For those who know me well, I love instrumentals with a passion. Yes, I love lyrics as well but I personal can do with lyrics at all. In Rap, instrumentals are extremely important. A song can be completely trash lyrically but if the instrumental is great, you have a hit. Having a good instrumental can definitely be a blessing and a curse but I'm not gonna talk about that.
Sampling has become a major part of Hip Hop instrumentals in the past decade thanks to these 5 producers I will highlight. It's what Hip Hop & Rap music was built on. Beat beats are what sparked all of Hip Hop's 3 musically inclined elements: Emcee, DJ'ing & Breaking. Hip Hop has some of the best music producers to ever grace this planet but these 4 are the front runners of the sampling game.
Kanye West
Right out of the gate, even before he was a rapper,
Kanye West has made sample apart of his process of making music. the way 'Ye flipped samples caught the ear of
JAY Z and he immediately started making hit records for the former Rocafella general such as "Izzo", "Heart Of The City", "'03 Bonnie & Cylde" & "Encore". After that, Kanye West began his own solo career, in which he's made some of the most rapped over instrumentals ever such as "Two Words", "Diamonds From Sierre Leone", "Can't Tell Me Nothing", "Power" and many more. Not to mention, each of the song I just named contain a sample. From the smallest
Young Jeezy ad-lib sample in "Can't Tell Me Nothing" to something as the man power it took to combine 5 different samples to make "Power". With that being said, Kanye West is one of the greatest sample producer ever.
J Dilla
The late great James Yancey, Jay Dee, or
J Dilla will also have a special place in every Hip Hop head's heart as one of the best to ever do it. J Dilla got his start with Hip Hop collective
Slum Village as an MC/Producer but later became known for his method of production and distinctive instrumentals. J Dilla has worked with
Q-Tip, De La Soul, Busta Rhymes, Erykah Badu, Common and many more. Jay Dee peak struck when he released his instrumental albums
Ruff Draft &
Donuts. These projects alone contained samples from
A Tribe Called Quest, Eric B & Rakim, David Bowie, Kirk Franklin, James Brown, Ras Kass, Lou Rawls and many many more. They way Dilla used his drums will forever be remembered by the Hip Hop community.
The Alchemist
Well, what can I say about this guy. He's very undercover with his at time but there is no doubt that
The Alchemist, who is my personal favorite, is a producer who has mastered the art of sampling. Whether you release it or not, Al has producer some of your favorite Hip Hop tracks such as: "We GonnFra Make It", "Hold You Down", "Wet Wipes" and many more. Al got his start with duo
The Whooligans and soon after started to venture out on his own. Producing for the likes of
Mobb Deep, Evidence, Roc Marcino, Eminem, Domo Genesis and more, Al has been recognized for his unique use of samples from all over the world. Not only does he use soul samples, he uses samples from other countries. Recently,
Alchemist release an entire LP comprised of tracks that only included samples from Russian music entitled
Russian Roulette. Pretty good huh? That alone set Al in a different bracket that any other Hip Hop producer ever.
Madlib
Madlib or
Quasimoto as some may know him as is different a master of sampling. He got his start in 1998 with Stones Throw records and the took a new route into Jazz & Electric music for a while. However in 2003, Madlib hit his peak with the release of the 2 collaborative albums
Champion Sound with
J Dilla as
Jaylib &
Madvilliany with
MF DOOM as
Madvillian. These 2 projects alone put Madlib at the top of his game. The 2 projects contains samples from
The Isley Brothers, Gentle Giant, Cris Williamson, the film
Frankenstein, Schoolly D, Lonnie Smith and much more. Recently, Madlib linked up with
Freddie Gibbs for the critically acclaimed LP
Pinata, which receive much praise by the Hip Hop community as being one of the most Hip Hop records release in a while. Now, that's saying alot huh?
