Mo'Gravy

Pete Rock & CL Smooth - “When They Reminisce Over You” (1992)

From their debut Mecca and the Soul Brother, this song is a dedication to their friend Troy Dixon aka “Trouble” T. Roy of Heavy D & the Boyz, who passed away in 1990.

Pete Rock in a 2007 interview with Village Voice: (from wiki)

“I had a friend of mine that passed away, and it was a shock to the community. I was kind of depressed when I made it. And to this day, I can’t believe I made it through, the way I was feeling. I guess it was for my boy. When I found the record by Tom Scott, basically I just heard something incredible that touched me and made me cry. It had such a beautiful bassline, and I started with that first. I found some other sounds and then heard some sax in there and used that. Next thing you know, I have a beautiful beat made. When I mixed the song down, I had Charlie Brown from Leaders of the New School in the session with me, and we all just started crying.”

Samples from:

• Tom Scott - “Today” (1967)
• The Beginning of the End - “When She Made Me Promise”

The Ohio Players - “Take De Funk Off, Fly” (1979)

From the album Everybody Up

De La Soul - “A Roller Skating Jam Named ‘Saturdays’” (1991)

Samples from:

• Chic - “Good Times” (1979)
• Earth, Wind & Fire - “Shining Star”(1979)
• Instant Funk - “I Got My Mind Made Up (You Can Get it Girl)” (1979)
• Mighty Ryeders - “The Evil Vibrations” (1978)
• Sly & the Family Stone - “I Want To Take You Higher”
• Tower of Power - “Ebony Jam” (1975)
• Young-Holt Unlimited (Trio) - “Light My Fire” (1969)
• Chicago - “Saturday in the Park” (1974)
• Valli, Franky - “Grease” (1978)
• Fearless Four - “F-4000” (1983)

Wilbur Bascomb And The Zodiacs - “Just A Groove In ‘G’” (1971)

Sampled by:

• DJ Shadow and Cut Chemist on Brainfreeze Breaks

A very solid record by one of the tightest bass players still performing today.  Begins with a nice break before the horns come in, and then that bass.  All you have to hear is that “boom boom/boom/boom/boom” and it’s all over.  Very tight.  Dance to this.

thepublics:

Bullion: Get Familiar

This beat is really tight. I just came across it at thepublics

I searched, and google gave me this

Quantic - “Absence Heard Presence Felt” (2006)

From Quantic’s fourth album, An Announcement To Answer.

Massive Attack - “Any Love” (1988)

Massive Attack’s first single.

Samples from:

• Emotions - “Blind Alley” (1971)
• Rufus Thomas - “Do the Funky Penguin” (1973)
• Sequence - “Funk You Up” (1980)
  

Richard Evans - “Wado City” (1972)

I don’t know much about this track, or Richard Evans. If anyone does please shoot me an email, or reblog and comment..

Wado City is from the album Dealing With Hard Times, which is chalk full of really dope soulful instrumentals. Enjoy

The Ohio Players - “Who’d She Coo?” (1976)

A hit song from The Ohio Players album Contradiction, it spent one week at number one on the Hot Soul Singles chart and peaked at number eighteen on the Billboard Hot 100 singles chart. It would be their last chart-topping single.

Sampled by:

• Penthouse Players Clique - “Pimp Lane”

Sugar Billy Garner - “I Got Some” (1971)

Sampled by:

• Kanye West ft Busta Rhymes - “Love to Hate”
• Dj Shadow & Cut Chemist - “Brainfreeze Breaks”

Kashmere Stage Band - “Kashmere” (1973)

“Kashmere High School is located in a predominantly black neighborhood known as Kashmere Gardens in Houston, Texas. Music teacher Conrad O. Johnson attended an Otis Redding concert in 1967 and was inspired to translate the style of the concert into a program he could sustain at the high school in order to create opportunities for his student musicians. The Kashmere Stage Band was born.

