Fauré and Xzibit: A Classic Sample

A few weeks ago, I went with my lady friend to see the Basque National Orchestra at the Kursaal.  It was great to hear some quality live music in a city whose music scene consists of people playing the Txistu or Txalaparta and the occasional jazz band playing in a bar that looks like a cave.  That is not to say that there is not some cool music in the Basque Country because there most certainly is.[1]   Nonetheless, the show was much appreciated.

My favorite part of the show was when they played Pavane, Gabriel Fauré’s opus 50.  It lasted six minutes and I was bouncing and bobbing in my seat the whole time.  From the get-go until its end, the elderly couple sitting next to me must have thought I was having a sort of seizure.  I was in the groove and even busted out into a little rap from time to time.  The reason for my antics was that Pavane was sampled in the classic Xzibit song Paparazzi Live and Video.

Two great jams and one great moment for me, although I think that I creeped everyone else out. 

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[1] Future JamandaHalf post pending

Jam Behind The Jam #3: Strange Fruit

JamBehindtheJam is a little feature we do highlighting the background of a sample that appears in a modern jam. Especially in rap, sampling old classics has become an art, and not only sounds amazing when done right, but also exposes listeners to music and artists that they may have never heard of otherwise. Enjoy.

Nina Simone hasn't been on these pages in far too long, Common just was. Put Common on a dope Kanye beat with a Nina sample? Certified jamandahalf.

Hip-Hop has always had a strong conscious streak, one that is in an everlasting fight against the typical stereotypes of rap. Common has been one of the foremost figures in this fight, and has been dropping quality music since 1992 and his debut album Can I Borrow A Dollar? Off of an unreleased track meant for his underrated 2007 album Finding Forever, "Strange Fruit" is a perfect fusion of the best that both conscious rap (Common's smooth but hungry flow, thought-provoking lyrics) and mainstream rap (a helluva beat, a John Legend chorus) have to offer and tops it off with a haunting Nina Simone sample. Common flows about coming up from hardships and dark times, using the past to guide and strengthen you, while making positive moves today. Common sounds at his most natural over a great Kanye beat, and this song proves that point.

The sample, the reason for this posting, is of the Nina Simone cover of Billie Holliday's "Strange Fruit." Written by a Jewish high-school teacher in response to Southern lynchings of young blacks, "Strange Fruit" became an underground protest song in NY until Billie Holiday recorded it. Nina Simone's version of this classic track maintains the simplicity of the original, only broken by Simone's complex and powerful voice. The calmness of the music is in stark contrast to its dark and violent lyrics which compare lynched blacks to "strange fruit" which hangs in trees in the South. The metaphor of fruit is used throughout the song, emphasizing that years of racism and extreme inequality in the South was bearing fruit, in this case a bitter and painful fruit. It works on many levels, but works even better as a testimony to those who suffered from abuse in the South. Common treats the sample with the proper care it deserves and drops two great verses, while Kanye once again uses the past to infuse the present with life, creating a beat which Common makes his own.

 Common-Strange Fruit f. John Legend (Jamandahalf.com) by jamand1/2

 Nina Simone-Strange Fruit (Jamandahalf.com) by jamand1/2

The Jam Behind the Jam: James Brown-The Funky Drummer

This is the first manifestation of a segment me and the Big man like to call "The Jam Behind the Jam." Its a spot where we pay tribute to the legendary roots of music, the artists whose own jams are so powerful and awe inspiring that they in turn spark the creation of other jams. That being said there is truly only one place to start.

Hip hop is a culture that was born out of an oceans worth of musical influences: jazz, funk, soul, blues, and so many more that were woven into the breaks of early hip hop. As both technology and rap stylings progressed, the art of sampling parts of songs to be included cohesively on the track became a staple of the hip hop genre. While rap tracks have sampled everything from Enya to Earth, Wind, and Fire, no artist has been sampled as much as the Godfather of Soul, Mr. James Brown. But beyond this, one key song was laid down in that fateful summer of 1969 that would become the most recognized beat in all of hip hop: The Funky Drummer. It was that day that drummer Clyde Stubblefield dropped a beat that was so funky, they had to name the entire track after it. So funky they had to throw in a "bonus beat reprise" of the track at the end of the side. So funky that it has become the most sampled track in rap history.

Check the stats: http://www.xampled.com/blog/sampled-from/funky-drummer-james-brown/ its not even close. You want a chart?





















...there you go. The song has been used so many times that it is ingrained in what hip hop is and will continue to be. The beat creates a standoff: energy, emotion, and intensity; you could see Muhammad Ali steppin into the ring to the beat, ready to square off. In this same way hip hop tracks have been using it to tip off battles or kick off any track since day 1. The whole song is in fact a jam and a half, but if you want to kick right to the beat you can skip to 5:30 or just check out the reprise. Enjoy.