed audio from Biggie himself, using his "All good baby baby" lyrics to provide a chorus for the track.
3
After the sample-heavy '90s were over, it was up to Kanye West to keep the artform alive and uncover dope samples so obscure that no one else had used them before. One of many examples of this is his use of Holy Name of Mary Choral Family's "Sermon (He'll Give Us What We Really Need)" as the organic sweetener to Yeezus opener "On Sight"'s otherwise bitter, austere electronic landscape. Loso clearly thought this flip could stand toe-to-toe with the '90s' best, as he used it on "Young OG II" (as well as 2013's "Young OG") as a distant backdrop for his rapping.