During its time, KSB won national championships in high school band competitions and gained a reputation as being unbeatable. Johnson served as band director, arranger, and principal composer for the band. KSB recorded eight albums during its life. The teenagers in the Kashmere Stage Band produced a sound equal to that of the contemporary funk bands the JB’s and the Bar-Kays.”

Sampled by:

• Handsome Boy Modeling School ft DJ Shadow - “Holy Calamity (Bear Witness II)”

Lafayette Afro Rock Band - “Darkest Light” (1976)

A French funk rock band formed in Long Island, New York in 1970, the Lafayette Afro Rock Band is almost unknown in their native United States. They are now universally celebrated as one of the standout funk bands of the 1970s, and admired for their use of break beats. Upon their relocation to Paris, the local music scene influenced the group’s work, and they adopted the name Lafayette Afro Rock Band after releasing their debut LP. The band’s next two LPs, Soul Makossa and Malik, respectively included the songs “Hihache”and “Darkest Light,” which would be sampled in numerous culturally significant hip-hop compositions.

Sampled by:

• Freestylers - “Freestyle Noize”
• Heavy D - “You Can’t See What I Can See”
• Ice Cube - “Friday”
• Kid Capri - “The Apollo”
• Masters at Work - “Jus’ a Lil’ Dope”
• Mormon Ghetto Projectz ft X-Caliber - “X-Caliber .44 (Blax 8 Trax)”
• N2Deep - “Back to the Hotel”
• Public Enemy - “Show ‘em What’cha Got”
• Tuff Crew - “Soul Food”
• Wreckx-N-Effect - “Rump Shaker”

Roy Ayers - “Searchin’” (1977)

Born in 1940, Ayers grew up in a musical family. At the age of five, Lionel Hampton gave him his first pair of mallets, which led to the vibraphone being his trademark sound for decades. His songs have been sampled hundreds of times. There is so much to read about him…if you are interested in learning more about him click here.

Sampled by:

• Abstract Tribe Unique - “The Scandal: Then & Now”
• Bumble BHE - “Pain”
• Ed OG - “Be a Father to Your Child”
• Erykah Badu - “Searchin’”
• Mary J. Blige - “Searchin’”
• OC - “Point O Viewz”
• Original Flavor - “Keep On (Searching)”
• Pete Rock & CL Smooth - “Searchin’”

Ohio Players - “Far East Mississippi” (1976)

Sampled By:

• Chop Shop - “Hurt Me”
• Style - “Just a Little Something”
• Beck - “Hell Yes”

Giorgio - “Tears” (1972)

Giorgio Moroder is an Italian record producer, songwriter and performer, whose groundbreaking work with synthesizers during the 1970s and 1980s was a significant influence on new wave, house, techno and electronic music in general. Moroder is the founder of the former Musicland Studios in Munich, which served as a recording home for artists ranging from Led Zeppelin and Queen to Elton John for much of the 1980s and 1990s.

Sampled by:

• Dj Shadow - “Organ Donor”
• Swollen Members - “Fuel Injected”

Ozomatli - “Cumbia De Los Muertos” (1998)

Ozomatli is currently an eight piece band (although they have had as many as ten members, and as few as seven), playing primarily Latin, hip hop, and rock, formed in 1995. Members MC Chali 2na, and turntablist Cut Chemist, from Jurrassic 5, have been involved with the band over the years, among many other musicians.

Odetta - “Hit Or Miss” (1970)

From the album Odetta Sings, this track is only one of two that Odetta actually wrote herself on the album. “Hit Or Miss” along with her other song “Movin’ It On”, are the best songs on the album. Surprisingly, as the likes of Elton John, Paul McCartney, Odetta Gordon, Stu Scharf, James Taylor, Mick Jagger, and Keith Richards, all made an appearance on the album.

Sampled by:

• Air - “Brakes On”
• Latryx - “Latryx”
• Too $hort - “Ain’t Nothin but a Word to Me”